CAC to deploy AI agent as company registration backlog hits 7,000 

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) says it is set to deploy an Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent to tackle a backlog of 7,000 company registration applications and ease service delays.

Registrar-General/CEO of the CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, SAN, disclosed this on Monday in Kano during a stakeholders’ forum.

He explained that the AI agent will handle requests across compliance, registry, and customer service functions with speed and accuracy to address challenges that have slowed service delivery.

“In a bid to tackle the backlog of 7,000 registration applications… an AI agent was in the pipeline to handle requests across compliance, registry, and customer service with speed and accuracy,” the Commission said in a statement quoting the Registrar-General.

Bumpy transition to AI portal 

Magaji acknowledged that the transition to the Commission’s AI-driven portal has been bumpy, with customers experiencing delays in approvals, especially for services not covered in the first phase of the deployment.

He noted that the delays were largely due to the overwhelming number of applications the system has had to process.

• To further improve efficiency, the CAC boss said the Commission will also use AI to manage the high volume of daily inquiries.
• According to him, the system receives no fewer than 3,000 emails per day. The AI tool being developed can read and comprehend those emails within a minute, detect duplicate requests, and reroute messages to the appropriate departments for faster resolution.
• The Registrar-General reassured stakeholders that the Commission is working assiduously to stabilize its newly introduced AI portal and improve customer satisfaction.

“Problems have been identified, and solutions are already in motion,” he said.

Backstory

Earlier in June this year, the CAC launched the AI-driven registration portal aimed at transforming Nigeria’s business environment by simplifying company registration processes and accelerating approvals.

According to the Registrar-General, the AI-powered portal represents a complete overhaul of the Commission’s existing Company Registration Portal (CRP).

• The portal, he said, has been programmed to provide instant name approvals, with a system intelligently designed to suggest alternative names when preferred options are unavailable.
• Magaji said name reservation under the new system is now as simple as opening an email account, noting that the use of AI enables seamless suggestions and approvals in real-time.
• However, many Nigerians trying to register their new business or fulfil obligations for existing businesses have been having difficult times on the portal as it continues to suffer one glitch after the other.
• From payments not reflecting on the portal to the inability to submit documents, among others, Nigerians have continued to express their frustrations using the portal, a development that led to the 7,000 backlogs the Commission is now trying to clear.

Meanwhile, despite the hiccups, CAC announced in July that the portal was processing over 11,000 transactions daily, describing it as a major leap in automation, but not without challenges.