The Federal Government has approved the free registration of 6, 606 business names in each of the 34 states while Abia, Lagos and Kano will have 7, 906, 9, 084 and 8, 406 respectively.
The free business name registration will be carried out by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for 250, 000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) across the country.
Furthermore, Aggregators have been appointed to receive applications from interested persons in line with CAC’s requirements.
The names and contact details of the aggregators can be obtained on the Commissions website or by clicking here.
The Bone of Contention
I always have issues with the modus operandi of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Firstly, in a mobile-first country like Nigeria and in this 21st century, the top-guns of this country still thinks it’s wise conducting business using brick and mortar system.
What’s the need of an aggregator when you can simply receive applications online?
The Lagos State free business registration of over 9, 000 people was saddled on the shoulders of one person. Where in the world is this done?
Not only will there be lapses as has been recorded, we need to start thinking about automating our systems.
Take every offline registration online for ease of transactions. The torments of queuing up should be eliminated.
Screening people based on their physical appearance, religion, ethnicity and gender won’t exist with online transactions, or at least it would be drastically minimised.
Timely and prompt delivery can be achieved when systems are automated. Hard copies of documents can be picked up from the offices while soft copies are transferred by emails.
How difficult is it for the Government to create online systems that works, knowing that the majority of her populations are youths?
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Secondly, since the Federal Government has unofficially agreed that Twitter will be their preferred information dissemination platform, it wouldn’t hurt for them to do it well.
The free business name registration by the Federal Government in conjunction with the Corporate Affairs Commission was announced on the CAC’s Twitter platform in this manner:
Bland. Uninspiring. It contained little or no information whatsoever.
Their expectation would have been for people to click the link to find out. But did they communicate this clearly? Proper communication is vital in today’s noisy world!
The CAC did a poor job at communicating the value of the free 250, 000 business name registration. The reactions under the tweet says it all.
Similarly, it took the Presidency an additional 9 days to come up an official statement about what the free business name registration entails.
Again, I ask: why can’t information be disseminated accurately and timely in Nigeria?
An initiative that was supposed to better the life of Nigerians is being handled with complacency by the Federal Government and the Corporate Affairs Commission.
What Nigerians Are Yearning For
- Automate every system to reduce the instance of bribery and corruption..
- Take every form of registration online to curb ethnic, religious, personality and gender profiling.
With the above, queues can become a thing of the past. Time wastage via queues in Nigeria should be researched on as a major tool of oppression and corruption.
If the Nigerian Government indeed cared for her citizens, they’d provide systems that works. I don’t need to leave my house or close my business in order to go for registration of any kind.
If an initiative is termed “free” and yet I have to pay indirectly with my time, money and energy, then I doubt if it’s truly free.