By Felix Khanoba
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced free business registration for 3,500 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) nationwide as part of activities marking its 35th anniversary.
Registrar-General of the Commission, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, SAN, announced the initiative on Monday in Abuja at the opening of the anniversary celebration, describing it as one of several incentives introduced to commemorate the milestone.
“In the spirit of this celebration, the Management of CAC has approved the following initiatives: Free Business Name Registration for 3,500 small businesses, to be distributed across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Scholarships for six (6) best corporate Law students each from the six campuses of the Nigerian Law School—for the year 2026, in support of corporate law studies.
“Donation of 120 mattresses to an IDP Camp and support for orphanages as part of our social responsibility.”
Magaji also announced welfare incentives for staff in appreciation of their contributions to the Commission’s reforms.
“I am pleased to announce a Commemorative Staff Bonus of 25% of one month’s gross salary, applicable for this month only.
“Special Car Loan.
“Special Housing Loan.
“Finally to our pioneers and retiring staff, who couldn’t make it in the current promotion exercise, the Management has recommended their promotion to our Board in line of our condition of service.”
He described the Commission’s achievements over the years as uncommon, noting that the anniversary represents a celebration of purpose, resilience, and transformation since CAC was established.
Magaji recalled that the Commission once operated a single manual registration office that served the entire country, requiring business owners to travel to Abuja, with all records processed manually, adding that CAC has since transformed into a fully digital corporate registry accessible worldwide.
According to him, the Commission now handles close to 10,000 business registration requests daily, a sharp rise from the few hundreds recorded in earlier years, while customer support channels attend to about 5,000 inquiries each day.
He added that the introduction of an Artificial Intelligence-driven registration portal in 2025, though initially challenging, was necessary to meet increasing demand and improve service delivery.
“Transformational change is never easy, but AI is essential to complement human capacity with speed and precision. Our goal is to deliver services that rank among the best globally,” he said.
Magaji further disclosed a new collaboration between CAC and Google to strengthen the Commission’s technology infrastructure, as well as the unveiling of a redesigned website.
“It is for this reason that today, at this historic event, we will witness the signing of a Letter of Collaboration between CAC and Google, aimed at strengthening our technology framework and improving service delivery through partnership with one of the world’s leading technology companies.
” Google brings global expertise and technological support that will further strengthen our systems, enhance portal performance, and deepen the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
“Another major milestone we are unveiling today is the relaunch of our website: www.cac.gov.ng
“Beyond a complete redesign, the new website introduces two groundbreaking features:
“AI Lawyer – This feature enables users to ask questions on CAC laws, rules, guidelines, procedures, and operations—and receive instant, accurate responses.
” AI Name Generator -Users can now generate and reserve scalable business names directly from our website with ease, speed, and convenience.”
Meanwhile, it was all smiles for members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) band who provided musical entertainment at the event as they received unexpected donations from several dignitaries.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Commerce, Hon. Ahmed Munir Lere, announced a N500,000 donation to the corps members to boost their performance, which was matched by another N500,000 from a representative of Udo Udoma and Belo Osagie law firm.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Amb. Nura Rimi, also announced that each of the 18 agencies under the ministry would contribute N100,000, while the ministry added another N200,000.
The donations brought the total to N3 million, which was further complemented by the presentation of three brand new laptops by the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Abdullahi.
