With the bulk of its staff unable to come to work due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) at the weekend turned to courier companies to deliver its registration certificates to customers.
The Commission also said it will maintain its new policy to deliver electronic services to its customers with effect from Aug. 10.
The Registrar-General of the Commission, Alhaji Abubakar Garba, who disclosed this in Abuja at a press briefing, said that the policy would create sanity in its processes and adhere strictly to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s (NCDC), guidelines for Covid-19.
Garba explained that the delivery of companies’ registration certificates through mailing system was borne out of the need to protect its workers and the customers against the ravaging Coronavirus pandemic.
Garba said that companies registration certificates would be sent to customers through courier services or electronically to avoid physical contact with clients except on appointment where necessary.
According to him, the mailing system has proven to be the most effective system, during which about 400 companies’ certificates would be processed and issued out to customers without delay within a week.
“We have a total workforce of 1,310 staff, only 221 of such staff fall into the category of officers from level 14 and above. Every Monday to Friday we attend to nothing less than 500 customers.
“But if you are dealing with mailing company, every certificates we can produce by 2:00pm, we hand it over to the courier company the same day and the customer can pick it, this system was introduced on Friday and I can assure you between the time it was introduced till now over 400 certificates have been dispatched by the courier companies.
“In the past some customers would wait for one month without getting the certificate, to the extent some were even accusing our staff of corruption, that our staff were collecting money. The mailing system won’t stop at certificate dispatch, it will extend to all other processes,” he stated.
He said that the new policy became imperative as the premises of the commission were always overwhelmed with the presence of clients following the ease off of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown by the Federal Government.
“We are a responsible institution, we have to abide by government directives, we cannot continue with this crowd in the premises.
“What we have done is to insist that no physical contact happens with customers any longer.
“From Aug. 10, every other process will be done by mailing and the customers will bear the cost because they pay for transport or buy fuel to drive to the commission. They can as well pay the cost of delivery”.
