Adnan Adams Mohammed
The Office of Registrar of Companies has disclosed that, by next year, registrants of new companies can start and finish the process within 24 hours.
This due to new software the Office is about to introduce, purposely built to fast track the process which is currently described as bureaucratic and cumbersome.
Although, there is software currently which can as well fast track and make company registration easier, patrons or users of the ORC’s website have described the existing software as not being user friendly. But, the Registrar of Companies is firmed that, by next year a new and better user friendly software will be deployed to fasttrack company registration process.
“We’re trusting God …early of next year 2024 we’re coming out with a software which would enable you to do everything online”, Registrar of Companies, Jemima Oware assured during an interview last week. “You would not need to walk into our offices with paper as currently people are walking in and queuing at the bank to pay and scan and you know all those things, it will be a thing of the past.”
“We currently have software in place that can do that online registration, but what happens is people don’t find it being user friendly and also people don’t like to do it online. They like to come and look into somebody’s face and give money to somebody,” she said.
“The issue in reality though is that the current software has challenges and nobody denies that fact. So you could come in and do everything within a day, but you won’t get it within the day because possibly the system has shut down for one reason or the other or one of the users of the system, maybe the lawyer or the company inspector does not approve it within the time they’re supposed to approve it because there’s so many other things that are being done and that is why we’re now going to move a step further and come out with a new software.
She also noted that, one of the main challenges with the paper registration affecting the speed of work is that most people come to the premises of the Registrar of Companies without fully complying with the requirements.
“Some will come and haven’t even filled the forms, some will come and they don’t have a digital address, some will come and they don’t have an NIA card. So the key thing is let’s start counting from the time you complete all the requirements and then we can say confidently that within a day we can give you the business registration certificate,” she said.
Madam Oware, noted that to ensure a seamless and comfortable experience for business owners in the future, the Registrar of Companies will be coming out with a new software that will hopefully have none of the issues the current software has.
