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The Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, says its new artificial intelligence-driven corporate registry will eliminate unauthorised access to company records, strengthen data security and permanently track actions taken by staff on the platform.
The Registrar-General of the commission, Hussaina Ishaq Magaji, disclosed this at the 2026 CAC annual retreat, where he said the new system would also introduce an API gateway to control and monitor external requests for access to the commission’s data.
He said the development was part of the commission’s broader digital transformation programme aimed at building an “advancing an intelligent corporate registry” capable of delivering faster, more secure and trusted services.
According to him, data leaving the commission’s system would be encrypted and traceable to the entity that directly consumes it.
“That has legally gone. Now data will not be stored in our internal traces. Every data element that leaves the commission is encrypted.
“Therefore, it can be traced to whoever consumes it directly from the commission’s data. This will give us the opportunity to identify the culprit among any of our partners,” he said.
The registrar-general said the new platform would also prevent third parties from having unrestricted direct access to CAC data.
He said an API gateway was being introduced, with a “tollgate” mounted for every request coming into the commission through the API.
“The era of having direct access to our data is gone,” he said.
The new system, he added, would also introduce a high-level audit trail that would permanently record activities carried out by CAC employees.
He said every action involving the editing, approval or deletion of information would be captured, including details of who carried out the action, what was changed and when the action occurred.
According to him, the audit trail would neither be deleted nor altered by any individual.
“Every action of our staff is recorded permanently. Any person who edits, approves, or deletes anything will have that action captured in a high-level audit trail: who did it, what was touched, and when.
“The trail cannot be deleted or altered by anyone,” he said.
The registrar-general also declared that the commission was moving to end unauthorised tampering with corporate records, saying no individual would be able to alter a company’s records without the knowledge or consent of the company or association concerned.
“Last, the era of unauthorised tampering with company records is gone, like petroleum subsidy in Nigeria,” he said.
He said the new system had been designed with strong security features in line with international best practices.
According to him, cybersecurity and data protection were among the areas where the commission had made significant progress in developing the new platform.
The CAC boss, however, stressed that the deployment of artificial intelligence was not intended to replace employees but to empower them.
“AI is not being introduced to replace our staff. AI is being introduced to empower our staff,” he said.
He explained that the technology would remove repetitive tasks, reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, improve decision-making, enhance accuracy and enable employees to concentrate on higher-value responsibilities.
The development, he said, would require a corresponding investment in staff capacity, particularly in digital skills.
He said the future CAC workforce must include employees who understand data, can work effectively with artificial intelligence, understand cybersecurity and possess the ability to analyse information rather than merely process it.
The workforce, he added, must also be innovative, adaptable and committed to continuous learning.
The registrar-general urged non-management staff participating in the retreat to see themselves as active contributors to the commission’s digital transformation rather than mere observers.
He asked employees to scrutinise the new system during its demonstration and identify areas where it could create difficulties or improve service delivery.
He also urged them to identify opportunities for automation, highlight unnecessary processes and provide feedback based on complaints regularly received from customers.
“There is no process that is sacred to be immune,” he said, urging staff to question existing procedures and propose improvements.
The registrar-general said modern public-sector leadership was no longer limited to managing existing systems but required anticipating future developments and preparing institutions ahead of time.
“Leadership in the modern public service is no longer simply about managing what exists. It’s about anticipating what is coming. It is about preparing the institution before the future arrives,” he said.
He challenged CAC employees to consider what they could do differently, what processes they could improve, what customer problems they could solve and the legacy they wanted to leave within the commission.
He described the ongoing digital transformation as a historic moment for the agency, saying future generations of CAC employees could look back at the period as the point when the commission moved from a conventional registry to a modern, intelligent and globally competitive institution.
The registrar-general had earlier said the new AI-driven architecture would enable customers to interact with the CAC portal through voice and in English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin.
He also said artificial intelligence would conduct preliminary compliance checks, guide applicants through registration processes, assist with name reservations, identify errors, monitor failed payments and facilitate complaint tracking.
The system, he said, would further use elastic cloud-based storage to address congestion and reduce delays associated with peak-period traffic on the commission’s platform.
More than 400 members of the CAC workforce are participating in the retreat, which the management said had been transformed from an event largely restricted to senior management into a broader platform for capacity development, institutional reflection, innovation and collective decision-making.
The retreat is themed “AI at Scale, Advancing an Intelligent Corporate Registry for Efficient and Trusted Service.”
