The CAC company registration in Nigeria is now conducted online strictly, having phased out manual registration. The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), has made company registration easy through its online portal also known as Company Registration Portal (CRP). One could register a company online with the CAC, with little or no help from anyone, except for Section E in the Registration Form CAC 1.1, which requires the signature of a Legal Practitioner and attestation by a Notary Public or Commissioner for Oaths.

Before commencing with incorporation of your company, the first step to take is to check whether or not your proposed name is available for registration or already in use by someone else. Checking for availability and subsequent reservation of name costs #500. However, to save cost and time, the CAC has made it possible for individuals to check if a company is already registered in that name, free of charge. This is done through the CAC’s public search webste. On here, you are expected to enter the first few letters of the name of your proposed company and hit the search button. A list of companies bearing names similar or exact with the one you intend to file will be produced from the CAC online database. In the event that the name has not been registered, the individual may then proceed to file for reservation proper.

CAC Online Company registration involves several processes that must be adhered to strictly in getting the intended results. The steps for company registration in Nigeria are as follows:

• Availability Check and Reservation of Name.

The first step towards incorporation of a company online with CAC is by filing for a name reservation on the CAC online portal as explained already. This step is important as it enables the registrant to confirm from the CAC whether the name is free for registration. It takes between few hours and a day to get a feedback from the CAC provided that it is a working day. It is recommended that applicant submit 2 alternative names to the CAC. One of the 2 alternatives will be reserved by the CAC. Reservations remain valid for 60 days after which they shall lapse and become available to other persons to reserve and register.

The steps to follow in this section include the following:

Create/sign up for a personal account (however, we recommend using an accredited account for CAC company registration in Nigeria) with the CAC for first-time users or log in for existing users; then click on Name Reservation — then New Name Reservation; fill the necessary column and pay all applied fees. Then wait for 24hrs for a response from the CAC officials. If your reservation is successful, you may proceed to print out the “Approval note” from your portal.

• PRE-INCORPORATION STAGE OF THE CAC COMPANY REGISTRATION

This is one of the most important stage as the success or otherwise of this phase determines the fate of the incorporation of the company. The steps to take in this stage are;

1. Fill all the necessary columns in the Registration Form CAC 1.1 correctly and submit same online. Below are the information to fill:
   • Particulars of the Company
   • Nature of business the proposed company will be engaged in.
   • The Registered Office Address of the Company.
   • Email address of the Company.
   • Particulars of the 1st Directors (minimum of 2 adults who must be of sound mind) :
   The particulars referred to above must include the Name, Residential Address, Date of Birth, Sex, Phone Number, Email Address, Valid means of Identification (i.e National Identity card, Permanent Voters card, Driver’s Licence, International Passport etc).
   Percentage of shares to be held by each of the directors, that is in a situation where the director(s) is also a shareholder.
   • Particulars of Shareholders (minimum of 2 adults)
   • Particulars of the Company Secretary.
   • Name, Date of Birth, Sex, Phone Number, Email Address, Valid means of Identification such as National Identity card, Permanent Voters card, Driver’s Licence or International Passport.
   • Statutory Declaration of compliance with the requirements of CAMA by a Legal Practitioner. (This is to be signed by a Legal Practitioner, and attested to by a Notary Public or Commissioner for Oaths).
   • Particulars of foreigners who are members of the company, if any.
   • Name, Date of Birth, Sex, Phone Number, Email Address, Nationality, Forms of Identification such as National Identity card, Permanent Voters card, Driver’s Licence or International Passport.
   • Articles and Memorandum of Association. It is important to note that there is a template on the CAC portal to save you the pains of having to draft this documents from scratch. All you need to do is to edit it to serve your purpose. It is best to employ the services of an experience lawyer to do all the necessary alterations.
2. After the filling of the form, an applicant then proceeds to payment to effect payment for the necessary fee. The specific payment to be paid for incorporation include the following:
   • CAC Fee = #15,000.00
   • Stamp Duty to the Federal Inland Revenue Service Fees (FIRS). As at the time of writing this post, it is charged at 0.75% of 1 million share capital.
3. After that, an applicant is required to print the completed and electronically stamped Form CAC 1.1 and the Memorandum and Article of Association, sign in the necessary portions, notarize or affix oath for the attestations page and then proceed to upload the scanned copy of the signed and dated documents back on the CAC through the Document Upload Portal.

• UPLOADING ALL THE INCORPORATION DOCUMENTS.

In this stage, an applicant is to now log into the CAC Document Upload portal to upload all the incorporation documents.
Below are the documents to be scanned and uploaded on the CAC portal:
• Availability Printout, this is the same as the Name Approval Note.
• Registration Form CAC 1.1
• Valid means of Identification of Directors and Shareholders.
• Payment Receipt of CAC filing fees.
• Stamp Duty Certificate (This is to be printed, once the stamp duty fee has been paid).
• Stamped Memorandum and Article of Association.
• Certificate of Incorporation of the Company Secretary (This is only applicable where the Secretary is a corporate body).

Do note that all the above documents must be in Pdf format and most be uploaded in the provided portions.
Upon upload and submission, The CAC will register the company within 3 to 5 days and the applicant can then visit the branch of the commission he had chosen in the initial stage. Do note that you will have to present your own original copies of the incorporation documents before you can be handled with all his or her original documents to pick up the certificate.
In conclusion, as has been clearly demonstrated here, the procedure for registering a company online has been simplified. The timeline to complete a company registration has now been significantly reduced to just about 3 days, provided all the required documents and information are ready and filed without errors.

You can also contact professionals to assist you with CAC company registration in Nigeria from any part of the world.