When registering my first company I decided to do it myself in 2016 which I followed the online procedures. Not knowing then, there was little information on the CAC website about the procedure.
Well, I filled all the required forms and made my payment online. Boldly walked into the CAC HQ in Abuja to submit my documents. I waited in line for hours and when it was my turn the lady behind the counter asked for the application documents, which I presented, and she just yelled: “Madam are you a lawyer, I replied no and she asked me to get a lawyer to do it for me”. “Confused and frustrated”, I tried to explain to her I used the online instructions but she wouldn’t listen. So frustrated, I walked out trying to find out what I did wrong. But could not find the right answer so I decided to get a lawyer I met at the CAC HQ to do it for me. I paid her 40, 000 Naira, since I have paid for application fees and other fees.
But during November 2017, I decided to register a new company and asked how much she would charge. And she said 100, 000 Naira. So following what she did last time, I decided to do my own research and to my amazement. I found out company and business name registration has been made super easy on the CAC official website. So I went for it.
All you need is, to follow the following process below.
Go to https://services.cac.gov.ng and create an account with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Request for a name search and reservation, using your account. This service cost 500 Naira and can be paid online either with your ATM card or through online banking. The name search normally takes 48 hours at most for it to be approved or declined.
After the name is approved you will need the approval code. Which is going to be on your approval note.
Then go to the registration section of your CAC account, enter the availability code and click the ‘proceed’ button.
It will take you to your company registration section. Fill in the required fields and when you get to the page named “Statutory Declaration of Compliance with the requirements of CAMA by a Legal Practitioner” please skip that page. Do not fill it.
Once you have filled the necessary fields you will submit and make payment online. (For company registration I paid 15,500 Naira, though price might vary depending on type of company or business you are registering).
Once your payment have been recognised, go back to the company registration on your account. You will see “request stamp duty” under documents. Click that button and you will be taken to the stamp duty page in which you be prompted to pay the sum of 8, 000 Naira (price might vary depending on what type of company or business you are registering).
Once the stamp duty payment has been made your documents will be stamped online and an email notification will sent to you once it has been stamped.
Go to the portal and sign into your account and download the stamped documents (CAC1.1 and Memert), print them and get them signed by the appropriate personnel.
In your CAC1.1 form you can either take it to any Notary close to you to fill it for you and stamp or you can just pay CAC 500 naira to skip that stress.
To pay the 500 Naira, Go to Remita and search for Corporate Affairs Commission, in the drop down selections choose miscellaneous and pay the sum of 500 Naira. Be sure to input your company details and indicate your paying for "Statutory Declaration of Compliance with the requirements of CAMA by a Legal Practitioner" in the payment details section to avoid any misunderstanding later.
Then scan the signed documents, name reservation approval, registration payment receipt, stamp duty certificate, ID cards of the directors, and of secretaries on one pdf file, the miscellaneous payment you made.
Then, go to http://docupload.cac.gov.ng:121/DocUpload/ , Enter your availability code and select your collection office and search.
After this is done your company details will come up choose documents type and upload them accordingly. When your sure you have done that you can then submit it by clicking the submit button located in the top right section of the page and follow the process accordingly.
Within 24hours, an email will be sent to you confirming your company have been registered or you can check on your CAC account.
Once your company has been registered an email will be sent to you immediately. Just take the original copies of the documents you uploaded to the center you chose for your collection to get your original certificate.
Note
If anything is wrong with the application. The application will be queried and detailed reason will be stated in the query. All you need to do is correct the query and upload the documents back. No additional payments required.