How to Add a Director on CAC (2026)

A common assumption about adding a director to a Nigerian company at CAC is that the operation is a single form. The truth carries an extra layer.

Two documents do the load-bearing work. A board resolution appointing the new director — the company's internal governance act — sits alongside Form CAC 7 (Appointment of director), which is the statutory record CAC requires. The board resolution lives in the company's internal register; Form CAC 7 lives on the CAC register at the post.cac.gov.ng dashboard.

A third document is required and is easy to forget. The consent letter from the new director — the appointee's written acceptance of the appointment — is required by CAC as evidence that the new director has personally agreed to be appointed. Without the consent letter, the filing is incomplete.

The three documents interlock. A board resolution without a Form CAC 7 is a private decision that the public register does not yet know about. A Form CAC 7 without a board resolution is a CAC filing without the underlying corporate-governance act that authorises it. Form CAC 7 with no consent letter is a unilateral CAC filing imposing a directorship on someone who has not accepted it. Missing any one of the three pauses the filing at the CAC review queue.

The rest of the article walks the three documents in turn, then the supporting identifier bundle for the new director, then the post.cac.gov.ng submission, then the certificate update that follows.

The board resolution is the corporate-governance starting-point. The procedural elements are tightly defined by the company's articles of association and by CAMA 2020.

The notice of board meeting. A board meeting that will consider a director appointment is convened in accordance with the articles. The notice is typically served on every existing director with reasonable advance notice (the articles set the period; a common figure is at least 7 days); the notice specifies that the appointment of a new director is on the agenda. Where all the directors consent in writing to a shorter notice, the meeting can proceed sooner.

The quorum. The meeting must be quorate per the articles — typically two directors for a Part A company with multiple directors, or one director for a single-director small company. A meeting that is not quorate cannot pass the appointment resolution.

The resolution wording. The resolution states that [name of the new director] of [residential address] be and is hereby appointed as a director of the company with effect from [effective date], subject to the new director's consent to the appointment and the filing of the appointment with the Corporate Affairs Commission. The resolution is moved by one director, seconded by another, and put to the vote.

The voting threshold. A board resolution under CAMA 2020 is passed by a simple majority of the directors present and voting, unless the articles set a higher threshold. The chair has a casting vote where the directors are equally divided (where the articles permit).

The minutes and the signed resolution. The minutes of the board meeting record the discussion and the resolution. A signed certified copy of the resolution is extracted from the minutes and uploaded at the post.cac.gov.ng submission. The signed resolution is dated, identifies the meeting at which it was passed, and is signed by the chair and the company secretary (or by two directors where the company has no separately-appointed secretary).

Written resolution in lieu of meeting. Where the company's articles permit, the board can pass the appointment as a written resolution circulated to and signed by every director, without a physical meeting. The written resolution carries the same weight as a meeting resolution and is extracted in the same way for the CAC filing.

For a single-director small company. The sole director's signed appointment authorisation substitutes for the board resolution. The director resolves in writing to appoint the additional person; the signed authorisation goes into the company's internal register and is uploaded at the portal. This is the common shape where a one-person company adds a second director.

Form CAC 7 is the statutory form for recording the appointment of a new director at CAC. The current portal at post.cac.gov.ng generates the form record within the change-of-directors service; the company does not need to download a paper version, fill it manually, and re-upload a PDF.

The form captures the following on the new director:

• Full legal name — exactly as it appears on the new director's NIN slip and BVN record; mismatched spellings will fail validation
• Residential address — current physical address (not a P. O. Box)
• Occupation
• Date of birth — used for the standard director's-particulars record
• Nationality
• Bank Verification Number (BVN) — validated against NIBSS in real time
• National Identification Number (NIN) — validated against NIMC in real time
• Passport photograph — JPG or PNG under 1MB, standard passport-style framing
• Signature scan — JPG or PNG
• Phone number and email
• Date of appointment — the effective date stated in the board resolution
• Type of appointment — first director, executive, non-executive, independent (as applicable per the company type)

The portal validates the BVN-NIN pair in real time at submission. A BVN that does not match the name on file at NIBSS, or a NIN that has not propagated through the NIMC modification queue, fails validation and the filing cannot complete until the underlying identifier issue is fixed. See BVN-NIN linkage for the wider identifier framework.

The consent letter is the new director's personal written acceptance of the appointment. The format is light; the substantive elements are tightly defined.

What the letter must say. A statement that the named person (the new director, using the full legal name that appears on the NIN and BVN records) accepts the appointment as a director of the named company (using the company's current registered name and RC number), with effect from the date stated in the board resolution. A confirmation that the new director is not disqualified from acting as a director under CAMA 2020 — that the new director is of full age, of sound mind, has not been convicted of any offence involving fraud or dishonesty within the preceding five years, is not an undischarged bankrupt, and has not been disqualified by court order or by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Format. The letter is dated, addressed to the company, signed by the new director in their own hand (a scanned signature is acceptable for the CAC upload), and witnessed where the articles or the company's internal practice requires a witness. A standalone one-page letter is the typical format; some companies use a longer letter that also confirms the new director's contact details and acceptance of the directors' service contract.

Why CAC asks for it. CAMA 2020 requires that a person be appointed as a director with their consent. A Form CAC 7 that does not carry evidence of the appointee's personal consent risks being challenged later as an irregular appointment. The consent letter provides the documentary evidence.

Where the consent letter slips. The most common slip is treating the board resolution as carrying the consent — the company's appointment act is conflated with the appointee's acceptance act. They are different acts from different parties. The board's resolution is the company's offer; the consent letter is the new director's acceptance. Both are needed.

With the three documents prepared and the new director's identifier bundle in hand, the submission at the post-incorporation portal pulls the chain together.

1. 1
   Confirm annual returns are current
2. 2
   Sign in to post.cac.gov.ng with the company's iCRP account
3. 3
   Open the Change of Directors service
4. 4
   Enter the new director's particulars
5. 5
   Upload the passport photograph and signature scan
6. 6
   Upload the board resolution and the consent letter
7. 7
   Pay the modification fee through Remita
8. 8
   Submit and track to certificate update

The eight steps run end-to-end in under three weeks for a clean filing. The new director begins exercising directorial powers from the effective date stated in the board resolution; the CAC register update lags slightly but does not affect the validity of the appointment internally.

CAMA 2020 sets the floor on the number of directors a Nigerian company must have. The director-addition filing sits within these constraints.

A director-addition filing does not by itself trigger any minimum-director-count concern — adding directors increases the count, not decreases it. The minimum-count rules become relevant where the addition is paired with a removal (a substitution) or where the company is restructuring its board materially.

A director-addition is in addition to the existing directors. Where the board wants to substitute a director (out with one, in with another), the procedure runs as both a director-addition and a director-removal at the same submission; the two acts are coupled but recorded separately on the CAC register. See how to remove a director for the removal-side procedure, which carries additional Section 288 procedural protections that the addition side does not.

A foreign-resident director can be appointed. The new director's BVN is provided through the Non-Resident BVN platform at https://nibss-plc.com.ng/nrbvn where the appointee is not in Nigeria. The NIN is provided through NIMC's diaspora enrolment route; see NIN for foreigners for the foreigner identifier walkthrough. The CAC portal validates the identifiers the same way regardless of the director's residence.

The director-addition service at post.cac.gov.ng is DIY-capable. A director with the iCRP account credentials and the new director's identifier bundle can complete the filing in a single sitting; the portal walks the user through every step and the documents are standard.

The accredited-agent route earns its fee in two narrower cases for an addition. First, where the new director is a foreign-resident appointee needing NRBVN coordination — the agent handles the cross-border BVN application alongside the CAC filing as a single workstream rather than the company chasing two parallel flows. Second, where the addition is part of a wider restructuring (paired with a director removal, a share-capital change, or a constitutional amendment) — the agent coordinates the bundle as a single submission.

Accredited agents charge between ₦20,000 and ₦30,000 in service fees for a routine director addition for a private company, layered on top of the CAC statutory line. The agent's invoice itemises the statutory CAC fee and the agent's professional fee separately.

Informal "CAC consultants" with no professional accreditation can help with form-filling but cannot submit under accreditation privileges. The iCRP account-creation route at the portal is open to every registrant; the DIY route is the cleanest for a routine addition of a Nigerian-resident director.

• Do NOT submit the Form CAC 7 without the board resolution and the consent letter. The three documents are the load-bearing core; missing any one pauses the filing. The board resolution evidences the company's appointment act; Form CAC 7 is the public-facing statutory record; the consent letter evidences the new director's personal acceptance.
• Do NOT use a name spelling on Form CAC 7 that does not match the new director's NIN slip and BVN record. The portal validates the BVN-NIN pair in real time at submission; a name mismatch fails validation and the filing cannot complete. The spelling on Form CAC 7 must match the spelling on the underlying identifier records exactly — including capitalisation of middle names and the order of names.
• Do NOT assume the board resolution carries the new director's consent. The board's resolution is the company's offer of appointment; the consent letter is the appointee's acceptance. They are different acts from different parties. Both are needed.
• Do NOT submit the director-addition filing while annual returns are outstanding. The post.cac.gov.ng portal blocks every modification until the backlog clears. The block is structural and applies to director additions just as it does to address changes and name changes.
• Do NOT appoint a person who is disqualified under CAMA 2020. The consent letter typically includes the new director's confirmation that they are not disqualified — undischarged bankrupt, convicted of fraud or dishonesty within the last five years, disqualified by court order or by SEC. An appointment of a disqualified person is voidable, and CAC may refuse the filing on grounds known to the Commission.
• Do NOT skip the BVN and NIN check for a diaspora-resident appointee. The Non-Resident BVN platform supplies the BVN that the CAC portal will accept; the NIMC diaspora enrolment route supplies the NIN. Skipping either step leads to a failed validation at the portal that cannot be worked around.
• Do NOT use a personal email or phone for the new director that the new director does not control. The CAC portal sends notifications (acknowledgements, queries, completion notices) to the email and phone on file. The new director should provide their own current contacts, not a placeholder.