CAC Accreditation — Who Can Submit, and What DIY Actually Means

Two routes lead to every CAC submission. An accredited agent — a member of the NBA, ICAN, ANAN, or ICSAN with a current iCRP accreditation account — can submit on behalf of clients. Or the company's own director, proprietor, or in-house officer can sign in to pre.cac.gov.ng (pre-incorporation) or post.cac.gov.ng (post-incorporation) and file directly. Both routes are first-class under CAMA 2020; informal "CAC consultants" without professional accreditation have no standing under the framework.

This article is the cluster's reference for the question every other CAC article surfaces at some point: who actually does the work? The answer sits inside a three-actor architecture that runs across every CAMA 2020 operation, from a first-time business name reservation to a fifteen-year-old company's annual returns. Naming the architecture once, in one canonical place, lets every other article point here when the agent-versus-DIY question comes up.

The three actors:

• CAC is the registrar. The Corporate Affairs Commission issues certificates of registration and incorporation under CAMA 2020, holds the master record at the pre.cac.gov.ng and post.cac.gov.ng portals, and is regulated under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. CAC is the substantive decision-maker on every registration question.
• NRS (formerly FIRS) and JRB (formerly JTB) are the tax-integration layer. The Nigeria Revenue Service, renamed from the Federal Inland Revenue Service under the NRS (Establishment) Act 2025 effective 1 January 2026, and the Joint Revenue Board, renamed from the Joint Tax Board under the JRB (Establishment) Act 2025 on the same date, receive the Tax Identification Number request automatically through the CAC-FIRS integration in place since June 2020. They also collect stamp duty on share-transfer and other instruments. A CAC registrant does not deal with NRS or JRB at separate counters for incorporation purposes; the integration is at the back end.
• The accredited agent or the company's own representative is the customer-facing doer. The agent is a regulated professional listed on the CAC accreditation register; the DIY route is the company's own director, proprietor, or in-house officer signing in to the iCRP portal. The "or" is genuine — both routes are first-class.

The architecture sits parallel to the BVN cluster's three-actor pattern (NIBSS, CBN, and the bank, where the bank is the customer-facing layer); the BVN cluster's is BVN safe to share article is the architecture-reference hub on that side. The cross-cluster parallel is intentional. Across the Nigerian regulatory landscape the three-actor pattern recurs (registrar + integration + doer) and is one of the structural reading skills the site teaches.

CAC accreditation is not freely granted. It is granted only to members of four named professional bodies that hold the substantive qualifications for company-law work in Nigeria. Each body's accreditation category enables a specific kind of CAC submission privilege.

The four categories overlap on most routine CAC work but each carries its own specialist edge. An NBA-admitted lawyer is the right call for contentious matters; an ICSAN-chartered secretary is the right call for full-cycle company-formation engagements; an ICAN or ANAN-chartered accountant is the right call where the accounting work and the CAC filing are tied together. Where the work spans more than one specialism, the engagement often runs two agents in parallel — a lawyer for the contentious work and a secretary for the routine filings.

For professionals reading the article in their own right rather than as a client-side framework reference, the accreditation application runs through the iCRP portal.

1. 1
   Confirm eligibility against the four bodiesHold current membership of NBA, ICAN, ANAN, or ICSAN with a current practising licence or certificate for the year. The professional body's annual renewal must be in order; an expired licence will not survive the iCRP verification step.
2. 2
   Open an accredited-agent account at icrp.cac.gov.ngNavigate to icrp.cac.gov.ng/auth/new-account/register-accredited-agent/ and complete the registration form under the appropriate category code (NBA, ICAN, ANAN, ICSAN). The form captures the agent's full legal name, professional body and membership number, current practising licence reference, BVN, NIN, photograph, and contact details.
3. 3
   Upload the supporting documentsRequired documents typically include: the membership certificate from the professional body; the current year's practising licence or fee receipt; a valid government-issued ID (NIN slip, international passport, driver's licence, or PVC); a recent passport photograph; and any further category-specific attestation the portal requests at submission.
4. 4
   Pay the accreditation fee through RemitaThe current accreditation application fee is quoted at ₦10,000 in professional-firm summaries; verify the figure at the iCRP submission step before paying. Payment is through the Remita route used for every other CAC fee. The fee is the statutory line; any agent firm or platform that adds an administrative fee on top will itemise both separately.
5. 5
   Wait for verification with the professional bodyCAC verifies the practising licence against the named professional body. Verification windows depend on the body and the chapter; ICAN and ICSAN verification is typically a few working days; NBA and ANAN verification can run longer depending on chapter-level documentation. The accredited-agent dashboard activates once verification completes.

Once accredited, the agent uses the post-incorporation accredited-agent dashboard at icrp.cac.gov.ng/post_app/accredited-agent-dashboard to manage client filings. Each client company is opened as a separate case under the agent's account; the agent's name appears as the submitter and the client's details are captured separately. The agent's BVN and NIN remain the identity-verification anchors on every submission.

The other first-class path is the company's own director, proprietor, or in-house officer signing in to the iCRP portal directly. The framing rule across this cluster is that the agent-or-DIY "or" is genuine. The DIY route is not a poor relation of the agent route; for many routine operations it is the more efficient route.

The DIY route works particularly well for:

• Routine business-name registration under Part C. The proprietor opens an iCRP account, runs the name search, pays the reservation fee, completes the registration form, uploads the identification, and receives the e-certificate. The full cycle runs in days; an agent adds little.
• Routine post-incorporation filings. Annual returns, change of registered office address within the same LGA, secretary appointment for a small private company, minor director changes. The in-house company secretary or finance manager runs these directly from the post.cac.gov.ng dashboard.
• Annual-returns compliance. See CAC annual returns for the deadline stack. The filing is portal-mediated and well within the capability of any small business's own staff.
• Status checks and certificate downloads. See how to check your CAC status and how to download your CAC certificate. These are read-only operations that no agent is needed for.
• CTC applications against lost certificates. See lost CAC certificate. The proprietor can run this directly with a police report and an affidavit.
• Routine query responses. See CAC query meaning. Most queries are clerical fixes the applicant can run themselves.

The DIY route works less well for:

• Specialty-entity registrations. Companies limited by guarantee, incorporated trustees, limited liability partnerships, and limited partnerships carry substantive documentation requirements (AG consent, trust deed, partnership deed) where specialist drafting earns the agent's fee.
• Contentious modifications. Section 288 director removals, contested share transfers, and any matter likely to be litigated benefit from accredited-lawyer involvement.
• Cross-border work. Foreign-shareholder companies, foreign-director matters, and any work involving CERPAC or immigration overlay sit better with an accredited agent who handles cross-border filings routinely.
• Stamp-duty-bearing instruments. Share-transfer instruments are stampable at the Nigeria Revenue Service before CAC will accept the Form CAC 2A filing; agents familiar with the stamp-duty assessment shorten the timeline.
• Audited-accounts filings. Annual returns for non-small companies require audited accounts; the ICAN- or ANAN-chartered accountant who prepared the accounts typically files them.

The choice is operational, not status-led. For most readers reading this article from the client side, the realistic answer is a mix: DIY for routine filings, agent for specialty work.

A persistent confusion in the Nigerian business landscape is the gap between accredited agents and informal "CAC consultants". The two are not the same; treating them as the same can cost an applicant a registration.

The distinction:

• Accredited agent. Member of NBA, ICAN, ANAN, or ICSAN with a current practising licence and a verified iCRP accreditation account. Can submit on behalf of clients under accreditation privileges. Subject to professional-body discipline. Carries professional indemnity insurance. Listed on the CAC accreditation register.
• Informal 'CAC consultant' or 'CAC agent'. No professional accreditation. May hold general business knowledge or may simply have learned to navigate the portal as a freelancer. Cannot submit under accreditation privileges — must use the client's own iCRP account credentials, which is itself a security risk. Not subject to professional-body discipline. No indemnity.

Informal consultants are not illegal. They may genuinely help with form-filling, document preparation, and navigation. The risk is in assuming they have the standing of an accredited agent when they do not, and in sharing iCRP credentials with someone outside any professional discipline.

The defensive discipline:

• For accredited-agent work, ask any prospective agent for their iCRP accreditation reference and verify it. A genuine agent will produce the reference without hesitation.
• For informal-consultant help, treat the engagement as document-preparation assistance, not as submission-on-behalf. The applicant signs and submits from the applicant's own iCRP account.
• Never share iCRP credentials. The portal is the official channel for CAC correspondence on the company; a third party with the credentials has the ability to file modifications without the proprietor's knowledge.

This article is the cross-link target every other CAC article points at when the agent-or-DIY question comes up. The relevant connections:

• Pre-incorporation work. How to register a business name with CAC and how to register a limited company open with the agent-or-DIY framing. For specialty entities see how to register an NGO, how to register incorporated trustees, how to register a partnership, and how to register a company limited by guarantee.
• Name reservation work. CAC name reservation and CAC name reservation failed are both DIY-capable for routine cases; the agent earns the fee on consent routes.
• Fee guidance. CAC registration fees and CAC registration requirements cover the cost structure for both routes.
• Post-incorporation operations. How to check your CAC status, how to download your CAC certificate, how to get a TIN after CAC, and CAC annual returns are all DIY-friendly.
• Modifications. How to change your business address, how to change your business name, how to add a director, how to remove a director, how to change shareholders, and how to change your company secretary all carry distinct DIY-versus-agent calls — see the each article's framing.
• Troubleshooting. CAC payment pending, CAC document upload error, CAC query meaning, lost CAC certificate, and the CAC public search reference are all DIY-capable.

Read this article first when the question is "do I need an agent for this?". The framing here is the canonical reference; the individual articles add the operation-specific detail.

• Do NOT assume an accredited agent is mandatory. CAMA 2020 explicitly permits the company's own director or proprietor to file directly at iCRP. Agents are optional, and for most routine filings they are not the better-value route.
• Do NOT pay an informal 'CAC consultant' or 'CAC agent' as if they were accredited. Verify any prospective agent's iCRP accreditation reference before engaging. An unverified agent has no standing under the framework.
• Do NOT share iCRP credentials with any third party — accredited or otherwise. An accredited agent files from the agent's own iCRP account; the client's account stays private. A consultant asking for the client's password is a security signal.
• Do NOT use an accredited agent to bypass a CAMA 2020 substantive requirement. AG consent for a CLG, sector-regulator consent for restricted-word names, and the 28-day newspaper-publication requirement for incorporated trustees apply to every applicant. The agent's value is in handling the requirement well, not in skipping it.
• Do NOT assume the agent's fee is itemised inside the CAC statutory fee. The CAC statutory fee schedule is published; the agent's service fee sits separately on the agent's invoice. A combined quote should always be broken down into the two components.