Business & CAC
All business & cac guides
Every cac guide we publish, grouped by topic. 27 guides in total. Looking for the highlights first? Start at the cac hub.
Business structures
7 guidesHow to Register a Business Name with CAC (2026)
Two routes lead to the same outcome under Part C of CAMA 2020. The company's own representative can submit directly at pre.cac.gov.ng, or an accredited agent (chartered secretary, lawyer, or chartered accountant) can submit on the company's behalf. Both are first-class.
CAC Guide8 min readUpdated May 2026How to Register a Limited Company in Nigeria (2026)
A Part A limited company under CAMA 2020 takes more pre-portal homework than a Part C business name. Five decisions land before the iCRP portal can do anything useful with the application.
CAC Guide11 min readUpdated May 2026Business Name vs Limited Company — Which One Do You Actually Need?
A business name under Part C of CAMA 2020 is a registered trading identity; a limited company under Part A is a separate legal person. The decision turns on liability, tax, banking treatment, and ongoing compliance load, not on price alone.
Comparison8 min readUpdated May 2026How to Register an NGO in Nigeria (2026)
NGO is not its own legal form under Nigerian law. The reader's NGO has to register as one of three CAMA 2020 structures, and which one fits depends on what the NGO is actually doing, who it answers to, and how it intends to fund itself.
CAC Guide9 min readUpdated May 2026How to Register Incorporated Trustees in Nigeria (2026)
The trust deed is the load-bearing document, not the CAC form. The constitution declares the objects, names the trustees and their powers, sets the governance rules, and binds the trustees personally to act for the entity. Every other step in the registration chain depends on it being right.
CAC Guide11 min readUpdated May 2026How to Register a Partnership in Nigeria (2026)
Two partners is the minimum and two documents do the real work. The CAC business name certificate is the public-facing artefact; the partnership deed under state Partnership Law is the private internal document that decides every future partner dispute. Knowing the difference is half the job.
CAC Guide9 min readUpdated May 2026How to Register a Company Limited by Guarantee in Nigeria (2026)
A CLG is not a routine 24 to 72-hour registration. The Attorney-General of the Federation's consent timeline through the Federal Ministry of Justice is the binding constraint, typically 4 to 12 weeks and sometimes longer where the ministry queries the objects.
CAC Guide10 min readUpdated May 2026
Name search and reservation
4 guidesCAC Name Reservation — How to Run the Search and Reserve a Name
A CAC name-availability check returns one of three outcomes. Each routes the application to a different next step. Knowing which outcome you have is what stops a reservation fee being spent against a name that was never going to register.
How-to7 min readUpdated May 2026CAC Name Reservation Failed — The Five Refusal Categories
A refused CAC name reservation is rarely a one-off. It almost always falls into one of five refusal categories under Section 852 of CAMA 2020 or the suffix-rules. Naming the category is what opens the right recovery path.
Troubleshooting8 min readUpdated May 2026CAC Query — What It Means and How to Respond
A CAC query is not a refusal. It is a pause on the application with a written request from the reviewer for clarification or correction. Most queries resolve inside a single response; the trick is to know which of the five common query types you have.
Troubleshooting9 min readUpdated May 2026CAC Public Search — What Is Public, What Is Not
The CAC public search at publicsearch.cac.gov.ng exposes a deliberately narrow slice of the register. Knowing what crosses the public-private line before you start searching is the difference between useful due diligence and time spent looking for data that was never going to be there.
Reference8 min readUpdated May 2026
Requirements and fees
2 guidesCAC Registration Requirements — Documents and Identifiers by Entity Type
CAMA 2020 splits registrable entities into six common types. Each carries its own documentary bundle, identifier load, and consent path. Knowing which type you are registering tells you what every other CAC article you read needs to assume.
Reference9 min readUpdated May 2026CAC Registration Fees — What Each Entity Type Actually Costs
The CAC statutory schedule was gazetted on 29 May 2025. Business name registration starts at ₦10,000; private limited companies scale by share capital; tax-identification issuance is bundled at no extra fee.
Money page8 min readUpdated May 2026
Post-registration
3 guidesHow to Check Your CAC Status (2026)
A CAC status is not one label. It is a small set of states, and each one tells the bank counter, the tender desk, and the supplier procurement team a different story about the business. Knowing which state your entity sits in is the first step in any post-incorporation operation.
How-to8 min readUpdated May 2026How to Download Your CAC Certificate (2026)
The e-certificate is a PDF artefact, not a workflow. It carries the entity's identifying record, the TIN since the June 2020 CAC-FIRS integration, the Registrar-General's seal, and a verification QR code. The download from iCRP is the second step; understanding what the artefact contains is the first.
How-to7 min readUpdated May 2026Lost CAC Certificate — How to Obtain a Replacement
A lost certificate is rarely the operation most readers think it is. The CAC does not issue a duplicate original. It issues a Certified True Copy of the existing record, and the CTC carries the same legal weight as the lost paper.
Troubleshooting7 min readUpdated May 2026
TIN after CAC
1 guideAnnual returns
1 guideDirector changes
3 guidesHow to Add a Director on CAC (2026)
Most readers think adding a director is one form. The truth is two interlocking documents. A board resolution appointing the new director and Form CAC 7 as the statutory record, plus a third, the consent letter from the new director. Missing any one of the three pauses the filing.
CAC Guide8 min readUpdated May 2026How to Remove a Director on CAC (2026)
Removing a director is not a routine post-incorporation form. Section 288 of CAMA 2020 entitles the director to special notice, the right to make written representations, and the right to be heard. Skipping any step exposes the company to litigation the courts will enforce.
CAC Guide10 min readUpdated May 2026How to Change Your Company Secretary on CAC (2026)
Before the board even meets to appoint a new secretary, confirm the candidate's qualifications match the Section 332 list. A non-qualified appointment for a public company will not survive the CAC review. The qualifications check is the gateway step.
CAC Guide8 min readUpdated May 2026
Entity changes
3 guidesHow to Change Your Business Address on CAC (2026)
Section 50 of CAMA 2020 governs the registered office address. The timing rule turns on one distinction. A change that crosses a Local Government Area boundary carries a fourteen-day special notice obligation; a change within the same LGA is the lighter, faster filing.
CAC Guide8 min readUpdated May 2026How to Change Your Business Name on CAC (2026)
Before the board even meets to authorise a name change, run the CAC name-availability search at publicsearch.cac.gov.ng. A board resolution to change to an unavailable name is wasted paperwork; the discipline is step zero before step one.
CAC Guide8 min readUpdated May 2026How to Change Shareholders on CAC (2026)
A share transfer is two operations, not one. The share transfer instrument is a stamp-duty-bearing document at the Nigeria Revenue Service, and the duty must be paid before CAC will register the transfer. The financial trigger comes first; the CAC filing follows.
CAC Guide9 min readUpdated May 2026
Troubleshooting
2 guidesCAC Document Upload Error — Technical Fixes
A document upload error at the iCRP portal is a technical problem, not a legal one. Five common failure modes account for almost every case, and every one has a portal-side fix the applicant can run themselves.
Troubleshooting7 min readUpdated May 2026CAC Payment Pending — How to Clear the Stuck State
The dashboard reads Pending but the bank already debited the account. That is not one failure; it is one of four distinct payment states between Remita, the bank, and CAC reconciliation. Identify the state first; the recovery follows.
Troubleshooting9 min readUpdated May 2026