How to Download Your CAC Certificate (2026)

The CAC certificate of registration is an artefact, not a process. It is a single-page PDF — generated to the registrant's iCRP dashboard at the moment the Commission approves the registration — and it carries every piece of identifying data the entity needs to present at a bank counter, a tender desk, a tax office, or a counterparty's compliance team.

Naming what the PDF contains makes the download walkthrough straightforward. The download is the easy step; recognising the elements on the certificate is what most readers need first.

The single most important element for downstream operations is the RC or BN number. Every other CAC document the entity will ever produce — Status Report, certified true copy, change of registered office, change of directors — pulls against this identifier.

CAC began electronic service delivery from August 2020 and rolled out the full e-certificate format in the portal upgrade between 28 December 2020 and 4 January 2021. The upgrade enacted CAMA 2020 and replaced the older paper-and-counter-collection format with the PDF-on-dashboard format that is current now.

Two consequences for the reader:

• Certificates issued from late 2020 onward are PDFs by default. No physical certificate is printed at CAC; the PDF on the iCRP dashboard is the canonical original. A printed copy is a printed-out version of the PDF, not a separate physical document.
• Certificates issued before the rollout exist as scanned paper records. Entities registered before 2020 hold their original paper certificate; CAC will issue a re-typed or scanned PDF version on a certified-true-copy request, but the original artefact for these entities sits on paper.

Banks, tender desks, and counterparties have adapted to the PDF format and accept either the printed PDF or the digital file. The QR-code verification works in both renderings — scanning the printed QR code returns the same iCRP record as scanning the digital QR code.

The download from the iCRP authenticated dashboard is straightforward once the account is in place. The walkthrough below assumes the entity is already linked to the iCRP account being used; if it is not, see the section after the walkthrough on linking.

1. 1
   Open iCRP and sign in
2. 2
   Complete the 2FA step
3. 3
   Open the entity's dashboard
4. 4
   Click the Certificate download link
5. 5
   Save the PDF to two locations
6. 6
   Optional — scan the QR code to verify the file

The walkthrough above is for the registrant's first download. Re-downloads work identically; there is no per-download fee or daily limit at the iCRP side.

Two common scenarios send a reader to this section.

An accredited agent registered the entity

The agent's iCRP account holds the registration record. The agent can email the PDF straight to you on request; this is the routine case for most readers who used an accredited agent. To get your own access, open a registrant account at icrp.cac.gov.ng/auth/new-account/ using the same email and director details as on the registration record. After the account is opened, link the entity to your account using the entity reference (RC or BN number) and the email on the original filing. The link request is approved by CAC after a verification check; the certificate is then on your dashboard alongside the agent's view.

The agent-or-DIY routing here is genuine. Both routes work; the agent route is faster if the agent is responsive, the DIY route is the standing path that does not depend on the agent's availability.

The original iCRP login is lost

If the email on the registration is one the registrant no longer accesses, or the password is lost and the recovery routes do not work, the route is to open a fresh iCRP account on a current email and apply to link the entity. CAC's verification check uses the director's BVN and NIN to confirm the link request. The accredited-agent route is the alternative — an agent can pull the certificate on the registrant's behalf without going through the iCRP recovery flow.

The QR code on the e-certificate is the certificate's tamper-resistance feature. When a counterparty (bank, supplier, lender) needs to confirm a certificate is genuine, scanning the QR code returns the entity's live record at the CAC register. The verification flow:

• The counterparty scans the QR code with any smartphone camera or QR reader.
• The scan opens an iCRP verification URL in the counterparty's browser.
• The page returns the entity's basic record: registered name, RC or BN number, date of registration, entity type, and current status (Active or Inactive).
• The counterparty compares the on-screen record with the data printed on the certificate. A match confirms authenticity; a mismatch flags a possible counterfeit.

What the QR scan returns is intentionally limited to the public-search-level data, not the deeper Status Report. The verification is a fraud check; for transaction-grade due diligence the counterparty pulls a paid Status Report separately. See how to check your CAC status for the wider status-check channels.

The certificate is the entity's identifying document for most downstream operations. The adjacent CAC and cross-cluster routes:

• How to check your CAC status — the status check is the operational sibling. The certificate proves the entity exists; the status check proves the entity is current.
• How to get a TIN after CAC registration — for the four edge cases where the TIN is not on the certificate (pre-June-2020 registrations, illegible TIN, Part F trustees with separate manual route, individual TIN under the NTAA 2026 framework), the manual route through the Nigeria Revenue Service.
• CAC annual returns — filed against the entity's record at iCRP, using the RC or BN number on the certificate.
• CAC registration fees — the certified-true-copy fee (₦5,000) for a formal authenticated replacement when the original is lost.

For the registration walkthroughs the certificate is the output of, see how to register a business name and how to register a limited company. For the wider documentary chain — what the certificate joins in a bank-account application — see CAC registration requirements.