How to Register a Partnership in Nigeria (2026)

A partnership requires two distinguishing facts that the reader should hold in mind together from the start.

Two partners is the minimum. A partnership by definition involves at least two persons carrying on business in common with a view to profit. A sole proprietor running under a registered business name is not a "partnership" — they are a sole proprietorship, regardless of what the business name says. The two-partners floor sits in the Partnership Act 1890 (received English law that still applies in states without their own Partnership Law) and in every state Partnership Law that has since been enacted (Lagos, Abuja-FCT, Rivers, Kano, and most other states have their own).

Two documents do the work. The CAC business name certificate under Part C of CAMA 2020 is the public-facing artefact — the document the bank counter checks, the supplier asks for, the tender desk records. The partnership deed under state Partnership Law (or under the Partnership Act 1890 by default) is the private internal document — the document that governs profit-sharing, capital contributions, dispute resolution, exit terms, and dissolution between the partners themselves.

These two documents are governed by different bodies of law and serve different purposes.

Most partnership disputes are won or lost on the partnership deed, not on the CAC certificate. The CAC certificate confirms the partnership exists in the public register; the deed determines what happens when one partner wants out, when capital contributions get disputed, when profits get unevenly divided, or when one partner makes a unilateral decision the others did not agree to. Drafting the deed properly before the partnership starts trading is the cheapest insurance available.

The CAC registration of a partnership trading name runs through the same Part C flow as a sole-proprietor business name. The procedural mechanics at the iCRP portal are identical; the difference is in the per-partner data.

Each partner provides the universal CAC identifier bundle: National Identification Number (NIN), Bank Verification Number (BVN), passport-style photograph, signature scan, residential address, email, and phone number. The portal validates each partner's BVN against NIBSS and each partner's NIN against NIMC in real time at registration.

A Part C partnership trading name accepts between two and twenty partners; beyond twenty the structure defaults into limited partnership territory under Part B of CAMA 2020. The 20-partner ceiling is a practical limit rather than an absolute one — the iCRP portal becomes unwieldy with many partners' identifier bundles, and the deed itself becomes correspondingly complex.

The Part C statutory fees: ₦10,000 for the registration plus ₦500 for the name reservation, per the CAC New Schedule of Fees gazetted 29 May 2025. Both fees are paid through Remita against an RRR generated at the iCRP portal.

The issuance window: A working day or two on a clean submission for a Part C partnership trading name. The portal's automated checks (name reservation, identifier validation, fee reconciliation) close quickly when each partner's bundle is complete.

Post-incorporation obligations: Annual return under Section 822 of CAMA 2020 on Form CAC/BN 06, filed by 30 June each year except the year of registration. Fee ₦5,000 per year. See CAC annual returns for the wider compliance picture. The Section 814 registration obligation has a 28-day commencement window — the partnership must register within 28 days of commencing business under the name; trading under an unregistered partnership trading name attracts a daily penalty under Section 815.

For the wider Part C business-name walkthrough that covers the iCRP portal procedure, the name reservation step, and the payment routing, see how to register a business name with CAC. The mechanics are the same; the only difference for a partnership is the per-partner identifier loading.

The partnership deed is the document most partnership disputes turn on. CAC does not ask for it, does not see it, and does not enforce it; its enforcement runs through the partners between themselves and through the High Court of the relevant state where a dispute escalates. But the deed determines the substantive partnership relationship.

A comprehensive partnership deed covers, at minimum, the following:

• Names of the partners and the partnership. Full legal names of each partner, the registered business name as it appears on the CAC certificate, the registered address.
• Commencement date and duration. The date from which the partnership operates, and whether it is for a fixed term, a fixed project, or open-ended (a "partnership at will" continues until terminated by any partner).
• Capital contributions. The amount each partner contributes (cash, assets, or services valued at an agreed sum), the rules on increasing or decreasing capital, and whether capital is recoverable on exit.
• Profit and loss sharing. The proportion in which profits and losses are shared between the partners. By default under the Partnership Act 1890 partners share equally regardless of capital contribution; most deeds override this with a contribution-weighted or work-weighted formula.
• Management and decision-making. Which partner handles which area of the operation, which decisions require unanimous consent, which require majority, who signs cheques, who binds the partnership in contracts.
• Drawings and salaries. Whether partners draw a regular sum against profits, whether one or more partners are paid a salary in addition to a profit share (a "salaried partner" arrangement).
• Accounting. How accounts are kept, when accounts are settled between the partners, whether external auditing applies.
• Admission of new partners. How a new partner joins — typically requiring unanimous consent or a defined majority, with the new partner signing a deed of accession.
• Exit of existing partners — retirement, resignation, death. How a partner exits, the notice period required, the capital recovery arrangement, the buyout valuation method, the non-compete clauses post-exit.
• Expulsion. Grounds for expelling a partner (typically gross misconduct, breach of the deed, criminal conviction), the procedure (notice, hearing, decision), and the financial consequences.
• Dispute resolution. Whether disputes are resolved by arbitration (under the Arbitration and Mediation Act) or by litigation in the High Court of the relevant state, including the choice of arbitrator or jurisdiction.
• Dissolution. The conditions under which the partnership dissolves, the wind-up procedure, the order of asset distribution (settling creditors, repaying capital contributions, distributing residual profit).

The deed should be executed by all partners in the presence of witnesses, with each partner retaining a signed original. Stamp duty under the Stamp Duties Act applies and is paid at the Nigeria Revenue Service (formerly FIRS); the duty rate is modest (typically a small ad valorem charge on the capital contributions plus a fixed duty) and stamping is a routine step before the deed can be relied on in any legal proceeding.

The DIY-vs-lawyer question on the deed. Two partners with a shared understanding of their commercial terms and access to state-published templates can DIY a basic partnership deed. The Lagos State Ministry of Justice publishes a model deed; many state bars publish form-of-deed templates; standard precedent books for Nigerian legal practitioners cover the standard clauses. For a simple partnership with two partners contributing equal capital and sharing equal profits, the DIY deed is workable. For partnerships with unequal contributions, complex profit-sharing formulas, multiple partners, or commercial activities likely to attract disputes, a lawyer's drafting is the responsible choice. The deed lives between the partners for years; the cost of professional drafting at the start is materially less than the cost of litigating an ambiguous clause later.

CAMA 2020 created two new partnership structures under Part B that did not exist under the prior legislation: the limited partnership (LP) and the limited liability partnership (LLP). Both are separate legal entities, both offer some form of limited liability to at least some of the partners, and both are registered with CAC under a different procedural flow from the Part C partnership trading name.

Limited partnership (LP). An LP consists of one or more general partners (with unlimited personal liability for the partnership's debts) and one or more limited partners (whose liability is capped at their capital contribution). The general partners run the partnership; the limited partners are passive investors and lose their limited liability if they take part in management. CAMA 2020 caps the LP at 20 partners total (general plus limited). The LP is suited to investment-fund-style arrangements where one or two professional managers (general partners) run the operation and a number of passive investors (limited partners) contribute capital.

Limited liability partnership (LLP). An LLP is a separate legal entity in which all partners have limited liability for the partnership's debts. Each partner is an agent of the LLP but not of the other partners, so one partner cannot be held personally liable for another partner's wrongful actions. An LLP must have at least two partners (no upper limit) and at least two designated partners (one of whom must be resident in Nigeria) who carry the compliance responsibility. The LLP is suited to professional-services firms — law firms, accounting firms, consulting practices — where the partners want corporate-style limited liability without share capital.

When does an LP or LLP fit instead of a Part C partnership?

A Part C partnership trading name is the right choice for: two or more individuals running a small commercial operation together, who are comfortable carrying personal liability, and where the simplicity of Part C registration and light compliance outweighs the limited-liability benefit of Part B.

An LP is the right choice for: investment-style arrangements where some partners contribute capital and others contribute management; where the limited partners want their liability capped at their investment; where the LP cap of 20 partners is not a constraint.

An LLP is the right choice for: professional-services firms where the partners want limited liability for each other's actions; partnerships with significant exposure where personal liability is a material risk; partnerships expecting to grow beyond 20 partners.

The Part B fees and timelines are heavier than the Part C line. LP and LLP registrations sit on a longer documentary chain (the partnership agreement is registered with CAC, the designated partners' particulars are recorded, the LP's general and limited partners are distinguished on the register) and the CAC processing time runs closer to a private company's than to a business name's. For most small partnerships the Part C route is the right starting structure; the Part B routes are upgrades that justify their weight only where the limited-liability benefit is material to the business.

For the wider comparison between the Part C structure and a Part A separate-legal-person structure see business name vs limited company.

The Part C partnership registration runs through the same iCRP flow as a sole-proprietor business name, with each partner's identifier bundle loaded separately.

1. 1
   Open the iCRP portal and create an account if needed
2. 2
   Run the name availability search
3. 3
   Reserve the name and pay the ₦500 reservation fee
4. 4
   Open the Part C business name application
5. 5
   Load each partner's identifier bundle
6. 6
   Pay the ₦10,000 registration fee through Remita
7. 7
   Submit and track to issuance
8. 8
   Execute the partnership deed in parallel

The eight steps run end-to-end in a few working days for a clean Part C application. The deed-drafting work runs in parallel and can take a few days to a few weeks depending on the complexity. The corporate bank account is opened against the CAC certificate plus the partners' personal identification; the stamped partnership deed is not required by the bank but is required at every contested-partnership stage thereafter.

The Part C partnership registration is unambiguously portal-DIY-capable. The iCRP portal walks the user through every step; each partner's identifier bundle is validated in real time; the CAC fee is modest; the timeline is short. Two partners with their NINs, BVNs, photographs, and signatures in hand can register a partnership in a single sitting at the portal.

The accredited-agent route is available but rarely justified for a routine Part C partnership. A chartered secretary, qualified lawyer, or chartered accountant on the CAC accreditation register can submit on the partners' behalf, typically charging between ₦15,000 and ₦40,000 in service fees on top of the CAC statutory line. For a routine partnership where both partners have their identifiers in order, the agent's service fee is paying for convenience rather than expertise.

Where the agent's service is genuinely load-bearing is on the partnership deed, not on the CAC registration. A qualified lawyer drafting a partnership deed tailored to the partners' commercial terms — unequal capital contributions, complex profit-sharing formulas, specific exit and dissolution arrangements, clear dispute-resolution clauses — is worth the fee for any partnership beyond the simplest two-equal-partners case. The CAC submission itself is procedural; the deed drafting is substantive professional work.

The "you need a lawyer to register a partnership" framing is misleading. The CAC side is DIY-capable. The deed side benefits from a lawyer where the partnership terms are anything beyond very simple. Naming the two routes separately — DIY for CAC, lawyer for the deed — is the honest framing.

Informal "CAC consultants" on social media who hold no professional accreditation have no standing under the framework. They may help with form-filling but cannot submit under accreditation privileges; their fee is a personal-assistant charge, not a regulated professional service.

• Do NOT register a partnership without a written partnership deed. The CAC certificate establishes the public-facing trading name; it does not govern the relationship between the partners. Every contested partnership dispute traces back to the absence of a deed or to an unclear deed. A simple two-page deed is materially better than no deed.
• Do NOT assume the CAC certificate proves the profit-sharing arrangement. The CAC register records the partners' names; it does not record how they split profits, who contributed what capital, or who has authority over which decisions. The deed records all of this. Banks, suppliers, and counterparties look to the CAC certificate; the partners themselves look to the deed.
• Do NOT register one partner as the sole proprietor and add the other partner informally. The arrangement makes the second person legally invisible — they have no recorded rights, no access to the bank account in the partnership name, no claim on the trading name. Where two people are in partnership the registration should reflect that from day one.
• Do NOT skip the stamp-duty step on the deed. Under the Stamp Duties Act the partnership deed is a stampable instrument; an unstamped deed cannot be relied on in any legal proceeding. Stamping at the Nigeria Revenue Service is a routine post-execution step and the duty rate is modest. The unstamped deed loses its evidential value at exactly the moment the partners need it.
• Do NOT confuse a Part C partnership with an LP or LLP under Part B. The three structures have different liability regimes — unlimited personal liability for Part C, mixed liability for LP, limited liability for LLP. Choose the structure that fits the partnership's risk profile before submitting; converting between structures later requires fresh registration, not a portal-side modification.
• Do NOT register a partnership with more than 20 partners under Part C. CAMA 2020 caps the Part C partnership trading name at 20 partners; beyond that the structure defaults into limited partnership territory under Part B and should be registered as an LP or LLP from the start. A 25-partner Part C application will be queried.
• Do NOT operate the partnership's banking through one partner's personal account. The corporate-style bank account in the partnership name is the lawful arrangement; running partnership receipts through one partner's personal account creates tax and partner-equity disputes that are hard to unwind.