Registration of companies in Nigeria ‖ Eternity Law International

The Cοrporate Αffairs Cοmmission (CAC) is a regulatory body set up to administer Nigerian entities. Recently, it has launched a new e-registration platform, due to which company registration in Nigeria can be done remotely. As specified by the law, an entry in a registrar of this regulator is a compulsory term for setting up a Nigerian business presence. Below is an overview of the rules for the Nigerian entity setup.

Requirements for a Nigerian company

A company in Nigeria can be formed by one person who can act as both executive and shareowner where no foreign citizens will be engaged in the company.
If noncitizens will be engaged, at least 2 directors should be designated. If shareholders are foreign citizens, at least 2 persons should act as shareholders.
A foreign corporation can set up a branch and be the sole shareowner if a such model has at least 2 executives.
A private company with only local management is not compulsory obliged to nominate a secretary, whereas a company owned by foreign citizens or involving overseas participation must nominate a secretary.
Each entity must have a physical presence in Nigeria.
Executives and shareowners must be above eighteen years old.
Citizens can form a business with any authorized capital amount; whilst a foreigner should have at min. ₦10 million capital to set up a company.

Stages of forming a company

Registration of a company in Nigeria isn’t a challenging process, which is run in an e-portal. The stages of how an entity is established are as follows:

Choosing and reserving company name (registration of company name in Nigeria);
Completing all statutory forms;
Bearing fees and taxes levied on written or e-transaction papers;
Getting in reach with the appropriate bodies.

Paperwork

Once the requirements for company registration in Nigeria are satisfied, entities receive papers from the e-portal. The scope of papers includes constitutional documents which set out the basic management structure of the entity, and statements of compliance by lawyers. But for a statute, the authority only gives templates and then an owner gets them complemented.

To sum up

Typically, registering can be done within 2 to 7 days provided that there are no force majors. The sum of contributed capital is subject to the nature of business to be run and if a noncitizen-person is active in the entity. Individuals interested in requirements for company registration in Nigeria are advised to consult a lawyer to assess the correct shareowner threshold for certain rules for specific businesses and other peculiarities.

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