How to Register Your Business/Company with CAC Nigeria

This article will show you how to register your business/company with corporate Affair Commission of Nigeria. I will show you how I registered my own business (Etimate Global Services) with CAC and the steps to take to register it without spending much. I will also show you what it will cost you to register.

Registration of any business in Nigeria is done by The Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria (CAC). The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was established under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 1990. The Commission is the Agency of Government charged with, amongst other responsibilities, the regulation and supervision of the formation, incorporation, registration and management of Companies, Business Names and Incorporated Trustees. The Commission also regulates and supervises the striking off and winding up of Companies, removal of Business Names from the register and dissolution of Incorporated Trustees.

So I will start with registration of business name. When I wanted to register my business, I came up with Utimate Services and Utimate Unique Concept; those 2 names were rejected because Ultimate Services was already registered. So later came up with Etimate Global Services and Etimate Unique Concept. I derived the names from my first name and surname – Utibe for UTIMATE and  Etim for ETIMATE and then add Global Services or Unique Services or Concept.

REGISTRATION OF BUSINESS NAME/COMPANY NAME

Registration of business name in Nigeria or incorporation of your company in Nigeria can sometimes be a nightmare due to some unnecessary bureaucracies. Normally, registering your business is done within a month, but sometimes it can take you up to 3 months to get it done.

To register your business name:

1)      Come up with a good and unique business name/company name and alternative name (A name

2)      Go to CAC office in your state for business name search

3)      Obtain business name search form for N200, fill the form and submit it.

4)      Check back after 2 weeks to see if the name is available. If the name is not available (may be the name is similar to another company), you would have to come up with another name and pay N200 again for another search to be conducted.

5)      If your business name is available, you proceed to register your business name. Registration of business name is just N4000 only. You need 2 passports to register.

6)      If you have more than one office, you are required to pay N1000 for each of the offices.

7)      An individual or two or more individuals can register business name and you don’t need a lawyer to do that.

If you’re looking forward to registering Private Company limited by shares, Private unlimited Company, Public Company limited by shares, Public unlimited Company and Company limited by guarantee, it is advisable you get a lawyer to help you with the registration.