This has become a torn in my flesh. I've been looking for a way to Apostille a particular document in Nigeria for a long time but to no avail. This has cost me so much money and I still haven't found a way to do this. Please if you know the process involved, kindly leave a comment below. Thanks!

Cc Lalasticlala
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Amberon11:
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Check out this: https://grrrltraveler.com/how-to-apostille-documents-for-esl-teaching-applicants-of-korea/

First of all, authenticating documents in Nigeria does not exactly involve 'Apstille Stamp' in the strict sense of it, because Nigeria is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention (which legalizes and validates documents for international use). However, the equivalent of an Apostille Stamp in Nigeria is the authentication seal appended on documents by the country's Ministry of Foreign Afairs. This oficial authentication is also internationally recognized just like the Apostile Stamp.

The official process for 'apostilling', or in effect, authenticating and legalizing your certificates and other documents at the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seemingly straightforward on paper but is quite cumbersome in practice.

1. Depending on the document or certificate you'd like to authenticate and the country you’re presenting the document to, the first step is to contact a certified Notary Public to notarize the document for you. This is not always required, but you need to check with the embassy to be sure.

2. After the document has been notarized (if required), the second step is to take the document with you to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja and ask for assigned officers of the Legal Services Division (LSD), to whom you should directly submit the documents – usually between the hours of 9 am to 12 noon on Mondays to Thursdays.

3. The cost of the document authentication varies depending on the number of pages of document you want to legalize, but you'd be required to make payments at the bank and then follow a string of procedures as instructed by the LSD officers.

For those who are seeking to study abroad, it is compulsory to first authenticate your academic certificates and credentials (such as WAEC or NECO certificate, degree certificate and in some cases examination transcripts) at the Ministry of Education before presenting them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for authentication as described above.

Unfortunately, the process for authenticating educational certificates and other academic documents at the Ministry of Education is even more stressful and time-consuming than what you would later encounter at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

First, you have to take your academic documents to the 8th Floor of the Federal Secretariat Building in Abuja (where the Education Ministry is located), present a print out of your WAEC or NECO certificate, and obtain a form which you must fill to begin the process of authentication.

For those who want to travel to Malaysia for studies, there is an extra retirement known as the Letter of Eligibility which will be issued by the Ministry of Education alongside legalization after evaluating your First School Leaving Certificate, Testimonial, and other associated documents. This can take a considerable amount of time to sort out.

Subsequently, you will be asked to go and make payments via REMITA in any commercial bank for each of the documents to be authenticated. The official cost or each document is about N300 – N500 per page currently. The total cost would be computed to let you know exactly how much you need to pay at the bank. Being a REMITA payment, you would have to first generate a REMITA payment ID that will be used to designate your payment to the appropriate government account.

After making payment, you have to make a photocopy of your payment slip and take the original to the Revenue Office of the Ministry of Education. Afterwards, you would submit it along with your certificates and wait for instructions pertaining to when you should return for the authenticated certificate(s). Be prepared for many frustrating ‘come today, come tomorrow’ delays,, only you choose to follow the unofficial process which is discussed subsequently.

Note that the Ministry of Education only attends to issues relating to authentication of academic documents on Mondays to Thursdays, so Fridays are out of it.