Rlst84sale:

Our own Naija people never cease to amaze you, what are we turning the topic to?. If you know how people here can get help to get their business up share it not starting an arguement. This is not directing my response at anyone in particular please share good info if you have any if not zip it. Most of the people here have little caiptal to start with in the first place why discourage or make life difficult for them?. For every way there is a less expensive and legitimate alternative if you know it please share it.

I have had course to educate people here(i.e nairaland) and I am sure other lawyers have done same. Now the only form of business an individual can register at CAC is BUSINESS NAME. Every other one you have to use the services of a lawyer, chartered secretaries and chartered acct. They are the ones that have been accredited by CAC to do so. You cannot register a LTD,PLC or whatever form without them because you will have to use their accreditation number i.e. for lawyers you have something like NBA/IND/,  you will require this number to do bizz other than Business name with CAC. Thus, rather than come here and ask for info on how much it takes to register a coy, I would have expected you to ask who could do it affordably for you.

Rlst84sale:


Does anyone know, when you incorporate your business in any state capital (say Lagos or Portharcourt) in Nigeria do they have a timely turn around response as when you file it in Abuja or do you have to go to Abuja to file it?. How long does it normally take when you file it in a state and when you file it in Abuja? If anyone have information on this please let us know. Thank you.



Well, CAC is like any other government parastatal or agency wherein all decisions are taken at Abuja.So whereever you submit your documents for registration, PH, Lag or Kano or any other CAC offices nationwide, it would still be batched and sent to ABJ. Now ordinarily registration spans 2 weeks in Abuja, so if your documents are submitted outside ABJ it means they would be available for collection where you submits between 3-5 weeks.

That boils down to fair business practice and antitrust. Why not let people do it themselves if they so choose and if they feel the need for a lawyer's/chattered secretary/accountant's services then let them obtain one. People should be given that option. It is so done in all civilized and democratic societies why should Nigeria be an exception?.  Where is our principle of a republic?. I should be able to do it myself if I know how provided I'm doing it for my own business and not for someone else or playing lawyer for others.  In America you can walk into the office of the secretary of your state and obtain forms and instructions and register, incorporate your business as long as the name is available and you pay the required fees. There is a similar process in Britain you have an option of doing it yourself or employing the services of a professional.

omogidi234:

I have had course to educate people here(i.e nairaland) and I am sure other lawyers have done same. Now the only form of business an individual can register at CAC is BUSINESS NAME. Every other one you have to use the services of a lawyer, chartered secretaries and chartered acct. They are the ones that have been accredited by CAC to do so. You cannot register a LTD,PLC or whatever form without them because you will have to use their accreditation number i.e. for lawyers you have something like NBA/IND/, you will require this number to do bizz other than Business name with CAC. Thus, rather than come here and ask for info on how much it takes to register a coy, I would have expected you to ask who could do it affordably for you.

Omogidi,
I am sure i understand you clearly that you are a professional lawyer ?If the answer is yes,it would be wiser to educate the CAC on how to disseminates information about their services to the public.
A view at their website clearly states what is required to incorporate a business and better be educated-

Q - What is the procedure for incorporating a company?

Search for availability of name
Payment of appropriate stamp duty fee at the Federal Board of Internal Revenue
Submission of Memorandum and Articles of Association together with statutory forms for verification and assessment
Payment of statutory fees at the Corporate Affairs Commission
Q - What is the procedure for registering a Business Name?

Search for availability of name
Submission of duly completed statutory forms with two passport sized photographs of each applicant attached to the form
Payment of filing fee at the Corporate Affairs Commission

Like the poster rightly said,in the UK it cost only £20.00 to incorporate a business(within 8-10 working days) or £50.00 for same day.You only need to fill in 2 set of forms and your Memorandum and Articles of Association to complete the process.(You can as well get Memorandum and Articles of Association for a fee)
I am sorry to Nigeria lawyers here,i have not been impressed by the intellectual level of some of our Naija lawyers there in naija.A recent presentation/representation at the FCT public hearing committee by some lawyers was a flip floppy-
-lack of information
-straight jacket ideas
-lack of cohesion
-narrow minded
-no logical reasoning backed up with available case laws or instances
-etc etc etc

Keep up the good work Brownbono

While information on incorporating a business is Nigeria is somewhat lacking and confusing, i will have to disagree with the point that the cost is too high.
For those making comparisons with the US, the cost of incorporating in the US varies by state. I know it costs atleast $300 for my state of incorporation if you do it yourself. An accountant or lawyer can charge anywhere from $150 to $400 to provide you this service.
In the case of Nigeria, we need lawyers and accountants to provide better straightforward information and education on business registration since it is a service they offer. They should offer better transparent services to their incorporating clients and then charge accordingly based on their service level.

Samm

I don't want to imply that you are lying but it would be helpful if you can post the state or city name here in the US so we can go online and find out the facts. I have incorporated at least 2 different companies if not 3 and none of them costs up to $150 when you do it yourself. That is here in the state of Georgia, however, if you want to expedite it and have it done same day I think it will cost you somewhere under $150. You guys can go online and research the facts. Nigeria should just make their system better transparent and I think lawyers/accountants could be one of the agents to facilitate such transparency.

@brownbonno. God bless you for your observation. However, please note that for every positive there is a negative, the lawyers that you have seen presenting incoherent speech or what have you at public hearing were the ones who had the opportunity of getting there. If you are a Nigerian you should know that no matter how good you are if they do not want you there you can't be there. The best you can do is go on the pages of dailies and express your views which does not matter or in nairaland (where so many people who are not in touch with Nigeria{not you oh} express all manner of silly opinions, of course I keep saying it "opinion is the cheapest thing you can buy". The totality of this is that you will find the ones that are not good occupying sensitive positions and when the bubble burst the whole world blame the lawyers- remember INEC saga involving a SAN and the power contract saga where over 20 non-registered companies were awarded contracts, the list is endless. I strongly believe that this is a phase.

samm:

While information on incorporating a business is Nigeria is somewhat lacking and confusing, i will have to disagree with the point that the cost is too high.
For those making comparisons with the US, the cost of incorporating in the US varies by state. I know it costs atleast $300 for my state of incorporation if you do it yourself. An accountant or lawyer can charge anywhere from $150 to $400 to provide you this service.
In the case of Nigeria, we need lawyers and accountants to provide better straightforward information and education on business registration since it is a service they offer. They should offer better transparent services to their incorporating clients and then charge accordingly based on their service level.


Thanks. This is what we have been telling all these over 'sabi' that although the CAC has has some specific statutory fees to be paid however, the lawyer or accountant who is instructed would charge whatever he wishes putting in mind the fees indicated by CAC and that this varies from lawyers/accountants. Now life is about choice and you will always get somebody who will be ready to accept what you have in registering a company for you at the CAC rather than say it is expensive, or compare Nigerian jurisdiction with another jurisdiction. As per information, CAC cannot provide more than the information you have on their website because it is regulated by law otherwise the enacting law must be ammended to allow it display more info on its web. Besides they do not expect you to deal directly with them rather that you use the services of a lawyer or accountant. The info on its web is to give guidelines as to what you should expect from the lawyer/accountant apart from the prof fees.

Rlst84sale:

Samm

I don't want to imply that you are lying but it would be helpful if you can post the state or city name here in the US so we can go online and find out the facts.

Sure. The state of Texas charges 300.00 to Incorporate: https://direct.sos.state.tx.us/help/help-corp.asp?pg=fee

And an additional $25 for expedited service.

My point remains that the cost of Incorporating in Nigeria may be deemed fair. However, lawyers and accountants should offer better transparent services to their incorporating clients.

omogidi234:

@brownbonno. God bless you for your observation. However, please note that for every positive there is a negative, the lawyers that you have seen presenting incoherent speech or what have you at public hearing were the ones who had the opportunity of getting there. If you are a Nigerian you should know that no matter how good you are if they do not want you there you can't be there. The best you can do is go on the pages of dailies and express your views which does not matter or in nairaland (where so many people who are not in touch with Nigeria{not you oh} express all manner of silly opinions, of course I keep saying it "opinion is the cheapest thing you can buy". The totality of this is that you will find the ones that are not good occupying sensitive positions and when the bubble burst the whole world blame the lawyers- remember INEC saga involving a SAN and the power contract saga where over 20 non-registered companies were awarded contracts, the list is endless. I strongly believe that this is a phase.

I appreciate your post which portray you are a professional and of sound mind.I am quite aware of possible barriers within the Nigeria social institutions,but,i must promise that is an apple opportunities for you you to shine as a lawyer.
1.Put your profession first before money/wealth.A typical example, Dr. Sam Amadi just a regular law student during our days in the Uni,he cut a niche for himself within the legal practice,now google his name and find out more about his success.
2.Go to your locality and pick up some cases of people innocently in prisons,see how you will go after that.
3.Be more open to communication,it will help brighten your horizon
4.Develop a hobby outside your profession

Personally i belong to an Immigration forum,where practical information/advise is given to people in critical situations.I am not a lawyer,but researches in law is my hobby and i am a member of standing in that forum.
The reason why lawyers are finding it difficult to move to a higher point (new lawyers) is because their services are very closed only available to the rich and not the low/middle class.Don;t forget a society without a middle class is doomed.
I like your last post and i am sure you will make it.

i did pay a substantial amount of money to register 2 coys since 2006 they are yet to be registered.my friend that give d money to me cant trust me again im even afraid of our freindship.except i register them but im not in naija now.

Sorry about that. I can specifically tell you that your certificate ought to have been out max of 4-6 weeks. I register and get certificates in 2 weeks and even in 5 working days depending on the ability of the clients and financial strenght. If the person who is doing this job for you actually submitted, then there is one query or the other that ought to have been respondend to. Well, since you are not in naija I can assist you to look into the problem, Although i am in lag but i deal directly with CAC Abuja coz that is where decisions are taken. if you do not mind holla me at kleandenation at yahoo dot ca. Thanks.

try this site and the hyperlinks
http://www.cac.gov.ng/Pages/fee1.htm

the following may be useful:

fee to incorprate within 1 week (5 working days from the date of approval of the name)= N250,000
fee to incorprate within 2 weeks (10 working days from the date of approval of the name)= N200,000
fee to incorprate within 3 weeks (15 working days from the date of approval of the name)= N150,000
fee to incorprate within 4 week (20 working days from the date of approval of the name)= N100,000

if you are comfortable with my figures please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at arinnet08@gmail.com or kleandenation@yahoo.ca

WTF!

Where do you guys get these sordid and totally uncalled for figures to register a company? This is big time fraud and i wont hesistate to recommend some people to be shot!

While i wont state the fees here because of personal reasons, i can truthfully say CAC filing fees and other ancillary things when considered revolve around N60,000 maximum.

So talking about N100,000-N250,000 is totally uncalled for when your duty is to advise nairalanders and not bleed them to death!

Last week, I paid a lawyer in Abuja 120,000 Naira to register LTD for me. The fee includes, the 1 day certificate processing, certified true copies of memorandum and certificate. plus all the other minor fees. Also plus a fedex fee to return the original documents to me. In all, it took about 4 days for the whole paper to be recieved and sent back by the lawyer.

Dear nairalanders,

I hope you are aware that there are people that can still register a company aside tha accountant and a lawyer.We can do it very well and i want you to know also that no matter where you file your papers for ltd company it will dealt with in abuja.But if itis a venture or enterprises that has one man as a director it is termed to be business name that one is taken care of in the state where the papers is filed.it now depends on how fats you want it out with that one people then rip you off your hard earned money but i tell you if you need help concerning any of the above why not call 08023928570

When you have a bunch of misfits running an enterprise, this is the result - a bunch of greedy people who want to be paid high fees for what a GSCE student can do.

Most countries encourage business startup because it's the life blood of the economy - the business employs people, pays taxes etc but not in our blessed Nigeria, they'll rather sink the business even before it starts.