How to Verify a Company in Nigeria: The Free CAC Check

Verify a Company in 5 Steps

Every registered business in Nigeria is on the Corporate Affairs Commission's public register. Checking it is free, needs no account, and tells you whether the business is real, what it's legally called and whether it's still active.

1. 1. Get the exact name and number

   Ask for the registered name and the RC number (companies), BN number (business names) or IT number (NGOs, churches). They're on the CAC certificate, and often on invoices and letterheads.

2. 2. Search the number on CAC's register

   Use our free CAC public search or CAC's own at search.cac.gov.ng. Search by number first: names have spelling variants, numbers don't.

3. 3. Compare the name, word for word

   The registered name should match what you were given, including endings like "Ltd", "Limited" or "Ventures". A different name under the same number is a red flag.

4. 4. Check the status

   You want to see Active. See what the other statuses mean below.

5. 5. Check who runs it

   For anything that matters, confirm that the person you're dealing with is a director or owner. See who runs it.

What Each CAC Status Means

Inactive usually means overdue annual returns. If it's your own business, our annual returns guide explains how to fix it.

Red Flags to Watch For

• The number returns a different name, or nothing at all.
• The name on the invoice or certificate differs from CAC's, even slightly ("Ltd" against "Ventures", a missing word).
• The business calls itself Ltd but gives a BN number, or a sole trader gives an RC number.
• The status is Inactive or Struck off.
• They say registration is "in progress" but take payment as a registered company.
• The certificate has no QR code but claims to be recent, or its QR code leads somewhere other than CAC's record.

Checking a certificate? Our guide to the CAC certificate shows what a real one looks like, part by part.

Check Who Runs the Business

CAC's public search shows the business, not the people behind it. To confirm someone is a director or owner, ask the business for its status report, which lists its directors, shareholders and registered address. Companies also have a MEMART.

If you'd rather not rely on a document they send you, the FastCAC Lookup APIreturns a business's directors and shareholders from CAC's filed record, each with every role they hold and their shares, for ₦200.

Checking Many Businesses? Use the API

If you onboard merchants, suppliers or business customers, checking each one by hand doesn't scale. The FastCAC Verification APItakes the number and name an applicant gives you and checks both against CAC, with the active status, in one call. That's free. Add the names of the people behind it and it checks they're its officers too, for ₦200. You get one result to act on: match, partial, no_match or not_found.

To hear when a business you rely on changes its status or name, the Monitoring APIsends a webhook, for ₦100 per business a month. New to CAC's API options? Start with is there an official CAC API?

Verifying a Company: FAQs