How to Check If a Company Is Registered in Nigeria (CAC Search)

You can check whether a Nigerian company is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for free: search the business name or RC/BN number on Fylings and compare the legal name, registration number, status, and incorporation date with the documents you received. This guide explains the process, what each result can and cannot prove, and the red flags worth investigating before you pay, invest, or sign a contract.

What is CAC and why registration matters

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is Nigeria's official company registry. Every legitimate company, business name, or incorporated trustee operating in Nigeria is supposed to be registered with CAC under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA). Registration produces a unique identifier, an RC number for limited companies or a BN number for registered business names, and a public record of the entity's existence, type, and status.

A registry match confirms that an entity was registered under a particular legal name and number. It does not, by itself, prove that the business is currently trading, financially sound, licensed for a regulated activity, or trustworthy. Still, checking CAC registration is one of the fastest fraud screens you can run before you pay a supplier, accept a job offer, invest, or sign a contract.

How to check a company on Fylings (step by step)

The fastest way to verify a Nigerian company is to search it on Fylings. The process is the same whether you have the company name or the registration number.

1. Go to Fylings and type the company's exact name (or its RC/BN number) into the search box.
2. Open the matching result to load the company's public page.
3. Check the legal name, it should match the name on the invoice, contract, or certificate you were given.
4. Note the RC or BN number and incorporation date, then confirm they match any document you were shown.
5. Read the status field (such as active, inactive, dormant, dissolved, or struck off) and note when the record was last verified.
6. Check the source, last-verified date, and confidence score shown on the record so you know how fresh the data is.
7. For a deeper check, look at the nature of business and company type to confirm the entity actually does what it claims to do.

Searching by name vs by RC number

Both work on Fylings, but they answer slightly different questions. Searching by name is best when someone gives you a brand or trading name and you want to find the underlying registered entity. Because Nigerian businesses often trade under shortened or slightly different names, expect to scan a few close matches and pick the one whose details line up.

Searching by RC or BN number is the gold standard for verification. A registration number maps to exactly one entity, so if a vendor hands you a number on a quote or certificate, searching it confirms in one step whether that number is real and which company it belongs to. If the number returns a different company name than the one you were given, or returns nothing for a number that supposedly exists, treat that as a serious warning sign. Confused about which prefix you are looking at? See our guide to RC number vs BN number.

What each registration status means

The status field is an important registry signal, but it is not a complete operating or compliance check. Read it alongside the source and last-verified date.

• Active, CAC currently shows the entity as active. This is reassuring, but it does not prove the company is trading, solvent, licensed, or up to date with every obligation.
• Inactive or dormant, the entity remains in the registry but may have overdue filings or may not be operating. Ask the company to explain the status and provide current supporting documents.
• Dissolved or struck off, the registry indicates that the entity has been removed or dissolved. Do not rely on a contract or invoice in that name without obtaining professional advice and current official evidence.

If a search returns no match, do not treat that result alone as proof that the business is fake. Try the exact legal name, remove punctuation, search the RC/BN number, and check the official CAC service. When a record is not already indexed, Fylings may attempt a live registry lookup; availability can still depend on the source service.

Fylings vs the official CAC search

Both are useful, but they serve different jobs. Fylings makes discovery and first-pass verification faster, especially when you are comparing companies or searching across African registries. CAC remains the authoritative source for Nigeria and the place to obtain official or certified documents.

• Use Fylings to search quickly by name or registration number, compare public registry fields, see the source and verification date, and continue into related company intelligence.
• Use the official CAC service when you need an authoritative result, a paid status report, a certified document, or evidence for a legal, banking, compliance, or regulatory process.
• For higher-risk transactions, use both and verify bank details, licences, directors or beneficial owners, sanctions exposure, address, and trading history separately.

What is free vs what is paid

The core verification you need is free. On Fylings you can see, at no cost, a Nigerian company's legal name, RC or BN number, registration status, incorporation date, company type/classification, nature of business, and TIN (tax identification number). That is enough to confirm a company is real, registered, and currently active.

What is not in the free CAC public search are the directors and shareholders. Those are not exposed in CAC's free public lookup; on Fylings they are available on demand through a licensed KYB (know-your-business) verification report when you need documented proof of ownership for compliance, due diligence, or onboarding. If your goal is simply "is this company real?", the free data answers it. If you need to know who owns and controls it, that is where a paid verification report comes in. You can also cross-check tax registration using our guide to verify a company's TIN.

Red flags when verifying a Nigerian company

Use these signals to decide whether to trust a business. Any single one warrants a pause; several together usually mean walk away.

• The company name on the invoice or contract does not match the legal name in CAC's record.
• The RC or BN number returns a different company, or no company at all.
• The entity's status is dissolved or dormant but they are presenting themselves as actively trading.
• The incorporation date is suspiciously recent for a company claiming a long track record.
• The nature of business on file has nothing to do with what they are selling you.
• They refuse to provide an RC/BN number, or show a certificate that does not match the live record, learn the tells in spotting a fake CAC certificate.

Listed companies and corporate disclosures

For companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), there is an extra layer of free transparency. On a listed company's Fylings page, the filings tab surfaces corporate disclosures, board and director changes, director dealings, and financial statements, pulled from public sources. That lets you go beyond "is it registered?" to "what has this company actually been announcing?", useful for investors, journalists, and anyone doing serious due diligence. Browse the Nigeria registry hub to start from the company you care about.

Why a live status check matters in Nigeria

In Fylings' July 2026 research sample of 207,675 Nigerian CAC records, 52% were flagged inactive by CAC and 45% were confirmed active. The sample is search-based rather than a census of every Nigerian entity, so these are not national totals. It nevertheless shows why seeing a real RC number is only the start of verification. Read the Nigeria snapshot and methodology in The State of African Business 2026.

Limits of a CAC registration check

A CAC search verifies legal identity and registry status at the time of the source check. It does not guarantee product quality, financial health, tax compliance, sector licensing, ownership, address, bank-account control, or that the person contacting you is authorised to act for the company. For a material payment or partnership, confirm the beneficiary bank-account name, request recent official documents, verify relevant licences, and conduct ownership and sanctions checks.

Sources and methodology

This guide is based on public company information from Nigeria's Corporate Affairs Commission and Fylings' indexed company records. Fylings displays the source and last-verified date on company pages and updates records as source data becomes available. The guide was materially reviewed on 29 July 2026 to clarify what registry statuses mean and the limits of a registration check.

Before you pay an invoice, sign a contract, or trust a Nigerian business, start by confirming its legal identity. Search the company free on Fylings by name or RC/BN number, compare the details, read the status and source date, then use the official CAC service and deeper due diligence when the risk justifies it. You can also explore the Nigeria registry hub for more registered entities.