Here's a quick guide if you are thinking of starting up a business in Nigeria. It takes about 38 days to register your business and tt cost about NGN 110,000 to NGN 165,000 or $687 to $1,000.

Below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles faced by entrepreneurs wishing to incorporate and register a new firm in this economy.  This is based on the study of DoingBusiness.org sponsored by World Bank and IFC whose objective is to provide objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 183 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income.

This information was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2011. Currently, Nigeria ranked 133 out of the 183 countries examined by the organization.

Step	Procedure	Time to Complete	Associated Costs
1	Check the availability of company name with the Corporate Affairs Commission	5 days	NGN 200 application form
2	Prepare the requisite incorporation documents and pay the stamp duty	7 days	0.75% stamp duty paid on capital
3	Notarize the declaration of compliance (CAC 4)	1 day	NGN 500
4	Register the company with the Corporate Affairs Commission & pay fees at the bank desk at CAC	11 days	NGN 59,592 legal fees +NGN 500 incorporation forms + NGN 20,000 Incorporation fees (an extra NGN 50,000 for same-day processing) + NGN 500 for each additional copy of Memorandum and NGN 500 for additional copy of the Articles of Association stamped + NGN 3,000 for certified true copy of memorandum and articles of association + NGN 2,000 for certified true copy of particulars of directors +NGN 2,000 for certified true copy of particulars of shareholders.
5	Register with the Federal Board of Inland Revenue Department of the Ministry of Finance for income tax and VAT	4 days	no charge
* 6	Register for personal income tax PAYE at the State Tax Office	2 days, (simultaneous with previous procedure)	no charge
* 7	Receive inspection from local government	7 days, (simultaneous with previous procedure)	no charge
8	Pay fees at a designated bank	1 day	NGN 18,500

 

Source:  DoingBusiness.org