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🧪 NAFDAC · Product Registration · Start to Finish

You've found the NAFDAC desk. If Nigeria eats it, drinks it, applies it or takes it — we register it.

Food and beverages, packaged water, medicines, supplements, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals — imported or made in Nigeria, one product or a whole catalogue. From the NAPAMS account to the number on your label, the desk runs every stage and chases every paper. You ask; it gets handled.

Find my path in 60 seconds ↓

Just talk to a human

🍛 Every regulated category 🌍 Imported & locally made 🛒 Our marketplace moves NAFDAC goods daily 🆘 Stuck-shipment rescue 🕒 Answers same working day

If it touches the body, it's NAFDAC

Every category, one desk

🍚Food & beverages

💧Packaged & bottled water

💊Drugs & pharmaceuticals

🌿Herbal & supplements

💄Cosmetics & personal care

🩺Medical devices

⚗️Chemicals & pesticides

🧴Detergents & household

The journey, demystified

From portal account to the number on your label

💻NAPAMS accountOpened with your CAC papers and TIN

📁Application & documentsForm, letters, notarised declarations — complete, first time

🧪Samples & lab analysisProduct tested; Certificate of Analysis in order

🏭InspectionFacility GMP check — local plant or overseas for drugs

🏷️Label vettingArtwork checked against labelling rules

🔢NAFDAC numberRegistration issued — five years, renewable

🛒On the marketSell, distribute, advertise — legally

The single biggest cause of NAFDAC delay is incomplete paperwork. Our whole method is built around that fact: the file goes in complete, first time.

Two ways in — we run both

Imported or made in Nigeria

🛳️ Imported products

Foreign brands entering Nigeria through a local representative

Notarised Power of Attorney from the manufacturer — five-year validity, brand ownership stated
Certificate of Manufacture & Free Sale from the origin country, properly authenticated
Import permit application, agent's CAC incorporation and notarised declaration
Samples, labels and Certificate of Analysis for the lab stage

🏭 Made in Nigeria

Local producers, from startup kitchens to full factories

Facility readiness first: GMP inspection of your premises is part of approval
CAC incorporation, application letter, completed form per product
Samples, compliant label artwork and Certificate of Analysis
We prep your facility for inspection day — the stage local applicants fail most

💊 Registering a medicine or supplement? Extra rails apply: the brand name needs a trademark (Class 5) first — start it early or it becomes the bottleneck — plus a product dossier, dossier screening clearance and, for imports, a COPP (Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product) and GMP evidence from the manufacturing site. The desk sequences all of it so nothing waits on anything else.

The NAFDAC Path Finder

Five taps. It reads your situation, names your path, lists your documents — then hands everything to the desk with your answers attached.

1 · What are you registering?

2 · Where is it made?

3 · Who are you?

4 · Where are you right now?

5 · Is your Nigerian company registered?

Consignment held for NAFDAC reasons? Every day is demurrage — move now.

Missing permit, lab query, unregistered product flagged at Apapa, Tin Can or the airport — send the details and the desk starts on the release path immediately, with our clearing agents already at the terminals.

Shipment rescue — now

Why brands hand NAFDAC to us

We live on the regulated side of the shelf

🛒 NAFDAC goods are our daily trade

Our marketplace moves food, beverages and regulated products every day — the rules on this page govern our own shelves, so the advice comes from practice, not theory.

📎 Paperwork is the product

Most rejections are documentation rejections — so we obsess over the file: notarisations, authentications, label artwork, analysis certificates, all complete before submission, all chased to sign-off.

🔗 One journey, one desk

Need SONCAP for the non-food lines, freight, clearing or warehousing after approval? Same building, same conversation — registration is one leg of a trip we run end to end.

NAFDAC, answered straight

What is a NAFDAC number, and do I really need one?

It's the registration number NAFDAC issues when a regulated product is approved — and yes: without it, food, drinks, medicines, cosmetics and related products cannot legally be manufactured, imported, advertised or sold in Nigeria. Retailers and marketplaces increasingly refuse unlisted products, and port officials certainly do.

How long does registration take?

Plan in months, not weeks — the journey spans documents, lab analysis, inspection and vetting. The honest accelerator is a complete file: incomplete paperwork is the number-one cause of delay, and it's the part we control completely. Start before your stock ships and the timeline stops being scary.

What do the strange documents actually mean — POA? CFS?

For imported products, the Power of Attorney is the manufacturer's notarised authorisation naming your Nigerian company as its representative (five-year validity, brand ownership stated). The Certificate of Manufacture & Free Sale proves the product is legally made and sold in its home country. Both must be executed precisely — wording and notarisation errors are classic rejection causes, and exactly the kind of thing the desk drafts and checks for you.

Is my product NAFDAC — or SONCAP?

If people eat it, drink it, apply it or take it — NAFDAC. Most other manufactured goods — electronics, auto parts, building materials — fall under SONCAP, which we also run. Mixed containers can need both; tell the desk what's inside and we split it correctly.

How long does the registration last?

Five years, renewable — and renewals go smoother when the file is maintained: label changes notified, analysis kept current, the PoA still valid. We diarise renewals for clients so the number never lapses mid-trade.

Can I switch my product to a different local representative?

Yes — there's a formal path: the manufacturer revokes the old Power of Attorney by notarised instrument and issues a new one, with NAFDAC notified. Brands unhappy with a current agent use this more often than you'd think; we handle the changeover paperwork cleanly.

I'm a small producer — is this out of my league?

No. Small and micro businesses register every week, and NAFDAC operates support initiatives for MSMEs. The desk scales to you: one product, one kitchen, one honest file — the same start-to-finish handling, sized to a startup's budget and pace.