A foreign university, employer, embassy or court will often refuse a Nigerian document until it has been authenticated: a chain of stamps showing that each signature on it is genuine. The chain takes time, so start early.
No apostille
Many countries use an apostille, a single certificate under the Hague Convention of 1961 that makes a document valid in every other member country. Nigeria is not a party to that convention, as far as current sources show. So a Nigerian document has to be legalised step by step instead, and a foreign document coming here has to be legalised for Nigeria.
The usual chain, for a document going abroad
- Get a certified true copy from whoever issued it, or the original: the university for a certificate or transcript, the NPC for a birth certificate, the court for an affidavit.
- Notarisation, for documents that are not official records — a signed declaration, a power of attorney, a company resolution — by a notary public, who is a senior lawyer.
- Authentication by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which confirms the signature on the document. The ministry is in Abuja and has an office in Lagos.
- Legalisation by the embassy or consulate of the country where the document will be used, if it asks for it.
Each stage charges its own fee and has its own queue. Ask the receiving institution exactly which stages it wants before you start; some accept a document verified directly by the issuer instead.
Educational certificates
Many foreign institutions and employers verify Nigerian degrees and school results directly with the issuing university or with WAEC, through their verification services, rather than relying on stamps. Ask which they accept.
A foreign document for use in Nigeria
A document from abroad — a foreign birth or marriage certificate, a company’s papers — is legalised by the Nigerian embassy or high commission in the country it came from, after that country’s own authentication. Bring it legalised; doing it from Lagos is much harder.
Beware the fixer
Agents offer to “process” authentication quickly. Some do; some forge the stamps. A forged stamp is discovered at the other end, and the consequences land on you. Use the official offices, or a lawyer you can identify.