How to Register Cosmetic Product with NAFDAC

Process for Cosmetic Product Registration in Nigeria

Cosmetic product registration in Nigeria is handled by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). NAFDAC regulates and controls the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of regulated products — food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, packaged water, chemicals and detergents.

The rule is straightforward and absolute: no cosmetic product may be manufactured, imported, exported, advertised, sold, distributed or used in Nigeria unless it has been registered with NAFDAC. If your company makes or imports cosmetics, every product must be registered, and each product is registered separately — a range of five items means five registrations.

Before you start: three prerequisites

A registered business. Only registered business entities can apply. You cannot register a cosmetic product in your personal name. Register either a limited liability company or a business name first. We suggest a limited liability company — and note that since CAMA 2020 you can form one on your own, without needing a second shareholder. You can read more on the difference here: LLC v Business Name.

A trademark application. NAFDAC requires evidence that you have applied to the Trade Marks Registry for the brand name — either a Certificate of Registration or an Acceptance Letter. Start this early. Trademark processing takes months and it becomes the bottleneck if left to the last minute. More on the process here: How to Register your Trademark in Nigeria.

A NAPAMS account. All cosmetics applications are submitted and processed through NAFDAC’s Automated Product Administration and Monitoring System (NAPAMS) at registration.nafdac.gov.ng. There is no paper route.

Step 1 — Application

Upload the following to NAPAMS:

Evidence of business incorporation from the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Trademark certificate or acceptance letter for the brand name.
Comprehensive Certificate of Analysis — issued by a laboratory, confirming that the product meets its specification. It contains the actual results obtained from testing carried out as part of quality control on a batch of the product.
Contract Manufacturing Agreement, where your product is made by a third-party manufacturer rather than in your own facility. This applies to a great many Nigerian cosmetic brands.
Proposed label and artwork. NAFDAC’s Cosmetics Products Labelling Regulations set out what must appear on the label and what claims you may make about the product’s benefits. Get this wrong and NAFDAC will issue a compliance query, and the label must be amended before the application can proceed.
Evidence of payment of the applicable fee.

On fees: tariffs vary by product category and are revised from time to time, so check NAFDAC’s current tariff schedule on its website rather than relying on figures published elsewhere. Older guides — including earlier versions of this article — still circulate fee tables drawn from a temporary reduced tariff that NAFDAC introduced in May 2020 and which ran for only three months. Budget also for laboratory analysis and inspection fees, which sit on top of the registration fee.

Step 2 — Facility inspection

If this is your first cosmetic product, NAFDAC will inspect the facility where the product is manufactured to confirm that it meets the required standards. Following a satisfactory inspection, NAFDAC issues a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Certificate.

The GMP certificate attaches to the facility, not the product, so once granted it can support subsequent product applications for as long as it remains valid.

Step 3 — Review, queries and approval

NAFDAC reviews the dossier and may issue Compliance Directives where something is deficient. Take these seriously: you must comply within 7 working days of issuance, and failure to do so may result in your application being cancelled outright.

Where everything is satisfactory, NAFDAC issues a Notification of Product Registration, followed by the Certificate of Product Registration, which is valid for 5 years and renewable for further 5-year periods.

How long does it take?

Plan for 120 working days to obtain a registration number for a cosmetic product — roughly six months.

Note that the clock stops each time a compliance directive is issued and restarts when you respond, so every avoidable query on your label or documentation adds directly to your timeline. This is the main reason it is worth getting the label right first time.

Registration is not permission to advertise

This catches people out constantly, and it matters more in cosmetics than almost any other category. Registration of a product does not automatically confer an advertising permit. If you intend to advertise your product, that requires a separate application to and approval from NAFDAC. Budget time and money for it, and do not build a launch campaign around your registration date.

If you are importing cosmetics rather than making them

The process differs, and NAFDAC publishes a separate set of guidelines for imported cosmetics. Two points to check before you commit:

Foreign manufacturers cannot apply directly. A foreign manufacturer must register through a Nigerian local representative, and the certificate of registration is issued in that local representative’s name. Choose that representative with care — the registration will sit with them, not with you.

Check the prohibition lists first. NAFDAC will not entertain new applications for the registration of imported regulated products that appear on the Federal Government Import Prohibition List or the NAFDAC Ceiling List. Confirm your product is not on either before you spend anything.

Consequences of non-registration

Marketing an unregistered cosmetic product in Nigeria is unlawful. Unregistered products are liable to be confiscated, and offenders face penalties, closure of premises and, in serious cases, prosecution.

The Food, Medical Products and Other Regulated Products Bill 2026 is before the Senate, where it passed second reading in July 2026. If enacted, it would repeal the Food and Drugs Act and the Food, Drug and Related Products (Registration, etc.) Act, replacing them with a single modern framework and strengthening NAFDAC’s powers on inspection, investigation, sampling, detention, seizure, product recall and enforcement. We will update this article when it becomes law.

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