A police character certificate does not print an expiry date on its face. How long it stays useful depends on who is asking for it, and the sources on this even disagree with each other.
Two figures, two sources
A Nigerian High Commission page states six months from the date of issue. Separately, govserv.ng and Pulse Nigeria both report a shorter window of three months.
Neither figure comes from a police-published rule setting a fixed expiry. Both come from guidance written for applicants, which is a useful signal but not a settled fact. This site lists both rather than picking one, since neither source outranks the other.
Why the gap matters for your plans
If you assume six months and the receiving side works to three, your certificate could be treated as too old right when you need it. If you assume three months and actually have six, you may simply be applying earlier than you needed to.
Either way, the safer approach is not picking a number from this article and running with it.
Who actually sets the rule that matters
The embassy, school or employer asking for your certificate decides how old they will accept. This site cannot state their rule for them, since it varies by destination and by purpose. Check the receiving country's own requirements directly, and treat this article's figures as background, not their final answer.
Timing your application around a deadline
Work backwards from your actual appointment or deadline date. Leave room for the processing time described in police character certificate processing time explained, then apply late enough that the certificate will still fall inside whichever validity window your destination uses.
Applying too early, against a strict destination rule, can be just as much of a problem as applying too late.
If your certificate is already ageing
Missions abroad are reported not to process the character certificate themselves. If yours is close to whatever limit applies to you, the practical fix is a fresh application through applying for a police character certificate on POSSAP, rather than trying to have an older one re-certified.
There is no published renewal or extension process, so a new application is also the safer assumption if your destination has already rejected an older certificate on age grounds.
Common mistakes on validity
- Quoting six months to an embassy that uses three. Confirm their figure before you state one back to them.
- Leaving your application until the last date it could still count. A delay in processing then has no room to absorb.
- Assuming the certificate itself shows an expiry. It generally does not; the limit sits with whoever asked for it.
For the fee side of this document, see how payment works, and for the wider picture, our full guide to cost and process. You can start a police character certificate request once you know your target date.