Notarisation sounds like a small stamp on a page. Since 2023, the law behind that stamp changed in ways worth knowing before you pay for one.
What changed when the 2023 Act came in
The Notaries Public Act, 2023 repealed the older notary law from 2004.
It kept the basic idea. A notary still certifies documents and signatures. But it added two new things: a public register, and a route for remote work.
What a notary is allowed to do
A notary's role covers more than a stamp on paper.
It includes taking affidavits and declarations. It includes checking signatures. It includes certifying documents such as birth and marriage certificates, school certificates, police clearance certificates, passport data pages, driver's licences and affidavits.
The Act also lets a notary help you with one more step: getting the ministry responsible for foreign affairs to authenticate a document. That matters most for papers heading abroad.
The public register the Act created
Before 2023, checking whether someone was truly a registered notary was harder than it should have been.
Now the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court keeps a public electronic register. Search notary.gov.ng before you trust any notary's stamp.
Notary vs a court affidavit
A commissioner for oaths at a court can also take an affidavit. Most everyday sworn statements go through that route, not a notary.
A notary earns its fee on a different job: certifying a copy as true, or helping with authentication for use abroad. Swearing a simple fact under oath does not usually need one.
When you would actually need one
Reach for a notary when a foreign institution, embassy or university asks for a notarised document by name, not a plain court affidavit.
For the documents this usually covers, see which documents need notarising in Nigeria. For checking a specific notary, see how to verify a notary public in Nigeria.
If you are not sure which route you need
When in doubt, ask the institution requesting the document what it wants by name: a court affidavit, a notarised copy, or both.
Getting this wrong wastes a trip. A court affidavit and a notarised document solve different problems, even though both involve a stamp and a signature. Naming the wrong one on the phone before you travel is a cheap way to avoid a second visit.
Common mistakes
- Assuming any lawyer can notarise a document. Notarising needs its own registration, apart from a general law licence.
- Paying for notarisation when a court affidavit or a simple certified true copy would have done the job.
- Not checking the register, then finding out later a stamp was not genuine once an institution abroad rejects it.
For the wider set of affidavit and court document questions, see our affidavit guides.