HOW TO AUTHENTICATE CERTIFICATE IN NIGERIA
ATTESTATION OF RESULTS IN NIGERIA
The procedure for authentication of result in Nigeria usually commences with the notarization of the certificate by the Notary Public. The authentication is usually required by institutions in some countries. It is worthy of note to state that it is not all institutions abroad that mandate the authentication of certificates issued in Nigeria before it can be tendered abroad.
However, since Nigeria is not a signatory to the Apostille Convention, which abolished the legalization of documents, most foreign countries often require that any document emanating from Nigeria must either be authenticated at the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and/or also legalized at the embassy of the relevant country in Nigeria.
Steps for Authentication & Legalization of Results
Essentially, there are four major steps towards legalizing any document at any embassy in Nigeria. Where legalization is not required, and the document is only to be authenticated at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Nigeria, the procedure only involves 3 main stages or steps. The applicable stages and steps for Notarization are explained below:
Notarization: Where someone is seeking to authenticate document to be used abroad, the first step is to notarize such document from a Notary Public. The Notary Publics are categories of lawyers appointed to perform notarization function. The notarization services are rendered for a fee by the notary public.
The applicant seeking to notarize a document must present both the original copy and /or per perhaps the photocopy which is to be notarized to a Notary Public officer (usually a lawyer designated for such purpose).
Attestation at the Ministry of Education: Upon the notarization of the documents, the applicant must now take the result to the Federal Ministry of Education, Evaluation and Accreditation department of Education Support Services for attestation.
The requirements for attestation/authentication at the Ministry of Education are as follows:
- Certificate
- Transcripts
- International Passport of the Applicant
- Admission Letter, where the attestation is required to seek admission to a foreign school
- Payment of prescribed fee
- The attestation process at the Ministry of Education takes between one to two days.
Authentication at the MFA: The authentication of the attested result by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is conducted at the Legal Services Division of the Ministry. The authentication at the MFA requires payment of prescribed fee submission of the document to be authenticated to the Ministry. The authentication is very significant, especially where the result or certificate is also required to be legalized at any embassy.
The authentication process at the MFA takes about two days.
Legalization: Legalization is also carried out at the embassy of an applicable foreign country where the result is to be used within such a country. The various embassies have various fees for legalization. It is worthy of note to state that before any embassy can accept any result or certificate for legalization, such document must have been authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In closing, the authentication of result in Nigeria can be carried out individually by the Applicant by visiting a notary public office, government ministries and relevant embassy to complete the entire himself or herself. However, an applicant is also entitled to appoint an attorney, a lawyer (not mere agent) to assist in carrying out all the above duties. And where the applicant has appointed a lawyer to complete the process, he shall issue a Power of Attorney to that effect.
By Resolution Law Firm. The Firm’s lawyers serve as attorneys for Authentication and Legalization of various documents and certificates in Nigeria.
Email:info@resolutionlawng.com
Tel: +2348099223322
