AI agents for business finance: what they can and can't do
What AI agents can do in bookkeeping, close, collections and compliance today, where a person must stay in charge, and how to judge a product.
The short answer
To sell sachet water legally you need a NAFDAC registration number for the product, which follows an inspection of a facility that meets NAFDAC's packaged water guideline: a fenced site with at least four rooms, a borehole of at least 150ft, treatment and UV before filling, and a qualified technical officer. You apply by letter to NAFDAC's Director-General, pay through Remita, and submit at the Isolo office or the nearest NAFDAC office. NAFDAC's last published tariff we found dates from 2019, so confirm current fees with NAFDAC before budgeting.
What NAFDAC requires of the factory
NAFDAC's guideline for packaged water facilities (reference FSAN-GDL-002-01, effective June 2018, with a review date of May 2023) sets out the conditions an inspector checks. The main ones are:
- A fenced site with at least four rooms, so that treatment, filling and storage are separated.
- A borehole at least 150ft deep; dug wells are not accepted, and the water source must be at least 30m from any septic tank.
- Treatment by chlorination (2 to 4 ppm), reverse osmosis or ozone, followed by ultraviolet treatment before filling and a final 0.5 micron filter.
- A certificate of analysis from an analyst registered with the Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN).
- Medical tests for food handlers (sputum, hepatitis B, Widal, stool and urine).
- A technical officer with at least an OND.
- Documents including your CAC certificate, trademark and a fumigation certificate renewed quarterly.
Most delays come from the building, not the paperwork. Work out room layout and borehole position before you sign a lease, because a site that cannot meet the 30m distance from a septic tank cannot be fixed with money later.
The registration steps in order
- Register the business with the CAC; a limited company or business name both appear in practice, but the CAC document is required. See our guide on business name or limited company.
- Register your brand name as a trademark, or start the application, since the guideline lists trademark documents.
- Prepare the facility: borehole, treatment line, UV, filling machine and rooms, and fumigate.
- Get your water analysed by an IPAN-registered analyst and get staff medical tests done.
- Write to NAFDAC's Director-General through the Director of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, pay the fees through Remita, and submit at NAFDAC's Isolo office or your nearest NAFDAC office.
- Host the facility inspection and provide samples.
- Answer any queries; the guideline says NAFDAC answers queries within 15 working days.
Registration is not permanent. A NAFDAC state coordinator in Ondo told Peoples Gazette in 2022 that most pure water firms he knew there were producing with expired licences, that factories were sealed, and that late renewal attracts an administrative charge. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day you receive the number.
What NAFDAC charges
NAFDAC's 2019 tariff (effective 1 June 2019) listed local food registration at ₦20,000 for micro, ₦40,000 for small and ₦80,000 for medium and large businesses; facility inspection per production line from ₦10,000 (micro) to ₦80,000 (medium and large) a year; laboratory analysis of ₦20,000 for sachet water and ₦40,000 for bottled water; and renewal at 90 per cent of the new registration fee, with renewals every five years. That tariff may have been replaced. We could not find a newer published schedule, so ask the NAFDAC office for the current invoice before you budget, and treat the 2019 figures as a floor, not a quote.
Building a setup budget
| Budget line | What it covers | Example placeholder |
|---|---|---|
| Premises | Rent or build, fencing, four rooms, tiling, drainage | ₦3,000,000 |
| Borehole | Drilling to at least 150ft, pump, tank | ₦1,500,000 |
| Treatment line | Filters, chlorination or RO, UV unit | ₦2,000,000 |
| Filling and sealing machine | Automatic sachet machine and installation | ₦2,500,000 |
| Power | Generator or solar backup, wiring | ₦1,500,000 |
| Regulatory | CAC, trademark, NAFDAC fees, IPAN analysis, medicals, fumigation | ₦600,000 |
| Opening stock | Printed sachet film, bags, first diesel | ₦700,000 |
| Working capital | Two months of wages, diesel and film | ₦1,500,000 |
| Total | ₦13,300,000 |
The working capital line is the one people cut, and it is the one that sinks new factories. Distributors often pay after they sell, so you may carry a month of production before cash comes back. Our guide to pricing sachet water and managing distributors works through the per-bag maths, and paying factory staff per bag covers wage rules.
After registration: staying compliant
- Print the NAFDAC number, batch and date marks on every sachet; NAFDAC tells consumers to look for them.
- Keep fumigation certificates current, since the guideline expects quarterly fumigation.
- Repeat staff medicals and keep the results on file.
- Keep production and sales records; the tax rules on record keeping apply to every business.
Build the cost of compliance into your price from the start. Fumigation four times a year, repeat medicals, analyst fees and the eventual renewal are recurring costs, not one-off setup costs, and they belong in your monthly overheads. A factory that budgets only for the first registration often finds the renewal arriving at the same time as a generator repair, and that is when licences lapse.
Where Pryme fits
Once the factory is running, a Pryme Business Account can collect distributor payments into dedicated virtual accounts so each distributor's transfers are easy to match, and the Compliance agent can keep NAFDAC renewal and fumigation dates on a calendar for a person to act on.
What to check first
- Can your site meet the 150ft borehole and 30m septic-tank distance?
- Have you asked NAFDAC for the current fee schedule in writing?
- Is your budget carrying at least two months of running costs?
Questions people ask
How much does NAFDAC charge to register pure water?
NAFDAC's 2019 tariff listed sachet water lab analysis at ₦20,000 and food registration from ₦20,000 for micro businesses, plus inspection fees per line. That tariff may have been updated, so ask NAFDAC for the current invoice.
How deep should a borehole be for a pure water factory?
NAFDAC's packaged water guideline says at least 150ft, with no dug wells, and the source at least 30m from a septic tank.
Can I start producing sachet water before NAFDAC registration?
Selling without a NAFDAC number risks sealing of the factory. Register first and print the number, batch and dates on every sachet.
How long does NAFDAC registration take for sachet water?
NAFDAC's guideline does not give a total timeline. It says queries are answered within 15 working days; the total depends on inspection and how quickly you fix any findings.
Sources
- NAFDAC Guidelines for Production and Registration of Packaged Water (FSAN-GDL-002-01) · accessed Oct 2026
- NAFDAC 2019 Tariff · accessed Oct 2026
- Most pure water companies in Ondo operating with expired licences: NAFDAC · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.