Dental Chairs & Dental Equipment in Nigeria

Registering and importing dental equipment in Nigeria

Two things have to happen before a container of dental chairs clears Lagos: the devices must be registered with NAFDAC, and the shipment must go through the normal import process at the Nigeria Customs Service. They run on different clocks, so dealers who plan backwards from the shipping date usually lose the least time.

NAFDAC registration. Imported medical devices are registered by a Nigerian applicant — the dealer or importer — who holds a notarised Power of Attorney from the manufacturer. Applications are filed on NAFDAC's NAPAMS portal under the 2025 medical device registration guideline, devices are classed A to D by risk, and the Certificate of Registration is valid for five years. The manufacturer's side of the file is where a factory earns its keep: a Free Sale certificate authenticated at the Nigerian Embassy or a Consulate in China (Nigeria is not a party to the Apostille Convention, so an apostille is not accepted in its place), quality system certificates, the technical file and labelling, all naming the same model numbers that will later appear on your invoice. Under sections 3.6–3.8 of NAFDAC's 2025 registration guideline, the processing timeline is up to 120 working days for Class A and up to 240 working days for Classes B, C and D, counted after acceptance of a complete application. A compliance query stops the clock until the applicant responds; these are not guaranteed calendar-day delivery dates. Confirm classification, current requirements and pre-screening with the Nigerian applicant before booking shipment.

Import clearance. The customs side runs through Form M opened with your bank, the PAAR (Pre-Arrival Assessment Report), a SONCAP certificate for electrical equipment where it applies, and the duty and levies on the CIF value. The general VAT rate is 7.5%. Qualifying medical equipment is listed for zero-rating under section 186(q) of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, subject to the definitions and conditions in section 188. Ask your broker to confirm eligibility and HS classification line by line; do not assume that every accessory or the whole container receives the same treatment. Because the Form M description, the proforma invoice and the packing list must agree, we prepare the commercial documents to match your declaration rather than to our own template. The step-by-step sequence, the documents at each stage and the charges that make up landed cost are in our Nigeria import guide.

If your clinic is buying a single chair, contact the factory to confirm current local coverage, suitable importers and installation and after-sales arrangements before ordering.

Power, air and water in a Nigerian clinic

Nigeria's mains supply is 230 V at 50 Hz, so the standard 220 V / 50 Hz version of our chairs and compressors is the right one — the same version that runs across Africa, Europe and most of Asia. Sockets are Type G (the British three-pin), though universal sockets that also take round pins are common in newer buildings.

The supply itself is the bigger question. The national grid collapsed several times between December 2025 and January 2026, and most clinics run on some mix of grid, generator and inverter. Three practical points:

• Size the backup for the compressor, not the chair. The chair's motors draw little; the air compressor is the load that decides whether an inverter or a small generator copes. Ask us for the running and starting current of the compressor you choose.
• Use a voltage stabiliser or UPS on the chair's control unit. Surges when a generator takes over are a common cause of control-board damage, and a stabiliser costs a fraction of a board.
• Oil-free compressors need no oil changes, which matters where service visits are irregular; a dryer is worth adding in humid coastal cities so the air lines and handpieces stay dry.

Water: the dental unit runs on a clean, filtered supply; where mains water is inconsistent, most clinics use a bottle-fed unit or a small filter. The autoclave should run on distilled water — our 4-litre distiller covers a single-chair practice.

Shipping from Foshan to Lagos

Our factory is in Foshan, an hour from the container ports of Guangzhou (Nansha) and Shenzhen. Sailings to Lagos take about 31–38 days port to port, with departures most weeks. Apapa and Tin Can Island handle the majority of Nigeria's container imports; Lekki Deep Sea Port, in operation since April 2023, receives CMA CGM's direct services from Nansha and Shekou as well as COSCO, ONE and ZIM calls, and is the choice of a growing number of Lagos importers who want to avoid Apapa congestion. Tell us which port your clearing agent works from and we book accordingly.

A single chair or a small first order goes as LCL (shared container); a first order for resale is usually a 20 ft container. The packing data we send with every quotation lists how many of each chair and equipment combination fit in a 20 ft and a 40 ft container, so you can plan the mix before you commit. Small items — handpieces, curing lights, cameras — can travel by air to Lagos in about a week when a clinic cannot wait for the sea.

We quote FOB Guangzhou or Shenzhen for dealers with their own forwarder, or delivered to Lagos port when you prefer one price that includes the sea freight. Payment is by T/T or L/C; lead time is confirmed on the proforma invoice and sample units ship first.

Buying as a clinic or as a dealer

Clinics. Yes, we sell single units directly — one chair for a new practice, or a replacement for an old unit. In Nigeria, contact the factory to confirm current local coverage, suitable importers and installation and after-sales arrangements; if you prefer to import yourself, we support your technician by video during the first installation.

Dealers. Nigerian dealers work with us under the distributor programme: factory-direct pricing tiered by quantity, the NAFDAC document pack, marketing files, remote technical training and a recommended spare-parts kit available for the first container, with contents and pricing confirmed on the proforma invoice. Territory exclusivity is discussed once a partner meets an annual commitment. Most partnerships begin with a trial of one to a few units, then a first container once the chairs are registered and installed.