The Federal Republic of Nigeria is located in the southeast of West Africa and stretches over 923,768 square kilometers. It shares land borders with Cameroon and Chad to the East, Niger to the North, Benin to the West, and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic ocean to the south. It shares maritime borders with Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, and São Tomé and Principe.
Administratively, Nigeria is divided into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the country’s capital, Abuja, is located. The constitution also includes a provision that more states can be created as needed. A member of OPEC since 1971, Nigeria has large deposits of petroleum and natural gas. Its economy is primarily based on the oil sector which provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of budgetary revenues.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Nigeria.
Fast-track your talent onboarding while ensuring 100% compliance with local regulations. using an Employer of Record in Nigeria
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Easily onboard your remote talent in Nigeria through our Employer of Record (EOR) solution. Our subsidiaries and network partners make this process fast and 100% compliant.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is located in the southeast of West Africa and stretches over 923,768 square kilometers. It shares land borders with Cameroon and Chad to the East, Niger to the North, Benin to the West, and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic ocean to the south. It shares maritime borders with Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, and São Tomé and Principe.
Administratively, Nigeria is divided into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the country’s capital, Abuja, is located. The constitution also includes a provision that more states can be created as needed. A member of OPEC since 1971, Nigeria has large deposits of petroleum and natural gas. Its economy is primarily based on the oil sector which provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of budgetary revenues.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Nigeria.
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026 and are critical for hiring in Nigeria planning:
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026.
| January 1 | New Year’s Day | |
| March 20 | Id el Fitri (Eid al Fitr) | Movable - As per the Islamic Lunar calendar |
| March 21 | Id el Fitri (Eid al Fitr) Holiday | Movable - As per the Islamic Lunar calendar |
| April 3 | Good Friday | Movable - Friday before Easter |
| April 6 | Easter Monday | Movable - Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox |
| May 1 | Labour Day | |
| May 27 | Id el Kabir | Movable - As per the Islamic Lunar calendar |
| May 28 | Id el Kabir Holiday | Movable - As per the Islamic Lunar calendar |
| June 12 | Democracy Day | |
| August 25 | Id el Maulud | Movable - As per the Islamic Lunar calendar |
| October 1 | National Day | |
| December 25 | Christmas Day | |
| December 26 | Boxing Day |
The approximate time for sharing the contract with an employee in Nigeria is 5 business days assuming no special requests or changes to our standard employment contract. Any such requests or changes would need to undergo internal and external review, directly leading to a time delay.
NOTE: This number is subject to change and is only an estimation of the Contract Sharing Time. The estimated Contract Sharing Time begins from the moment that WorkMotion has received all required information from both the client and the employee.
Employer contributions cover benefits for disability, maternity, sickness, and retirement. The levels of contribution are as summarized in the table below:
| Category | Employer Contribution |
| Contributory Pension Scheme |
|
| Group Life Insurance Policy |
|
| Social insurance (medical benefits) |
|
| Employees Compensation – Accidents at work and occupational diseases |
|
The normal working hours are 40 hours per week. Normal working hours in an undertaking can be fixed by mutual agreement, by collective bargaining within the organization or the industry concerned, or by an industrial wages board where there is no machinery for collective bargaining. In every period of seven days, a worker is entitled to one day of rest which is no less than 24 consecutive hours.
The hours which a worker is required to work in excess of the normal hours constitute overtime. There is no legislation on overtime pay rates. Overtime pay is by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee, a collective bargaining agreement, or an order by the industrial wages board.
There is no statutory probation period for new employees in Nigeria. Through custom and practice, contracts of employment specify a three to six months probation period.
The notice period is based on the period an employee has been serving the contract as illustrated in the table below:
|
Contract Period Served |
Applicable Notice |
|
During Probation |
1 – 2 weeks |
|
Post Probation |
1 month or 1 month payment in lieu of notice |
The normal working hours are 40 hours per week. Normal working hours in an undertaking can be fixed by mutual agreement, by collective bargaining within the organization or the industry concerned, or by an industrial wages board where there is no machinery for collective bargaining. In every period of seven days, a worker is entitled to one day of rest which is no less than 24 consecutive hours.
The hours which a worker is required to work in excess of the normal hours constitute overtime. There is no legislation on overtime pay rates. Overtime pay is by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee, a collective bargaining agreement, or an order by the industrial wages board.
There is no statutory probation period for new employees in Nigeria. Through custom and practice, contracts of employment specify a three to six months probation period.
The notice period is based on the period an employee has been serving the contract as illustrated in the table below:
|
Contract Period Served |
Applicable Notice |
|
During Probation |
1 – 2 weeks |
|
Post Probation |
1 month or 1 month payment in lieu of notice |
Employer contributions cover benefits for disability, maternity, sickness, and retirement. The levels of contribution are as summarized in the table below:
| Category | Employer Contribution |
| Contributory Pension Scheme |
|
| Group Life Insurance Policy |
|
| Social insurance (medical benefits) |
|
| Employees Compensation – Accidents at work and occupational diseases |
|
WorkMotion operates in Nigeria through its established partner network, giving your company a compliant path to employment without the cost or delay of setting up a local entity. Here is how the process works, from contract to ongoing payroll.
WorkMotion generates an employment contract aligned with Nigeria’s Labour Act and the specific terms of the role.
The contract covers:
Nigerian employment law distinguishes between “workers” (manual and clerical roles) and “employees” in administrative, executive, technical, or professional functions – and the contract structure reflects that distinction.
All contracts are reviewed against current Nigerian legal requirements before being shared with the employee for e-signature.
Before payroll can run, the employee must be registered with the relevant Nigerian statutory bodies.
This includes:
WorkMotion’s partner network manages these registrations on your behalf, so your new hire is properly enrolled from day one.
Nigerian payroll involves multiple concurrent obligations.
WorkMotion configures payroll to handle:
Salary structures in Nigeria typically combine a basic salary component with allowances for housing and transport, which affects how pension and other deductions are calculated. WorkMotion builds this correctly from the outset.
WorkMotion enrols employees in all mandatory statutory benefits:
Beyond statutory minimums, WorkMotion can support supplemental employee benefits that are standard in the Nigerian market – including private health insurance, which most competitive employers provide to attract and retain talent.
The national minimum wage is currently NGN 70,000 per month, following the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act 2024, and all compensation packages are structured to meet or exceed this threshold.
Each month, WorkMotion processes payroll in Nigerian Naira (NGN), calculates all deductions and employer contributions, and remits each obligation to the correct authority within the statutory deadline.
WorkMotion provides the employee with accurate payslips and keeps full records of all filings – so your company has a clear audit trail without managing any of it directly.
Nigerian employment law is actively evolving.
The Nigeria Tax Act 2025 (effective January 2026) introduced new PAYE tax bands and revised deduction rules. The National Minimum Wage was increased in 2024. Further legislative changes – including a potential extension of the Labour Act’s scope to cover all employee categories – are anticipated.
WorkMotion monitors these changes through its partner network and updates payroll configurations, contract terms, and statutory contribution rates accordingly, so your obligations stay current without requiring your HR team to track Nigerian regulatory developments independently.
For most companies hiring one to a handful of employees in Nigeria, entity setup is not the right starting point. Here is how the two paths compare.
| WorkMotion EOR | Setting Up a Nigeria Entity | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup cost | Transparent monthly fee per employee | Legal and registration fees, share capital requirements, and ongoing compliance costs that vary by business structure |
| Time to first hire | Days from signed contract | Typically weeks to months, depending on registration, tax, and banking requirements |
| Ongoing legal exposure | Managed by WorkMotion’s partner network | Carried by your entity – including PAYE, pension, NSITF, ITF, and NHIA obligations across multiple regulatory bodies |
| Ongoing admin burden | Single monthly invoice; WorkMotion handles all filings | Internal HR or local payroll vendor required to manage multi-body remittance deadlines |
| Exit flexibility | Wind down employment without entity dissolution | Entity closure requires formal CAC deregistration and regulatory clearances |
EOR in Nigeria fits companies that need to hire quickly, want to test the market before committing to a permanent structure, or are hiring a small number of specialist roles.
If your company is building a large, permanent operational presence in Nigeria and expects to hire dozens of employees over the long term, entity setup may eventually make sense – but EOR is typically the right first step.
Use WorkMotion’s employment cost calculator to estimate the full cost of hiring in Nigeria, including employer contributions and the WorkMotion service fee, before you commit.
Nigeria’s employment compliance framework involves more regulatory bodies, more contribution types, and more state-level variation than most foreign employers expect. These are the areas where gaps appear most often.
The Labour Act is the primary statute, but it is not the only one.
Nigerian employers must also comply with:
Each is administered by a different body with its own registration, remittance, and reporting requirements. Foreign employers who focus only on the Labour Act often miss pension, NSITF, and ITF obligations entirely.
WorkMotion’s partner network manages compliance across all of these frameworks simultaneously.
Running payroll in Nigeria means remitting to multiple authorities on different schedules:
Missing a PAYE deadline triggers penalties – late filing costs NGN 100,000 for the first month, with NGN 50,000 for each subsequent month, plus interest on unremitted amounts.
Foreign employers managing this manually, or through a single domestic payroll vendor, frequently miss deadlines. WorkMotion handles each remittance to the correct body within the correct window.
Nigerian law distinguishes between “workers” (manual and clerical employees, primarily covered by the Labour Act) and “employees” in professional or executive functions (whose terms are primarily governed by their individual contracts).
Using a single contract template across both categories creates legal exposure. The terms that apply to a software engineer in Lagos are not the same as those that apply to a logistics coordinator.
WorkMotion generates role-appropriate contracts that reflect this distinction.
The national minimum wage increased to NGN 70,000 per month under the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act 2024.
Foreign employers who set compensation packages before this change – or who rely on outdated market data – risk non-compliance from day one.
WorkMotion ensures all new employment contracts are structured above the current statutory minimum.
The Nigeria Tax Act 2025, effective January 2026, introduced new PAYE tax bands, abolished the Consolidated Relief Allowance (CRA), and changed the rules around deductible items.
Payroll configurations built under the old Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) framework are no longer accurate. Foreign employers using legacy payroll setups or providers who have not updated their systems are likely calculating PAYE incorrectly.
WorkMotion’s partner network operates on current statutory rates and updates configurations as legislation changes.
Nigerian salary structures typically combine a basic salary with housing and transport allowances.
These allowances are not just convention – they affect how pension contributions are calculated (pension is applied to basic salary plus housing and transport allowances, not total gross).
Structuring compensation without understanding this distinction leads to incorrect pension deductions and potential disputes with employees over net pay. WorkMotion builds compliant salary structures from the outset.
Mid-sized B2B SaaS and fintech companies based in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK use WorkMotion to hire software engineers, data engineers, and product specialists in Nigeria.
Nigeria has a growing pool of technically skilled professionals, and vacancy times for senior engineering roles in Western Europe have extended significantly.
WorkMotion’s Nigeria EOR gives these companies a compliant employment structure without requiring them to understand Nigerian tax law or manage multi-body payroll remittances.
E-commerce companies and digital platforms with growth ambitions in West Africa often need their first on-the-ground hire in Nigeria before they are ready to commit to a local entity.
WorkMotion’s employer of record in Nigeria lets them hire a market lead, a country manager, or a customer success specialist quickly – with a compliant contract and payroll in place from day one.
If the market proves out, they can scale the team or evaluate entity setup later.
Non-governmental organisations operating programmes in Nigeria need compliant employment structures for local staff without the administrative overhead of running a Nigerian payroll function.
WorkMotion’s partner network handles the full statutory obligation stack – pension, NHIA, NSITF, ITF, and PAYE – so programme teams can focus on delivery rather than compliance administration.
German, Austrian, and Swiss companies with distributed teams increasingly hire remote specialists in Nigeria for roles in marketing, content, finance operations, and technical support.
These companies typically have 50–300 employees and no existing African entity.
WorkMotion’s Nigeria EOR gives them a single, transparent monthly cost per employee, with no hidden setup fees and no requirement to engage a local lawyer or payroll vendor independently.
Nigeria offers access to a large and growing pool of skilled professionals across tech, finance, marketing, and operations – but hiring compliantly requires navigating multiple regulatory bodies, a multi-layered payroll obligation structure, and employment law that is actively evolving.
WorkMotion removes that complexity.
Through our established partner network in Nigeria, we handle contract generation, statutory registrations, payroll remittance across all required bodies, and ongoing compliance monitoring – so your team can focus on the work, not the paperwork.
Whether you are hiring your first employee in Lagos or building out a remote team across West Africa, WorkMotion gives you a compliant, fast path to employment without setting up a local entity.
WorkMotion operates in Nigeria through an established partner network rather than a directly owned entity. This structure still provides full compliance coverage across Nigeria’s multi-body regulatory framework – including PAYE, pension, NSITF, ITF, and NHIA obligations – with WorkMotion coordinating all statutory registrations, payroll remittances, and compliance monitoring on your behalf. For companies hiring one to a handful of employees in Nigeria, this model delivers the same compliance outcome as a direct entity without the setup cost or delay.
Using an employer of record in Nigeria, onboarding typically takes days from signed contract rather than the weeks or months required to register a local entity with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), obtain tax registration with FIRS, and establish a bank account. The timeline depends on how quickly the employee completes statutory registrations – particularly selecting a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) under the Contributory Pension Scheme – but WorkMotion’s partner network guides employees through each step to avoid delays.
Nigerian employers carry contribution obligations across four separate bodies: pension at 10% of pensionable earnings remitted to the employee’s chosen PFA within seven working days of payroll; NSITF at 1% of monthly payroll remitted to the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund; ITF at 1% of annual payroll for qualifying employers; and PAYE withheld monthly and remitted to the relevant State Internal Revenue Service by the 10th of the following month. Each body has its own registration, remittance schedule, and penalty structure for late filing. An EOR in Nigeria manages all four concurrently, so your company does not need to track separate deadlines or engage multiple local vendors.
The Nigeria Tax Act 2025, effective January 2026, introduced new PAYE tax bands and abolished the Consolidated Relief Allowance (CRA) that previously applied under the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) framework. Payroll configurations built before this change are likely calculating income tax deductions incorrectly. WorkMotion’s partner network operates on current statutory rates and updates payroll configurations as legislation changes, so your company’s PAYE obligations remain accurate without your HR team needing to monitor Nigerian tax law independently.
Yes – Nigeria EOR is well suited to both use cases, but the employment contract structure differs depending on the role. Nigerian law distinguishes between “workers” (manual and clerical employees primarily covered by the Labour Act) and employees in professional, executive, or technical functions (whose terms are primarily governed by their individual contracts). WorkMotion generates role-appropriate contracts that reflect this distinction, so a software engineer in Lagos and a country manager hired for market expansion are each employed under terms that match their legal classification and the specifics of their role.
Ending employment through an employer of record in Nigeria does not require entity dissolution or formal CAC deregistration – which is one of the key flexibility advantages over operating through your own Nigerian subsidiary. WorkMotion manages the offboarding process, including final payroll calculations, statutory contribution remittances up to the termination date, and any required notifications to the relevant regulatory bodies. Notice period requirements under Nigerian law vary depending on the employee’s length of service and contract terms, and WorkMotion ensures terminations are handled in line with current Labour Act requirements.
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