How to hire remote employees in

Nigeria

One of Africa’s powerhouse countries, Nigeria is a great place to hire remote talent. But it can get confusing—and expensive—quickly, if you’re not using the right tools. In the next few minutes, we’ll teach you the best way to legally hire remote talent in Nigeria. So you don’t have to spend months of your time diving through paperwork.

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Employment requirements

Country snapshot

CURRENCY

Nigerian Naira (NGN)

EMPLOYER TAXES

up to 21%

PAYROLL FREQUENCY

Monthly / Bi-monthly/ Weekly

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

English

Why hire independent contractors in Nigeria

Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in Nigeria.

It’s the fastest way to hire globally

Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.

It’s a lot cheaper

It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

It’s more flexible for you & your team

HHiring contractors in Nigeria means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.

Can be less risky than hiring employees

Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.

Some people want to be employees

The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.

You might not have as much control over your talent

Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.

What to know before you hire in Nigeria

If you’d like to hire in Nigeria but your company is based somewhere else, you may be confused on how to hire. Nigeria has different labor laws than your home country, which makes hiring there complicated—if you’re not sure how to go about it. Below, we’ll go in detail about your two options if you’ve found someone you’d like to bring onto your team.

If you want to successfully hire in Nigeria, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in Nigeria. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Thera for.

Hire talent as employees

This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in Nigeria is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Hire contractors in a couple clicks with Thera

How can I pay people in Nigeria

If you’re hiring contractors in Nigeria, you can pay them with Thera in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.

If you want to hire employees in Nigeria

If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Nigeria than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Nigeria.

Taxes in Nigeria

Employer tax

Employer Contributions

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

Employees get 6 days at full pay.

Public Holidays

There are 12 public holidays.

Sick Days

Employees are paid for 12 sick days a year.

Maternity Leave

Mothers receive 12 weeks of maternity leave, paid at a rate of 50% regular salary, for mothers who have worked at least six months with the company.

Paternity Leave

There is no national paternity leave.

Parental Leave

There is no national parental leave.

Termination

Termination Process

Employment can be terminated at any time by either the employer or the employee, as long as proper notice is given.

Notice Period

Notice varies depending on the length of service.

One day is required for 3 months of less service.

One week for 3 months to 2 years

Two weeks for 2 -5 years

One month for 5 or more years

Severance Pay

There is no law requiring severance pay but it is usually part of an agreement between the employer and employee.

Probation Period

There is no formal probation period.

Employee requirements in Nigeria

Working Hours

A workweek is 40 hours, at 8 hours a day.

Overtime

No government mandate on how much extra employer needs to pay, but overtime terms should be a pre-agreement in the employment contract.

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