Nobody in Nigeria agrees on what a job should pay, and most adverts still hide the number. What follows are the gross monthly bands employers have been advertising for common roles — a starting point for a conversation, not a rule.
Entry level (0–2 years)
- Administration and office support — ₦80,000 to ₦180,000. The wide range is company size: a small firm in Surulere and a multinational in Victoria Island are not the same market.
- Customer service and call centre — ₦100,000 to ₦200,000, higher in fintech and telecoms, often with shift allowances.
- Sales — ₦90,000 to ₦180,000 basic plus commission. Ask what a realistic commission is; some pay more in commission than basic.
- Teaching (private schools) — ₦80,000 to ₦180,000, with the top of the band in international schools.
- Nursing (private hospitals) — ₦120,000 to ₦250,000. Public sector is lower on paper and higher in pension and security.
- IT support — ₦150,000 to ₦280,000.
Mid level (3–6 years)
- Accounting and finance — ₦250,000 to ₦550,000; higher with ICAN or ACCA.
- Human resources — ₦250,000 to ₦500,000.
- Banking operations — ₦300,000 to ₦600,000, with sales targets that affect your actual take-home.
- Software development — ₦400,000 to ₦1,000,000; a remote role for a foreign client can be several times this.
- Engineering (mechanical, electrical, civil) — ₦300,000 to ₦700,000, with oil and gas at the top.
- Digital marketing — ₦250,000 to ₦600,000.
Senior (7+ years)
- Managers and heads of department — ₦700,000 to ₦1,800,000.
- Specialist engineers, senior developers, senior accountants — ₦900,000 to ₦2,500,000.
- Oil and gas technical roles — often above ₦1,500,000, and often on contract terms with different benefits.
- Donor-funded and NGO programme roles — ₦800,000 to ₦2,000,000; the bands are published, which makes them unusually easy to check.
Why the same title pays differently
- 1Company size and ownership. A 12-person agency and a listed bank hire the same job title at completely different prices.
- 2Sector. Oil and gas, telecoms, banking and donor-funded programmes pay above the rest for the same skill.
- 3State. Lagos pays more, and costs more. See the comparison with Abuja and Port Harcourt.
- 4Who the client is. A developer billing a US client in dollars is in a different market from one building for a local retailer.
How to check a specific offer
- 1Find three live adverts for the same title in the same city and note the disclosed ranges.
- 2Add up the things that are not basic: transport, HMO cover for dependants, 13th month, pension, data allowance.
- 3Convert to net using a sample payslip, or ask what the net figure is.
- 4Compare against your floor — the walk-away number.
The allowances that change the real number
Two offers at ₦350,000 are rarely worth the same. Compare the package, not the basic:
- Transport allowance — often ₦30,000 to ₦80,000 a month in Lagos and Abuja, and frequently paid without tax.
- HMO — worth very little when it covers only you; worth a great deal when it covers a spouse and children.
- 13th month — effectively an 8% uplift on annual pay, and common in banking and FMCG.
- Pension — 10% from the employer on top of your basic is real money you will see at retirement.
- Data and electricity allowances — increasingly common for hybrid and remote roles, and easy to forget when comparing.
Add the annual value of each to the basic, then compare. A ₦330,000 offer with a strong package routinely beats ₦380,000 with none.
Where the bands are published
Some sectors publish their salaries as a matter of routine, which makes them the easiest to benchmark: donor-funded programmes and NGOs, the public service, and a growing number of fintechs. In the private sector, the disclosed ranges on job adverts are the most reliable public signal there is — which is why filtering the board by salary is faster than asking around.