# Hire an employee in Nigeria[^about] Plan a Nigerian employee offer: Labour Act coverage, written terms, notice, medical-examination questions, and post-employment restrictions. ## What should a founder settle before hiring in Nigeria? {#prepare-the-hire} **Short answer.** For a worker covered by Nigeria's Labour Act, section 7(1) requires written particulars identifying the employer, worker and employment terms within three months after employment starts. [^ng-prepare-particulars] A completed offer record identifies worker coverage, the employing entity, actual duties, work location, agreed terms and referenced policies before issue. A hiring file records the legal employer's name and address, candidate details, job duties, reporting line, location, start date, pay and payment cycle, working hours, leave arrangements, and whether the appointment is fixed-term. The signed version, referenced documents supplied to the candidate and delivery record provide an evidence trail. These are practical drafting safeguards; the statutory written-particulars duty below depends on worker coverage. The [Nigeria hiring reviewer checklist](/checklists/hiring/nigeria) records decisions and remaining questions. This guide covers selected written-term and onboarding issues. It does not clear payroll, minimum wages, pension, immigration, equity, IP ownership, employee-data handling, collective agreements, or regulated-sector requirements. Those workstreams remain separate pre-start preparation tasks. ## Does Nigeria’s Labour Act cover every employee? {#labour-act-coverage} **Short answer.** The Nigeria Labour Act does not cover every employee as a worker: section 91 excludes, among others, people exercising administrative, executive, technical or professional functions. [^nigeria-worker-definition] Coverage depends on actual duties and the relevant exclusions, rather than a job title alone. Section 91 includes manual and clerical work within its definition, then lists exclusions. A software engineer or senior manager therefore needs a coverage assessment before a founder relies on the rules summarized here. An exclusion from this Act's worker definition does not establish that the person has no employment protections or contractual rights. A complete written agreement remains a useful safeguard for every hire. [^nigeria-worker-definition] ## What must written employment terms in Nigeria contain? {#written-employment-terms} **Short answer.** For a worker covered by Nigeria's Labour Act, section 7(1) requires written particulars within three months after employment starts, unless the worker has a written employment contract covering every required particular and has a copy under section 7(6). [^nigeria-written-particulars] [^nigeria-contract-copy] An offer can serve that purpose if it meets both conditions. Section 7(1) lists employer details; the worker's name and address and place and date of engagement; nature of employment; the expiry date of a fixed-term contract; the appropriate notice period with regard to section 11; wage rates, calculation, payment method and frequency; hours, holidays and holiday pay, sickness or injury absence and sick-pay terms; and special conditions. Completing these fields before the offer is sent is a practical safeguard, distinct from the statutory three-month deadline. [^nigeria-written-particulars] Section 7(6) removes the separate statement requirement where the worker has a written employment contract covering every section 7(1) particular and has a copy. A signature alone does not establish either condition. [^nigeria-contract-copy] ## Can policies supply Nigerian employment terms, and how are changes recorded? {#policies-and-changes} **Short answer.** For a worker covered by Nigeria's Labour Act, section 7(3) permits reference to another document that the worker has reasonable opportunities to read or can otherwise reasonably access. [^nigeria-accessible-policy] Changes normally require a written statement within one month under section 7(2), but section 7(4) provides an alternative if the employer gives the specified advance indication and duly records the change within one month. [^nigeria-accessible-policy-changes] [^nigeria-accessible-policy-recording] A title, version, accessible copy and retained supplied version identify each incorporated policy. Section 7(2) requires written information about the nature of a change within one month and reasonable opportunities to read or access the statement if no copy is left with the worker. Section 7(4) provides an alternative where the statement tells the worker that future changes to referenced terms will be entered in the document or otherwise recorded for affected persons, and the change is duly recorded within one month. These provisions address information about terms; they do not establish a general right to change agreed employment terms unilaterally. [^nigeria-accessible-policy] [^nigeria-accessible-policy-changes] [^nigeria-accessible-policy-recording] ## Which notice periods apply under Nigeria’s Labour Act? {#termination-notice} **Short answer.** For contracts covered by Nigeria's Labour Act, section 11(2) sets ordinary notice to terminate a covered contract at one day for service of three months or less; one week for more than three months but less than two years; two weeks for two years but less than five years; and one month for five years or more. [^nigeria-notice-periods] The table is not a complete dismissal rule: the contract and section 11's provisions on qualifying termination without notice, waiver and payment in lieu remain relevant. | Contract has continued for | Section 11(2) notice | | --- | --- | | Three months or less | One day | | More than three months but less than two years | One week | | Two years but less than five years | Two weeks | | Five years or more | One month | Notice of one week or more must be written under section 11(3); section 11(4) excludes the day notice is given. The table summarizes the cited provision, rather than supplying a complete dismissal process. Section 11 also addresses termination without notice for qualifying conduct, waiver and acceptance of payment in lieu, and wages at expiry of notice. Those provisions and the actual contract form part of the termination assessment. This guide supplies no imported U.S. at-will clause or conclusion that notice alone makes every dismissal lawful. [^nigeria-notice-periods] ## Is a medical examination required when hiring in Nigeria? {#medical-examination} **Short answer.** For a worker covered by Nigeria's Labour Act, section 8(1) requires examination by a registered medical practitioner at the employer's expense, subject to any applicable State Authority exemption order under section 8(2). [^nigeria-medical-examination] [^nigeria-medical-examination-exemptions] The actual role, applicable order and examination process matter before the hire begins; category membership alone is not an exemption. That examination duty is not permission to require HIV screening as an employment precondition: section 9 of the HIV and AIDS (Anti-Discrimination) Act 2014 permits that precondition only where two competent medical authorities working independently certify to the Court that failure to test creates a clear and present danger of transmission to others, and preserves medical fitness testing under existing law. [^nigeria-hiv-testing-limits] Section 8(2) permits State Authority orders exempting specified agricultural or near-home employment categories; it does not establish that every such hire is automatically exempt. This source set does not hold current exemption orders or determine medical-data and privacy requirements. The operational workstream includes a responsible person, the actual role and State, applicable orders, arrangements for any required examination and health-information handling. The offer letter cannot itself complete that operational step. [^nigeria-medical-examination] [^nigeria-medical-examination-exemptions] Section 9(1) permits an HIV-test employment precondition only where two competent medical authorities, working independently, certify to the Court that failure to test creates a clear and present danger of HIV transmission to others. Section 9(4) requires informed and full consent in accordance with national confidentiality and counseling guidelines; section 9(5) preserves medical testing for fitness for work and other responsibilities under existing law. [^nigeria-hiv-testing-limits] This guide does not determine the applicable guidelines, competent-authority list or wider health-data requirements. HIV-testing coverage is distinct from Labour Act worker coverage: section 2(2) of the HIV Act applies to employers and employees in both public and private sectors. The Labour Act's exclusions do not define this Act's coverage. [^nigeria-hiv-act-application] ## Must agreed special conditions, including a proposed restraint, appear in the written terms? {#post-employment-restrictions} **Short answer.** Nigeria Labour Act section 7(1)(h) requires covered workers' written particulars to include any special conditions of the employment contract. [^ng-restraint-special-conditions] This guide supplies no post-termination non-compete clause; a proposed restraint needs a separate, role-specific assessment of verified primary authority and the business interest it would protect. That resource boundary is not a statutory ban or a conclusion about enforceability. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018, section 68(1)(e), appears in the Act’s exceptions list: it concerns a service or service-provision contract in so far as a person who is not a body corporate accepts work restrictions, as an employee or otherwise, during or after termination, for a period of no more than two years. [^ng-fccpa-service-contract-exception] That is not proof that every two-year employment restraint is enforceable. This guide does not resolve its scope or interaction with restraint-of-trade doctrine, or prescribe a safe duration, territory, customer set, judicial-rewriting outcome or enforcement remedy. Research status as of 28 September 2026: the full appellate opinion in *La Casera*, CA/L/1059/2016, reported as decided 9 July 2025, has not been obtained in this research record. Court-hosted commentary is not used as its holding. The official rendered *Windowstory* record, NICN/ABJ/454/2024 (10 December 2025), is held as a browser capture, but it is a first-instance, undefended matter with raw-response and later-history gaps; it is not used to set a national drafting rule. The FCCPC's 2026 authorisation exposure draft is not used as operative law. A restraint assessment records the confidential information, assets or relationships needing protection, the employee's access, and the reason for each proposed restriction. Tailored confidentiality, conflict and property-return terms remain candidates for assessment, without an assumption of automatic enforceability. Restrictive-covenant drafting needs a separate authority and facts assessment; the missing appellate opinion does not prevent use of the narrow written-term guidance above. ## What written-particulars duty does the checked Labour Act text establish? {#sources-and-limits} **Short answer.** Nigeria Labour Act section 7(1) requires an employer to give a covered worker a written statement of the listed employment particulars within three months after employment starts. [^ng-source-check] The official NIPC Labour Act PDF and FCCPC Act PDF were directly retrieved on 28 September 2026 and matched the retained research copies. This is a dated, limited primary-text check, not a claim of complete current-law or local-lawyer review. The Labour Act source is the NIPC official resource PDF of Cap L1, LFN 2004. Exact locators are sections 7(1)–(6), 8(1)–(2), 11(1)–(9) and 91(1). Its contents correctly identify section 7; the extracted body heading reads `3.` and is an extraction anomaly, not a new locator. The PDF SHA-256 is `ee8bf3aa6607d6322327b51cc882f139d3e9a3c5bff9243b360dc122daae3eb6`, captured 28 September 2026 at 16:37:30 UTC. The FCCPC PDF SHA-256 is `aa942cdef860387e8f984de52666e5683d12d6e2813cb47b10335e0bf82a07f5`, captured at 16:37:31 UTC; section 68(1)(e) is at PDF page 37, printed A35. The subsection letter was checked visually in the retained research review because text extraction mislabels it. Neither matching bytes nor official hosting proves that all later amendments, regulations or judgments have been captured. Application to a hire depends on current law, the actual duties, State, employer, sector and collective arrangements. No Nigerian-qualified lawyer review is claimed. Independent content review and publication checks are separate from these source captures. [^about]: By Steven Obiajulu, J.D. Published by [openagreements.org](https://openagreements.org). Last reviewed 2026-09-28. License: CC BY 4.0. Steven Obiajulu, J.D. edits this topic article for Nigeria — written employment terms and onboarding coverage. It synthesizes legal sources and is not legal advice. This article is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Source excerpts and linked materials belong to their owners. CC BY 4.0. Cite as Steven Obiajulu, *Hire an employee in Nigeria*, OpenAgreements (last updated September 28, 2026), https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/hiring/hire-an-employee-nigeria. [^ng-prepare-particulars]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 7(1)** — "(1) Not later than three months after the beginning of a worker's period of employment with an employer, the employer shall give to the worker a written statement specifying‐ (a) the name of the employer or group of employers, and where appropriate, of the undertaking by which the worker is employed; (b) the name and address of the worker and the place and date of his engagement; (c) the nature of the employment; (d) if the contract is for a fixed term, the date when the contract expires; (e) the appropriate period of notice to be given by the party wishing to terminate the contract, due regard being had to section 11 of this Act; (f) the rates of wages and method of calculation thereof and the manner and periodicity of payment of wages; (g) any terms and conditions relating to‐ (i) hours of work; or (ii) holidays and holiday pay; or (iii) incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provisions for sick pay; and (h) any special conditions of the contract." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 7(1); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-worker-definition]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 91(1), definition of worker** — "‘worker’ means any person who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract is for manual labour or clerical work or is expressed or implied or oral or written, and whether it is a contract of service or a contract personally to execute any work or labour, but does not include‐ (a) any person employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employer's business; or (b) persons exercising administrative, executive, technical or professional functions as public officers or otherwise; or (c) members of the employer's family; or (d) representatives, agents and commercial travellers in so far as their work is carried on outside the permanent workplace of the employer's establishment; or (a) any person to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished, repaired or adapted for sale in his own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the articles or the material; or (b) any person employed in a vessel or aircraft to which the laws regulating merchant shipping or civil aviation apply;" *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 91(1), definition of worker; official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-written-particulars]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 7(1)** — "(1) Not later than three months after the beginning of a worker's period of employment with an employer, the employer shall give to the worker a written statement specifying‐ (a) the name of the employer or group of employers, and where appropriate, of the undertaking by which the worker is employed; (b) the name and address of the worker and the place and date of his engagement; (c) the nature of the employment; (d) if the contract is for a fixed term, the date when the contract expires; (e) the appropriate period of notice to be given by the party wishing to terminate the contract, due regard being had to section 11 of this Act; (f) the rates of wages and method of calculation thereof and the manner and periodicity of payment of wages; (g) any terms and conditions relating to‐ (i) hours of work; or (ii) holidays and holiday pay; or (iii) incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provisions for sick pay; and (h) any special conditions of the contract." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 7(1); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-contract-copy]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 7(6)** — "(6) The provisions of this section in respect of written statements shall not apply if‐ (a) a worker has a written contract of employment which covers each of the particulars mentioned in subsection (1) of this section; and (b) he has a copy of that written contract." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 7(6); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-accessible-policy]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 7(3)** — "(3) A statement under subsection (1) or (2) of this section may, for all or any of the particulars to be given by the statement, refer the worker to some other document which the worker has reasonable opportunities of reading in the course of his employment or which is made reasonably accessible to the worker in some other way." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 7(3); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-accessible-policy-changes]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 7(2)** — "(2) If after the date to which the said statement relates there is a change in the terms to be included or referred to in the statement the employer‐ (a) shall, not more than one month after the change, inform the worker of the nature of the change by a written statement; and (b) if he does not leave a copy of the statement with the worker, shall preserve the statement and ensure that the worker has reasonable opportunities of reading it (c) in the course of his employment, or that it is made reasonably accessible to the worker in some other way." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 7(2); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-accessible-policy-recording]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 7(4)** — "(4) If the employer, in referring in the said statement to any such document, indicates to the worker that future changes in the terms particularised in the document will be entered in the document (or recorded by some other means for the information of persons referred to in the document), the employer need not under subsection (2) of this section inform the worker of any such change which is duly entered or recorded not more than one month after the change is made." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 7(4); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-notice-periods]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 11(2)–(9)** — "(2) The notice to be given for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section shall be‐ (a) one day, where the contract has continued for a period of three months or less; (b) one week, where the contract had continued for more than three months but less than two years; (c) two weeks, where the contract has continued for a period of two years but less than five years; and (d) one month, where the contract had continued for five years or more. (3) Any notice for a period of one week or more shall be in writing." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 11(2)–(9); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-medical-examination]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 8(1)** — "(1) Every worker who enters into a contract shall be medically examined by a registered medical practitioner at the expense of the employer." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 8(1); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-medical-examination-exemptions]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 8(2)** — "(2) The State Authority may by order exempt from the requirement of medical examination workers entering into contracts ror‐ (a) employment in agricultural undertakings not employing more than a limited number of workers (the limit being specified in the order); or (b) employment in the vicinity of the workers' homes‐ (i) in agricultural work; or (ii) in non‐agricultural work which the State Authority is satisfied is not of a dangerous character or likely to be injurious to the health of the workers." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 8(2); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-hiv-testing-limits]: **Nigeria HIV and AIDS (Anti-Discrimination) Act 2014 — s. 9** — "9.- (1) No employer, institution, body or individual shall require an HIV test as a precondition to an offer of employment, access to public or private services or opportunities, except where it is shown, on the certification of two competent medical authorities (working independently) to the Court, that failure to take such a test constitutes a clear and present danger of HIV transmission to others. (2) No educational institution shall require HIV testing as part of its routine medical testing requirements for admission or accreditation of learners. (3) For the purpose of subsection (1) of this section, the compilation of the list of competent medical authorities shall be the responsibility of the Ministry of Health. (4) HIV testing under this section shall be carried out with the informed and full consent of the person concerned, in accordance with national guidelines on confidentiality and counseling. (5) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall prevent the medical testing of persons for fitness for work and any other responsibility as a precondition for an offer of employment and any other responsibility as provided in any existing law." *HIV and AIDS (Anti-Discrimination) Act 2014, Act No. 7, s. 9(1)–(5), Official Gazette No. 125, 28 November 2014, printed A128 (PDF p. 7); commencement 27 November 2014; Gazette facsimile hosted by ILO, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^nigeria-hiv-act-application]: **Nigeria HIV and AIDS (Anti-Discrimination) Act 2014 — s. 2(2)** — "(2) This Act applies to all employers of labour and employees in the public and private sectors including the Nigeria Armed Forces, Nigeria Police, State Security Services, other Para-Military Organizations, Schools, Hospitals and places of worship." *HIV and AIDS (Anti-Discrimination) Act 2014, Act No. 7, s. 2(2), Official Gazette No. 125, 28 November 2014, printed A125 (PDF p. 4); commencement 27 November 2014; Gazette facsimile hosted by ILO, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^ng-restraint-special-conditions]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 7(1)** — "(1) Not later than three months after the beginning of a worker's period of employment with an employer, the employer shall give to the worker a written statement specifying‐ (a) the name of the employer or group of employers, and where appropriate, of the undertaking by which the worker is employed; (b) the name and address of the worker and the place and date of his engagement; (c) the nature of the employment; (d) if the contract is for a fixed term, the date when the contract expires; (e) the appropriate period of notice to be given by the party wishing to terminate the contract, due regard being had to section 11 of this Act; (f) the rates of wages and method of calculation thereof and the manner and periodicity of payment of wages; (g) any terms and conditions relating to‐ (i) hours of work; or (ii) holidays and holiday pay; or (iii) incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provisions for sick pay; and (h) any special conditions of the contract." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 7(1); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* [^ng-fccpa-service-contract-exception]: **Nigeria FCCPA 2018 — s. 68(1)–(4)** — "68.-(1) Nothing in this Act prohibits- (a) combinations or activities of employees for the reasonable protection of employees : (b) arrangenients for collective bargaining on behalf of employers and employees for the purpose of fixing minimum terms and conditions of employment: (e) activities of professional associations designed to develop or enforce standards of professional qualifications : (d) a contract or an arrangemen among partners, none of whom is a body corporare. in so far as it contains provisions in relation to the terms of the partnership or the conduct of the partnership business or in relation to competition berween the partnership and a party to the contract, arrangement or understanding while that party is. or after that party ceases to be a partner: (r) a contract of service or a contract for the provision of services in so faras it contains provisions by which a person, not being a body corporate. agrees to accept restrictions as to the work, whether as an employee or otherwise, in which that person may engage during or after the termination of the contract and this period shall not be more than two years; (7) a contract for the sale of a business or shares in the capital of a body corporate carrying on business in so far as it contains a provision that is solely for the protection of the purchases in respect of the goodwill of the body corporate: or (g) any act done to give effect to a provision of a contract or an arrangement referred to in paragraphs (a) to (f) of this subsection. (2) With respect to professional services subject to the regulation of professional bodies, the Commission may issue guidelines for the application of certain provisions of this Act to the supply of services or conduct of business by members of such professional associations: (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the Commission shall, from time totime, publisha list of professional bodies to whom the subsection applies. (4) Any privilege or exemption granted by the Commission under subsection (i) shall be consistent with the provisions of this Act." *Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018, s. 68(1)–(4), Official Gazette 2019 No. 1, printed A35–A36 (PDF pp. 37–38); original FCCPC PDF matched retained bytes on 28 September 2026; subsection label and operative text visually checked. Independent body-layout OCR spelling and distorted paragraph labels preserved; complete contiguous operative text, with page/marginal headings excluded during spatial extraction. Scope and interaction with employment restraint doctrine remain unresolved.* [^ng-source-check]: **Nigeria Labour Act — s. 7(1)** — "(1) Not later than three months after the beginning of a worker's period of employment with an employer, the employer shall give to the worker a written statement specifying‐ (a) the name of the employer or group of employers, and where appropriate, of the undertaking by which the worker is employed; (b) the name and address of the worker and the place and date of his engagement; (c) the nature of the employment; (d) if the contract is for a fixed term, the date when the contract expires; (e) the appropriate period of notice to be given by the party wishing to terminate the contract, due regard being had to section 11 of this Act; (f) the rates of wages and method of calculation thereof and the manner and periodicity of payment of wages; (g) any terms and conditions relating to‐ (i) hours of work; or (ii) holidays and holiday pay; or (iii) incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provisions for sick pay; and (h) any special conditions of the contract." *Labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, s. 7(1); official NIPC resource PDF, retrieved 28 September 2026.* For repeat use, install the skill: `npx skills add open-agreements/open-agreements` (lawyer-reviewed agreement templates + 50-state practice guides).