Leave policy in Nigeria

The leave policy in Nigeria covers three main entitlements under the Labor Act: annual leave, sick leave, and maternity leave. The Federal Ministry of Interior in Nigeria also observes around 13 public holidays in Nigeria every year. 

However, paternity leave isn’t guaranteed under federal law. Moreover, leave entitlements in Nigeria for executive-level staff are set by individual contracts. Furthermore, unused annual leave can only be carried over within a 24-month window. 

If you’re building a Nigerian team in-house or through Payoneer Workforce Management, getting these entitlements right helps you navigate compliance and retain local talent. 

In this guide, let’s understand more about the leave policy in Nigeria.  

Vacation & annual leave in Nigeria

The Labor Act gives every employee 21 paid days of vacation after completing 12 months of continuous service. 

The leave laws in Nigeria require you to pay the employee at their normal wage rate throughout the leave period.

There are a couple of practicalities worth knowing: 

• First, the Labor Act itself technically applies to “workers”, i.e., people doing clerical jobs. Executives, managers, and technical professionals fall under the terms of their individual employment contracts. In practice, though, most companies extend the 21-day standard across the board. 
• Employees can carry over their leave, but the limit is 12 days, and it rolls over into the following year. Moreover, all accrued leave must be given within 24 months of when it was earned. 

Want to see how these entitlements compare elsewhere on the continent? Our leave policy guide for South Africa breaks down a similar framework.

Public holidays

Nigeria recognizes 13 public holidays, a mix of fixed dates and movable Islamic observances that depend on moon sightings.

Public holiday calendar Nigeria:

• New Year’s Day
• Eid-El-Fitr (Tentative)
• Id-el-Fitr holiday (Tentative)
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• Workers’ Day
• Id-el-Kabir (Tentative)
• Id-el-Kabir additional holiday (Tentative)
• Democracy Day
• Id-el-Maulud (Tentative)
• National Day
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day

Sick leave in Nigeria

Under the Labor Act, employees can take up to 12 paid days of sick leave per year. Moreover, you can ask for a medical certificate to grant such leave. 

You are free to offer more generous sick leave through an individual employment contract, particularly for long-serving staff. There’s no statutory sick pay scheme, and the cost shifts to the employer during the leave period.

Maternity leave in Nigeria

You must offer a minimum of 12 weeks of maternity leave, typically split as four mandatory weeks before the expected delivery and eight weeks after. You can ask for a medical certificate confirming that the expected date of confinement is within six weeks.

Pay during maternity leave depends on tenure. Typically, employees who’ve worked continuously with the same employer for at least six months are entitled to 50% of their regular salary during the leave period. 

You are also obliged to extend certain entitlements following maternity leave in Nigeria: 

• Nursing break rights: After returning from maternity leave, a nursing mother can take half an hour, twice a day during working hours, to nurse her child.
• Protection from dismissal: An employer cannot terminate a woman during her maternity leave or while she is absent for a longer period than would have been allowed due to illness arising from her pregnancy.

Paternity leave in Nigeria

There’s no universal federal paternity leave entitlement under the Labor Act. 

Other types of leave in Nigeria

Beyond the major entitlements, the leave laws in Nigeria are relatively quiet. Most additional leave types are negotiated in the employment contract or collective agreements.

Compassionate/bereavement leave

You can extend 3 days of leave following the death of an immediate family member, with specific terms written into the contract. It can be treated as paid time off in Nigeria.

Unpaid leave

Employees and employers can agree to unpaid leave by mutual consent. There’s no cap in the Labor Act, though extended absences can affect pension accruals and other benefits.

For roles structured as contractor arrangements rather than employment, these leave protections generally don’t apply. If you’re working with independent contractors, our contractor compliance resources cover the classification lines to watch.

Want to estimate the cost of a hire? Our employee cost calculator gives a detailed breakdown.

Explore Payoneer Workforce Management in Nigeria

Tracking leave accruals, processing maternity pay at 50%, managing 13 public holidays that shift year to year, or enforcing a 24-month carry-over rule, all these are cumbersome. This is true especially when you’re running a distributed team without local HR.

Payoneer Workforce Management helps handle the compliance navigation as your Employer of Record in Nigeria. That includes:

• Drafting leave-policy clauses into employment contracts in line with Nigerian law
• Tracking accruals and processing pay for vacation, sick, and maternity leave
• Managing payroll deductions and benefit contributions around leave periods

If Nigeria is one of several markets you’re growing into, the same platform covers 160+ countries. Leave rules across the region, such as in Ghana or South Africa, can be managed through a single dashboard. 

See how Payoneer Workforce Management can simplify leave entitlements in Nigeria for you.

Book a demo today!

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