Casual payroll in Nigeria
Casual and daily-rate payroll in Nigeria
PayrollMaster runs casual and daily-rate payroll in Nigeria. Attendance is captured by manual entry, QR, biometric or geofence; overtime is rated by weekday, rest-day and holiday type; minimum-wage floors apply by region and job category; and sub-monthly earnings get sub-monthly PAYE, filed with State Internal Revenue Services (and the Nigeria Revenue Service).
How it works
How do you pay a Nigerian casual worker correctly?
Four steps, from the gate to a payslip that survives an inspection.
- 1
Capture the attendance
Hours come in by manual entry, QR code, biometric or geofence — whatever suits the gate, the field or the site. Hours are computed automatically rather than transcribed from a notebook.
- 2
Hold the wage floor
Minimum-wage floors apply by region and job category, not as one national number. Anything below the applicable floor is flagged before you pay it, not after an inspection.
- 3
Rate the hours
Overtime is computed by type — weekday, rest-day and public-holiday hours each pay at their own rate, across the whole crew, without anyone doing it by hand.
- 4
Tax it correctly
Sub-monthly earnings get sub-monthly PAYE, with prorated relief and below-threshold exemption. Fixed-fee task workers get withholding tax — resident or non-resident — with the certificate issued automatically.
- Two models — timesheet-based casuals and fixed-fee task/gig workers
- Attendance via manual entry, QR code, biometric or geofence, with automatic hours
- Overtime computed by type — weekday, rest-day and holiday rates
- Minimum-wage enforcement with region and job-category floors, and below-minimum flagging
- Sub-monthly PAYE handling with prorated relief and below-threshold exemption
- Task workers: staged payments, resident and non-resident withholding tax with automatic certificates
Still a Nigerian payslip
What comes off a Nigerian casual’s pay?
A casual worker is not exempt from the statutory stack. 6 items apply, collected by 6 different bodies — on the same run as your salaried staff.
Nigerian employers pay monthly and remit to as many as five separate bodies. PAYE is administered by state revenue services rather than federally, so a company with staff in Lagos and Abuja files in both — from the same payroll run.
| Deduction | Authority | Paid by | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAYE Pay As You Earn | State Internal Revenue Service (e.g. LIRS in Lagos) | Employee | Annual: nil on the first NGN 800,000; 15% on the next NGN 2.2m; 18% on the next NGN 9m; 21% on the next NGN 13m; 23% on the next NGN 25m; 25% above NGN 50m. Employees earning NGN 70,000/month or less are exempt. Source · in force from 2026-01-01 Commonly misreported. The Nigeria Tax Act 2025 replaced the old PAYE ladder on 1 January 2026, and renamed the Federal Inland Revenue Service the Nigeria Revenue Service. The former graduated rates (7%, 11%, 15%, 19%, 21%, 24%) are no longer in force — but many sites still publish them, sometimes mapped onto the new thresholds, which produces a table that is wrong twice over. |
| Pension Contributory Pension Scheme | National Pension Commission (PenCom), via the employee’s Pension Fund Administrator | Employer + employee | 8% employee + 10% employer (18% combined minimum) of monthly emoluments — at least basic salary plus housing and transport allowance Source · in force from 2014 Commonly misreported. Set by section 4(1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014. PenCom’s own published FAQ still shows 7.5% — that is the superseded 2004 scheme, which the 2014 Act replaced when it raised the combined minimum from 15% to 18%. An employer may instead carry the whole contribution, in which case it must be at least 20%. |
| NHF National Housing Fund | Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) | Employee | 2.5% of monthly income. Compulsory for public-sector employees; voluntary (opt-in) for private-sector employees. Source · in force from 2023-02 Commonly misreported. Section 45 of the Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 amended the NHF Act so that private-sector employees "may" contribute, where public-sector employees "shall". It is still widely described as compulsory for everyone. It is not — private-sector staff can opt out, and can reclaim what they already paid in. |
| NSITF Employee Compensation Scheme | Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) | Employer | 1% of total monthly payroll, employer-paid Source |
| NHIA National Health Insurance Authority cover | National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) | Employer + employee | No single statutory percentage. NHIA’s formal-sector formula is 10% employer + 5% employee of basic salary; employers using an accredited private plan differ. Source · in force from 2022 |
| ITF Industrial Training Fund levy | Industrial Training Fund (ITF) | Employer | 1% of total annual payroll, for employers with 5+ staff or NGN 50m+ turnover. Remitted annually. Source |
Rates last reviewed 2026-07-14 against State Internal Revenue Services (and the Nigeria Revenue Service) and other official sources. Where a figure is widely misreported elsewhere, we say so above rather than leave you to find the contradiction yourself. Statutory rates change with every finance act — confirm current figures with a local practitioner before relying on them. PayrollMaster applies the current rates centrally, so your payroll run does not depend on this table being fresh.
By sector
Who runs casual teams in Nigeria?
Farms & agribusiness
For tea estates, flower farms, horticulture, coffee and plantations.
Read moreConstruction
For contractors, developers and site managers running daily-rate crews.
Read moreHotels, restaurants & events
For hotels, lodges, restaurants, banqueting and event staffing teams.
Read moreFactories & production
For manufacturers running shift crews alongside production casuals.
Read moreGig & task workers
For delivery platforms, marketplaces and anyone paying per task.
Read more
Questions
Casual payroll in Nigeria: common questions
Can I run payroll for casual workers in Nigeria?
Yes. Nigerian casual and daily-rate workers run on the same payroll as salaried staff. Attendance is captured by manual entry, QR, biometric or geofence, overtime is rated by type, and every payslip carries Nigeria's statutory deductions, filed with State Internal Revenue Services (and the Nigeria Revenue Service).
Is Nigeria's minimum wage enforced?
Minimum-wage floors are applied by region and job category — not as one national figure — and any worker below the applicable floor is flagged before the run is paid. Confirm the current Nigerian wage order with the labour authority; we check every payslip against the floors you configure.
How is PAYE handled for a Nigerian worker paid for a few days?
Sub-monthly earnings get sub-monthly PAYE, with prorated relief and below-threshold exemption applied. Somebody who worked nine days is not taxed as though they earned a full monthly salary, and the return still reconciles with State Internal Revenue Services (and the Nigeria Revenue Service).
Can casual and permanent Nigerian staff run together?
Yes. Casual, seasonal and permanent staff run on one payroll and one statutory return. You do not keep a second system for the people paid by the day, and there is one filing with State Internal Revenue Services (and the Nigeria Revenue Service) at month end.
Run one Nigerian crew free
Start free, add a single crew, and run one real month — the attendance, the overtime, the wage floor and the PAYE filed with State Internal Revenue Services (and the Nigeria Revenue Service). Compare it against your muster roll before you switch anything.