🇳🇬Nigeria

The visa

• Visa on arrival is no longer available. Every visa application goes through the online portal before travel. There is no desk at the airport that will fix this.
• Apply at evisa.immigration.gov.ng, run by the Nigeria Immigration Service.
• The tourism e-visa is single entry, 30 days, and not extendable. That is the Immigration Service's own description, and it is stricter than most people assume.
• It wants four things: a valid passport, a return ticket, evidence of accommodation and a bank statement showing sufficient funds.
• The passport must be valid at least 6 months after the day you arrive.
• A valid Nigerian residence permit, CERPAC or Green Card, replaces the visa.

Transiting

• Transit without a visa covers 48 hours, strictly airside, with an onward ticket, and it does not let you into the country.
• The e-visa transit visa is a different thing, one to seven days, for people who need to leave the airport.

The two forms nobody mentions until the gate

• Landing and departure cards are completed online through the immigration portal, and you may be asked for them at the airport.
• The Nigeria Health Declaration Form is filled in online before you enter, and that includes transit passengers. Thermal screening and a travel history check may follow.

Vaccination

• A yellow fever certificate is a condition of entry. Infants of 8 months or under and adults of 61 or over are exempt.

What you may not bring

• It is illegal to import beer, mineral water, soft drinks, sparkling wine, fruit, vegetables, cereals, eggs, textile fabrics, jewellery or precious metals. That list surprises people carrying gifts.
• Exporting African art, particularly antiques, needs written authorisation from the Department of Antiquities.

There is no ambulance coming

• Nigeria has no national ambulance service and hospital-owned services are extremely limited. 112 will take a report; it will not reliably send a vehicle.
• That makes the plan different. Know which hospital your insurer will use, know how you would get there, and treat "call an ambulance" as a step that may not work.
• Call your insurer as soon as you are referred anywhere. Public hospitals charge, private hospitals charge more, and you pay.

Before you go

• Yellow fever vaccination is required for entry, with exemptions only for infants of 8 months or under and adults of 61 or over.
• Malaria is countrywide. Start prophylaxis before you travel.
• Dengue and Zika are also present, and neither has a tablet. Repellent, covered arms, and think about Zika if you are pregnant or planning to be.
• Schistosomiasis means not swimming or wading in fresh water.
• See a travel clinic at least 8 weeks out.

Medicines

• Pharmacies are widely available and accept UK prescriptions. A Nigerian doctor can write a new one for a fee.
• Carry the original packaging so anyone can see exactly what you take.

The rule people misread

• The FCDO tells you your SIM must be linked to a Nigerian Identification Number. Read alone, that sounds like a visitor cannot buy a SIM at all, because a NIN is an identity registration for people who live here.
• The regulator's own FAQ resolves it. The Nigerian Communications Commission says foreigners on a tourist or visiting visa tender their international passport to acquire a SIM. Legally resident foreigners are the ones who obtain a NIN, like citizens.
• If your status later changes to residency or a work permit, you then get a NIN and link the SIM. That is the sentence the FCDO's shorter version is compressing.

In the shop

• Everyone using a mobile network in Nigeria must have the SIM registered. There is no anonymous prepaid SIM.
• Operator FAQs are written for Nigerians. MTN's SIM registration page, for instance, lists the NIN or NIN slip and no visitor alternative, so a shop assistant working from the script may say no. The NCC page above is the thing to have open.
• Buy in a branded operator store, not from a table, and register the SIM in your own name and passport.

Networks can be switched off

• Operators have been ordered to suspend mobile networks and wi-fi at very short notice in the past. Download maps and your booking confirmations before you need them.

Power

• Type G sockets, the British three pin, at 230 V and 50 Hz. A UK plug goes straight in.
• Sockets are often universal, accepting many plug shapes, but carry an adaptor rather than count on it.
• Mains supply is unreliable in much of the country. Hotels run generators; a power bank is not a luxury.

Language

• English is the official language and the language of government, business and most signage. Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo are the largest of the several hundred languages actually spoken.

Religion and dress

• Nigeria has the largest Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa, concentrated in the north, and a large Christian population in the south.
• Dress and behave modestly, especially in the north and at religious sites.
• During Ramadan in predominantly Muslim areas, do not eat, drink, smoke or chew gum in public during daylight, including in a car, and check whether a restaurant has a screened area before sitting down to eat.

Cash

• Areas around banks and ATMs have seen a spike in criminal activity. Take extra care withdrawing cash, and especially at night.
• Avoid carrying large amounts of cash, and do not wear a valuable watch or jewellery. The FCDO notes that visiting British nationals are targeted for perceived wealth.
• Withdraw inside a bank or a mall rather than at a street machine where you can, and go by pre-arranged transport.

Cards

• Credit card fraud is common. Keep the card in sight when you pay a bill, and check the machine before you tap.
• Tell your bank you are travelling. A first Nigerian transaction is a classic trigger for an automatic block.

Scams

• British nationals are increasingly targeted by scammers operating in West Africa, in romance, friendship, business venture and job forms. Be cautious about any request for funds, and about a first face-to-face meeting with someone you met online.
• If you are emailed about sending money to Nigeria for someone you know, contact that person directly. That is the specific check the FCDO asks people to make.

One drink warning that belongs here

• There have been deaths from alcoholic drinks containing methanol, particularly unlicensed traditional gin. You cannot taste or smell it. Buy sealed, licensed products, and get urgent medical help if someone is unwell after drinking.

The travel advice, stated first

• The FCDO advises against all travel to Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Katsina and Zamfara states, and to the riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
• It advises against all but essential travel to Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto, Niger, Kogi, Plateau, Taraba, Kwara, Benue, Abia, Anambra and Imo states, and to the non-riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.
• Lagos State and the Federal Capital Territory appear on neither list. That is why Lagos and Abuja are ordinary destinations and why this guide exists.
• Travelling against the advice can invalidate your travel insurance. Check your policy against the map before you book anything upcountry.

Kidnapping

• Kidnapping for ransom is widespread and can happen anywhere, worst in the north west but also high in Niger, Kogi, Kwara and the Abuja Federal Capital Territory.
• Named highways are a specific risk, including the Abuja to Kaduna highway and the Enugu to Awka to Onitsha expressway.
• Travel in daylight, vary your routine, and meet in secure locations. That is standard advice for residents and it applies to a visitor with a schedule someone can learn.

Street crime

• There are high levels of violent street crime, muggings and armed robbery, and frequent carjackings on urban roads.
• If you are caught in an armed robbery, comply immediately. The FCDO says this plainly and it is the right advice.

Roads

• Limit travel after dark outside city centres. Avoid quiet, poorly lit roads, keep windows up and doors locked in traffic, and keep valuables out of sight.
• Checkpoints are everywhere, some official and some there to extract small payments. Slow down, stay calm, do not argue.
• A UK licence works for 3 months, then a 1968 international driving permit, then a Nigerian licence after a year.

Curfews and protests

• Curfews are imposed, changed and lifted at short notice. Ignoring one risks arrest and detention, so check locally rather than assuming.
• Large demonstrations happen in Lagos and Abuja with little warning and have been met with tear gas, rubber bullets and, on occasion, live fire. Avoid them entirely.

Laws that carry serious penalties

• Drug possession, including cannabis, means a long jail sentence and heavy fines, and border scanning is thorough, including for transit passengers.
• Photographing government buildings, military sites or airports can lead to arrest.
• Same-sex sexual activity is illegal, with penalties up to 14 years and the death penalty under Sharia law in some northern states. The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act also criminalises organising or attending same-sex weddings and running or joining LGBT+ groups. Read the FCDO's LGBT+ advice before travelling.
• Dress and behave modestly, particularly in the north and during Ramadan.

Water

• Rip tides and undertows kill people off the Nigerian coast every year. Get local advice before swimming.

The number

What 112 will and will not do

• There is no national ambulance service. Hospital-owned services are extremely limited, so for a medical emergency you may have to arrange local transport yourself.
• Ask your hotel or host first for a medical emergency. They know which hospital is open and which one your kind of insurance is accepted at, and that is faster than working it out from a hospital bed.
• Save the British High Commission in Abuja and the Deputy High Commission in Lagos offline, or your own embassy's equivalent. Networks have been suspended at short notice before.