Nigeria time now, live flip clock
All of Nigeria keeps West Africa Time, WAT, UTC+1. The country does not change its clocks in any season. The clock above shows Nigeria's time live, with seconds.
Time zone in Nigeria
Abuja, the federal capital, keeps the same time as Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Benin City.
- WAT, UTC+1
- Not observed
- Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Abuja
How many hours ahead or behind Nigeria
On 7 October 2026, London is on the same time as Nigeria.
| City | Difference from Nigeria |
|---|---|
| London | Same time |
| New York | 5 hours behind |
| Toronto | 5 hours behind |
| Chicago | 6 hours behind |
| Los Angeles | 8 hours behind |
| Johannesburg | 1 hour ahead |
| Dubai | 3 hours ahead |
| Abidjan | 1 hour behind |
| Your time zone | Detected after this page loads |
Convert a time between any two placesDaylight saving dates around the world
How Nigeria sets its time
- One hour ahead of Greenwich, by law
- s. 15
- Nigeria's hour is written into its Interpretation Act. Under the Act, a time of day in any law means one hour ahead of Greenwich mean time. That is West Africa Time, WAT, UTC+1, the time every Nigerian clock keeps.
- Shared from Niger to Angola
- 10
- Nine other countries keep Nigeria's hour. Niger, Benin, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, the Central African Republic and Angola keep it too. So does the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The time zone database files all of them under Lagos. None of them changes its clocks.
- From Greenwich time to one hour ahead
- +1 h
- Lagos adopted Greenwich time under colonial rule, then went back to local mean time three years later. A unified Nigeria next took a standard time half an hour ahead of Greenwich. Nigeria then moved to one hour ahead, the zone it fell into under the world system of time zones. The clocks have kept that hour since.
- Level with London in the British summer
- 0 h
- In the British summer, London and Lagos show the same time. The UK moves its clocks forward by an hour and Nigeria stays put. In the British winter, London is 1 hour behind Lagos.
Questions about time in Nigeria
What time zone is Nigeria in?
Nigeria is in a single time zone, West Africa Time, WAT, UTC+1. The Interpretation Act fixes it as one hour ahead of Greenwich mean time. Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Benin City all share it. Nine other countries, from Niger to Angola, set their clocks to the same hour.
Does Nigeria have daylight saving time?
No. Nigeria keeps WAT, UTC+1 through the whole year. The time zone database records no summer time for Nigeria. The clocks last moved when the country went from half an hour to one hour ahead of Greenwich. The UK and the US still move theirs, so Nigeria's gap with them changes twice a year.
What is the time difference between Nigeria and the UK?
London is 1 hour behind Lagos in the British winter. In the British summer the two cities show the same time. The UK puts its clocks forward and Nigeria does not. So from late March to late October a Lagos clock reads the same as a London one.
What is the time difference between Nigeria and the US?
New York is 6 hours behind Lagos in the American winter, and one hour closer in summer. Houston and Chicago are one hour further behind than New York in both seasons. Los Angeles is 9 hours behind Lagos in winter, and one hour closer in summer. Toronto in Canada follows New York's clock, winter and summer alike.
Is Nigeria on the same time as Ghana or South Africa?
Neither. Ghana keeps Greenwich Mean Time, GMT, UTC+0, so Accra is 1 hour behind Lagos in every month. South Africa is 1 hour ahead of Nigeria, also in every month. None of the three countries changes its clocks, so both gaps hold steady.
Time zone names for developers
| IANA zone | Standard time | Daylight saving time |
|---|---|---|
| Africa/Lagos | WAT, UTC+1 | No |
Sources
We checked each fact on this page against these sources on 2 October 2026. Times, offsets and clock changes come from the time zone database.