HR Advisory and Compliance Services in Nigeria

Where employers most often fall short

Contracts of employment that were drafted years ago, copied from a foreign template, and do not reflect the roles or the statutory position today.

Termination handled on notice pay alone, without a documented process, which is where most claims before the National Industrial Court begin.

Casual and contract workers engaged on arrangements that would not survive scrutiny of the true working relationship.

Personal data collected during recruitment and employment without a lawful basis, retention period or the safeguards the NDPA 2023 requires.

Pension remittance timing, NSITF contributions and ITF obligations tracked informally rather than through a controlled process.

Disciplinary decisions taken without a hearing, a record, or consistency against previous cases.

Our HR compliance audit

The audit is a structured review of employment documentation, statutory registrations and remittances, HR processes and live employee matters. We test what is happening in practice rather than reviewing the policy library in isolation, because the two frequently differ.

You receive a findings report that grades each issue by exposure and effort, so that remediation can be sequenced sensibly. Nothing is presented as a legal opinion. Where a matter requires counsel, we say so and work alongside your lawyers.

Data protection under the NDPA 2023

HR functions are among the largest processors of personal data in any organisation. Recruitment records, health information, next of kin details, disciplinary files and payroll data all sit under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

We help employers map the employee data they hold, establish a lawful basis for each processing activity, set retention periods, put candidate and employee privacy notices in place, and tighten the handling of CVs and identity documents. This is practical work aimed at reducing exposure, not a paper exercise.

Retained advisory

Many clients need access to considered advice rather than a project. Our retained advisory gives your HR lead or managing director a named adviser to call on for live matters: a resignation that may become a dispute, a restructuring, a difficult performance case, a contract question or a regulatory notice.

Retained arrangements are priced in NGN against a defined response time and monthly advisory hours, with additional project work quoted separately.

Restructuring and exits

Redundancy and restructuring in Nigeria require a defensible process, honest consultation and consistent selection. Where the process is weak the commercial saving is often wiped out by settlements and by the effect on the people who remain.

We support the design of the process, the selection framework, manager briefing, documentation and the sequencing of communication, so the organisation reaches the intended position without avoidable claims.

Working with the National Industrial Court in mind

Nigerian employment disputes are decided on evidence of process, not on intention. The question the court asks is whether the employer followed a fair and documented procedure, applied it consistently, and gave the employee a genuine opportunity to respond. Employers rarely lose because they took the wrong decision. They lose because they cannot show how the decision was reached.

We therefore build documentation discipline into everything we advise on. Investigation notes, hearing invitations, minutes, warnings, performance records, consultation records and settlement terms all follow a consistent format that your managers can maintain without HR sitting over them. Where a matter is already contentious, we work alongside your legal counsel so that the HR record supports the legal position rather than undermining it.

Multi state and multi entity employers

Organisations operating across several Nigerian states, or across a group of entities, carry additional exposure. State personal income tax administration, minimum wage implementation, employee compensation registration and internal transfers between entities all create obligations that are easy to lose track of when HR is managed locally.

We map obligations by entity and by location, set one group standard for contracts and procedures, and leave a compliance calendar that names the owner and the deadline for each recurring filing or remittance in NGN.

Getting started

Audits and retained advisory are quoted in NGN following a scoping conversation. To discuss HR compliance in your organisation, email consulting@sahrpartners.com.