Comment appeler le Nigeria depuis le Royaume-Uni

The dial string is `+234` followed by the Nigerian number with the leading `0` dropped. Lagos landlines start `+234 1`, Abuja `+234 9`, Port Harcourt `+234 84`. Nigerian mobiles are 10 digits starting `7`, `8`, or `9` after the country code. The toll-free `0800` numbers a Nigerian bank publishes for domestic callers will not connect from the UK.

The dial string

To call Nigeria from the UK:

• ›`+234 {area code or mobile prefix} {number}`, or
• ›`00 234 {area code or mobile prefix} {number}` from a UK landline.

Drop the leading `0`. An MTN Nigeria mobile printed as `0803 123 4567` becomes `+234 803 123 4567`. A Lagos landline printed as `(01) 234 5678` becomes `+234 1 234 5678`.

Mobile vs landline

Nigerian mobile numbers are 10 digits after the country code, starting `7`, `8`, or `9`. Prefix maps to operator: MTN `803/806/810/813/814/816`, Airtel `802/808/812/901/902/907`, Glo `805/807/811/815/905`, 9mobile `809/817/818/908/909`.

Landlines exist but are uncommon outside government and large corporates. Lagos `1`, Abuja `9`, Port Harcourt `84`, Kano `64`, Ibadan `2`. Most Nigerian customer service has moved to mobile numbers or VoIP softphones since 2020.

Nigeria does not bill the receiver for incoming international calls.

What it costs

Four realistic routes for a UK→Nigeria call in 2026:

• ›UK mobile international add-on. Nigeria is excluded from EE's and Vodafone UK's standard international plans. Pay-as-you-go rates without an add-on sit at £1.50, £2.20/min to Nigerian mobiles.
• ›Pre-paid international calling card. Diaspora-targeted cards aimed at the Nigerian and West-African market advertise rates from 5p/min. The advertised rate often applies only to Lagos and Abuja landlines; mobiles can be 4-8x more.
• ›VoIP app-to-phone. Skype's successor Microsoft Teams Phone terminates to Nigerian mobiles at around £0.18/min. Viber Out is similar.
• ›Browser-to-phone via WorldDial. £0.072/min to Nigerian mobiles, £0.029/min to Nigerian landlines, billed per second.

For diaspora callers, the per-second-billed browser route is the most predictable price. Calling cards advertise lower rates but use post-rounding and connection fees to widen the effective price on short calls.

Toll-free numbers from this corridor

Nigerian toll-free numbers start `0800` (also `0708`). They are domestic-only and will not connect from a UK number. Nigerian banks and government offices that publish an `0800` line usually also publish a standard mobile or landline number for international callers, search the contact page for "outside Nigeria" or "international".

GTBank publishes `+234 1 448 0000`; Access Bank `+234 1 271 2005`; First Bank `+234 1 905 3030`. NIN enrollment enquiries route through the NIMC contact centre at `+234 700 226 4632` (paid international number). Nigeria Immigration Service routes through `+234 805 199 8000`.

Best calling windows

Nigeria runs on UTC+1 (West Africa Time) year-round, no DST. UK runs UTC+0 in winter or UTC+1 (BST) in summer. Nigeria is one hour ahead of UK in winter, same time zone in summer.

The best window for reaching a human on a Nigerian bank or government helpline is `08:30-10:30 WAT`, the first two hours of the working day, before traffic-driven call surges and before the Nigerian business-day starts in earnest. In UK time that is `07:30-09:30` GMT or `08:30-10:30` BST.

The windows to avoid: `12:00-13:00 WAT` (lunch and prayer break across much of the country), `15:00-17:00 WAT` (end-of-day surge as offices try to clear queues before close).

Pitfalls specific to this corridor

• ›NIN-linked OTP requirements for bank verification. Since 2021, Nigerian banks tie account access to a National Identification Number (NIN) and route password-reset OTPs to the registered Nigerian mobile. If you call from the UK to dispute a transaction or reset a password, the agent will offer to send an OTP to the registered Nigerian mobile; if you no longer hold that SIM, the verification fails. Plan for it: maintain an active Nigerian eSIM or use a forwarding service.
• ›Call-flow fraud targeting diaspora callers. Nigerian banks publish prominent warnings: no bank will ask for your full card PAN, PIN, CVV, or BVN over the phone. Diaspora callers are a primary target because they expect to verify by sharing card details. If a "GTBank agent" asks for your card PIN, hang up, it is not GTBank.
• ›NCC's anti-call-masking enforcement. The Nigerian Communications Commission requires inbound international calls to display the original calling-line identification. Some VoIP routes that strip or rewrite the CLI are blocked by Nigerian carriers. The symptom is a call that fails to ring at all. WorldDial passes CLI; some grey-market VoIP routes do not.
• ›CFA-band tier-2 city landlines unreliable. Landlines in Port Harcourt, Kano, Ibadan, and Kaduna route via legacy NITEL infrastructure that has degraded since the 2014 carrier breakup. If a published landline rings out, call the institution's main mobile number instead.

Quick checklist

• ›Have the destination number in international format: `+234` followed by 10 digits (mobile) or 7-9 digits including area code (landline).
• ›Drop the leading `0` from the Nigerian number.
• ›Pick a window inside Nigerian working hours: 08:30-10:30 WAT.
• ›Have your BVN, NIN if you have one, account number, and any reference number ready before dialing.
• ›Never share PIN, full card number, CVV, or BVN with a caller claiming to be the bank.

FAQs

What is the international dialing code for Nigeria?

`+234`. From the UK, dial `+234` or `00 234`, then the Nigerian number with the leading `0` dropped.

Can I dial Nigerian 0800 toll-free numbers from the UK?

No. Nigerian `0800` and `0708` toll-free numbers are domestic-only. Nigerian banks and government services that publish a toll-free line also publish a paid international line on the same contact page.

What's the cheapest way to call Nigeria from the UK?

For occasional calls, a per-second-billed browser-to-phone service at around £0.072/min to mobiles beats the UK carrier rate (£1.50, £2.20/min). For long calls to Lagos or Abuja landlines, a calling card with a published landline rate can be cheaper, but check the connection fee.

Will WhatsApp work for my Nigeria call?

For personal calls, yes, WhatsApp is widely used in Nigeria. For institutional calls (banks, government, telcos), no, none of those operate WhatsApp lines for customer service. For those, a phone-network call is required.

Why does the call connect but I hear nothing?

Less common on this corridor than on others, but two causes: a one-way audio failure on the international gateway (hang up and redial), or the recipient is on a poor 3G signal area where the mobile carrier downgrades the call to a quality below the threshold for clear audio. The second is unfixable from your side.