Abuja - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?
People employ drivers, nannies, cooks, housekeepers, fitness coaches. I pay $300/month for a part-time steward (cooking and cleaning). That seems about average. I also have a one-on-one kickboxing trainer who charges $100 for eight lessons. - Jun 2024
We've got a very good nanny/housekeeper and a full time cook. It's pretty awesome to come home after work to a hot meal, clean house, and happy kids. - Mar 2024
There are plenty of candidates for housekeepers, stewards, nannies, drivers etc. It's all a matter of your expectations and needs. It took us some trial and error to find a person who matches our expectations. Most houses have staff quarters, and local staff appreciate that. - Sep 2019
It is easy and cheap to get household help. If you want to get staff in, there are always people leaving who have help that they'd like to get resettled with a job. - Feb 2019
Quality help is definitely available, and every transfer season you will see recommendations from people leaving via the CLO. Nearly everyone has at least one household helper. Many have 2 to 3. Drivers are great if you don't like the stress of dealing with local traffic customs. Stewards / chefs are great to have meals / homes cleaned when you get home. Nannies are common even if the spouse doesn't work. Great people that are use to working with expats / Americans. - Apr 2018
Household help is fairly inexpensive but definitely require a great deal of instruction, training, and expectation management. - Apr 2017
Labor is inexpensive, but the quality varies. We pay 40,000 naira for a full-time person, which (at 200 to $1 U.S.) is 200 dollars for the month. This is just for a housekeeper/dog walker. - Jun 2016
Available, cheap, and of varying quality. We were satisfied just to have someone who didn't steal from us, but some people are very happy with their stewards. - Aug 2015
Very available and very reasonable. Most if not all Mission folks have at least one part time domestic help. Others may have 3 or 4. - Jun 2015
Reasonable. There are quarters on the 66 compound for them but they are very small, dirty and hot. I was unable to hire the person i wanted because they would not live there. - Nov 2014
Readily and afforded. Many people will share domestic help. But, as always - check out the help, ask around, get references. - Aug 2014
Very inexpensive and easy to find someone who has worked for other expats and is pretty reliable. Many families with kids employ a driver (so they can get by with one car), a steward (cooks, cleans, shops), and a nanny. For US$300 a month or less, a single or couple without kids can have all their cooking, cleaning, shopping, and dog walking done 5 days a week. - May 2014
Available, cheap enough. - May 2013
Expensive and unreliable, particularly in comparison to other parts of the world. - Jun 2009
It's cheap, but I don't trust the domestic help here from all the stories I've heard. As one example, one domestic kept breaking kitchenware by stacking fine china and crystal glasses on top of each other in the sink - even after being told not to. - Sep 2008
Plentiful, cheap, but honesty is an issue. - Aug 2008
Plentiful and relatively cheap. Almost everyone here at post has at least one domestic working for them. - Jul 2008
