Current time in Lagos

West Africa Time, one hour ahead of UTC

Lagos uses West Africa Time (WAT), one hour ahead of UTC, all year. All of Nigeria keeps this time, and so do its neighbours Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, and countries further south such as Gabon and Angola. Further west along the coast the clock changes: Accra in Ghana and Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire are on UTC+0, one hour behind Lagos, although they are only a short flight away.

Level with London in summer, with Paris in winter

Nigeria does not change its clocks, but Europe does, so Lagos swaps partners twice a year. During British Summer Time it has the same time as London and is one hour behind Paris and Berlin. In winter it is one hour ahead of London and level with Paris and Berlin. For Nigerian companies that deal with both cities this is convenient: there is never more than an hour’s difference. New York is six hours behind in winter and five in summer.

Why the equator has no use for summer time

Lagos lies six and a half degrees north of the equator. The length of its day varies by only about 45 minutes across the year, with sunrise between roughly 06:30 and 07:00 and sunset between 18:30 and 19:00 in every month. Shifting the clock would gain almost nothing, which is why daylight saving has never been used here. The present offset dates from 1919; for a few years before that, Lagos ran half an hour ahead of Greenwich.

Lagos: time zone at a glance

Time zone

Africa/Lagos

UTC offset

UTC+1, all year

Clock changes

None scheduled

Dates reflect the rules in force when this page was last updated. Governments can change them at short notice.

Plan a meeting in Lagos

Use the actual meeting date. Seasonal clock changes can alter the time difference.

How accurate is this clock?

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