Costs & planning

How much does home care cost in Nigeria?

6 min read · 22 September 2026

The short answer

Home care pricing in Nigeria is driven by four things: the level of care needed (companionship through to registered-nurse care), the number of hours or shifts per week, the type of professional required (trained caregiver, CHEW or registered nurse), and location. Because those four vary enormously between families, a reputable provider will assess the person first and quote afterwards. Any firm price quoted before an assessment is a guess, and usually an optimistic one.

This is the first question almost every family asks, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a form to fill in. The honest answer is that it depends on four things, and that anyone who quotes you a firm figure before meeting the person needing care is guessing.

1. The level of care actually needed

There is a wide gap between someone who needs company, meals and medication reminders, and someone who needs wound dressing, catheter care and a registered nurse on site. Most families overestimate or underestimate this, which is exactly why an assessment exists. A nurse visiting the home can tell in an hour what a phone call cannot.

2. Hours and shift pattern

A few hours on weekday mornings costs very differently from live-in care. The pattern matters as much as the total: overnight cover, weekend cover and public holidays all carry different requirements, because they are harder to staff and the professional is away from their own family.

  • Daily visits, a set number of hours each day
  • Weekly, for someone who mainly needs oversight
  • Live-in or long-term, where continuity matters most
  • Short engagements, for example the six weeks after surgery

3. Who is required

A trained caregiver, a Community Health Extension Worker (CHEW) and a registered nurse are three different professionals with three different scopes and three different costs. Paying for a registered nurse when a trained caregiver is what your parent needs is waste; the reverse is dangerous. A good assessment tells you which you actually need, and says so even when the cheaper answer is the right one.

4. Location

Not because care is worth more in one place than another, but because logistics genuinely differ. A caregiver crossing Lagos twice a day, or deploying to a community two hours from the nearest city, is a different operational cost from a caregiver working ten minutes from home.

What you should expect from any provider

  • An assessment before a price, not after
  • A written quote you can read, keep and compare
  • Clarity on what is included and what is not
  • No pressure to decide during the assessment visit
  • A clear answer on what happens if the level of care needs to change

A warning worth taking seriously: the cheapest option in home care is very often an untrained individual with no supervision, no documentation and no accountability if something goes wrong. For a frail parent, that is not a saving. Ask any provider who trained their staff, who supervises them clinically, and what happens at 2am when something changes.

How Insyt FamilyCare handles it

A registered nurse visits the home, meets the person, looks at the house, and writes a care plan. The quote follows the plan. You see both in writing before committing to anything, and there is no charge for changing your mind at that point. Care tiers are basic, intermediate and advanced, and we will tell you honestly which one fits, including when that is the least expensive one.

FAQ

Related questions

Why will you not give me a price over the phone?
Because it would not be a real price. Until a nurse has met the person and seen the home, any figure is a guess, and guesses in this industry are usually optimistic ones that get revised upwards later. We would rather tell you the truth slightly later than a comfortable number immediately.
Is home care cheaper than a care home?
Usually it is for part-time care, and the gap narrows as hours increase toward live-in care. But cost is rarely the only factor. Most families choose home care because the person wants to stay in their own house, and that matters to recovery and wellbeing in ways a spreadsheet does not capture.
Do I pay more for a registered nurse?
Yes, because the training, licensing and clinical scope are different. The point of the assessment is to establish whether you need one. Many families do not, and we will say so.
Can costs change after care starts?
They can if the level of care changes, for example if someone recovers and needs less, or declines and needs more. That is why there is a monthly nursing review. Any change is discussed and agreed with you in writing first, never applied quietly.

More questions answered on our full FAQ page.

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A care coordinator will listen to the situation and tell you honestly what is needed, including when that is nothing yet.

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