eSIM Nigeria
Nigeria from 9,95€ on the Glo Nigeria network: data plans from 1 GB to 3 GB, prepaid and contract-free, set up by QR code — you are online within minutes of landing in Lagos or Abuja.
Your Selection
Your plan only starts counting when the eSIM first connects at your destination — so you can buy today and travel in three weeks.
How does Simbye eSIM work for Nigeria?
Get connected in under 2 minutes
Pick a plan and pay
Choose 1 GB for 7 days or 3 GB for 15 days and pay like in any online shop. The email with your QR code, a one-click link and the details to type in manually arrives straight after. No copy of your passport, no Nigerian address, no contract.
Set it up at home, switch it on in Nigeria
Install the eSIM calmly over Wi-Fi before you fly — after landing, getting online is often the first hurdle. When you arrive at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Port Harcourt International Airport or Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, all that is left is switching on the eSIM line and data roaming.
Stay online and top up
Your validity only starts with the first connection inside Nigeria, not at purchase. Hotspot is allowed and draws from the same allowance. If you run out, you top up online — the same eSIM stays in your phone and there is nothing to install again.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in Nigeria?
Your eSIM connects to Glo Nigeria on arrival — there is nothing for you to set up.
Average measured mobile internet performance, nPerf barometer (measured 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2025). What you actually get depends on where you are, the time of day and your phone.
The eSIM is set to the Glo Nigeria network, so there is nothing for you to choose. Once you switch on the eSIM line and data roaming after landing, your phone finds the network by itself, usually within one or two minutes. If nothing happens after five minutes, turning airplane mode on and off almost always fixes it, or pick Glo manually in your network settings. You never have to type in an APN.
In the big cities you normally get 4G: in Lagos on Victoria Island, in Ikoyi, Lekki, Ikeja, Yaba and Apapa, in Abuja in Maitama, Wuse, Garki, Asokoro and around Jabi Lake, in Port Harcourt in Trans Amadi, the GRA and around Choba. Ibadan, Benin City, Enugu, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Calabar, Uyo, Abeokuta and Asaba are covered too. It thins out as soon as you leave the cities: on the long inter-city highways, in the creeks of the Niger Delta, in Yankari National Park in Bauchi and up on the Obudu plateau in Cross River you will hit stretches with slow service or none at all. And there is something no eSIM can fix: power cuts are part of daily life in Nigeria, and when a mast runs on a generator the connection can drop for a while even in the middle of a city. Download your maps, addresses and bookings before you set off.
eSIM or a local SIM card in Nigeria?
For Nigeria, the eSIM skips the service centre: no passport, no registration in your name, and no scramble for naira that smaller vendors insist on. Your line is fixed to Glo and carries data only, so calls run through WhatsApp.
| Compared | Simbye eSIM | Local SIM card |
|---|---|---|
| ID and registration | Nothing to show: you buy online and get the QR code by email | Show your passport at a service centre, the SIM is registered in your name |
| When you are online | Right after landing, as soon as you switch on data roaming | Only after finding a shop and waiting for activation |
| Payment | Before the trip, from home, with your usual payment method | On the spot in naira, mostly cash; foreign cards are often declined by smaller vendors |
| Nigerian phone number | No, this is a data-only plan | Yes, with a Nigerian number |
| Calls and SMS | Not on this line; voice calls run over WhatsApp and similar apps on the data | Included, and SMS codes from Nigerian apps arrive |
| Network | Glo Nigeria, fixed | Free choice among the Nigerian operators |
| Topping up | Online whenever you like, no shop to find | Airtime from a street vendor, a POS agent or the operator's app |
| When something goes wrong | Support by email, reachable before you even leave | At the shop on the spot, usually in English, with travel and waiting time |
Why your home contract turns into a lottery in Nigeria
With almost any home contract, Nigeria falls into the most expensive roaming zone. Whether your contract comes from Germany, the United States, Turkey, Brazil or India: the moment you connect here you usually land in the most expensive zone of your tariff, billed per megabyte or through a day pass you can only buy once you are already in the country.
The real problem is not any single price, though — it is that you cannot see it. And some tariffs do not have roaming outside the usual zones switched on at all: many operators block it by default and only unlock it after a phone call, which you are then supposed to make without internet. Others simply let you browse and send the bill weeks later.
A prepaid data eSIM turns that around. You pay first, you know the cost first, and it cannot grow beyond that. When the allowance is gone you top up or you don't. No contract keeps running, and there is nothing to cancel after the trip.
From Lagos to Abuja, Calabar and Kano — what to expect
Nigeria is big, and the distances are longer than the map suggests. Most people fly between Lagos and Abuja: a little over an hour in the air against a full day on the road. It is the country's main domestic route, served several times a day, and you normally book it online — though payment with a foreign card can fail on Nigerian operators' sites.
In Lagos itself you will mostly move between Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, Ikeja and the mainland, in Abuja between Maitama, Wuse, Garki and Asokoro. Coverage there is solid, and you will need it constantly: for ride-hailing, for addresses that are often given to you as a landmark rather than a street name, and for the message to the driver already waiting at the wrong gate.
It changes as soon as you head out: to the Obudu Mountain Resort on the plateau in Cross River, to Yankari National Park in Bauchi, to the Osun-Osogbo grove, the Erin-Ijesha waterfalls or the Idanre Hills in Ondo. On the last hour of the drive the signal can be gone. Download your route, your accommodation's contact details and your return booking while you are still on a city network.
How much data do you need in Nigeria?
So you can work it out instead of guessing: how much an hour costs in the apps you actually use on holiday.
The Netflix and Spotify figures come from the providers themselves (Netflix Help Center, Spotify Support, retrieved 28 Aug 2026). The rest are network-operator estimates (o2, Vodafone, EE) and vary with picture quality and reception.
Registration rules: what applies to Nigerian SIM cards — and what does not
Every Nigerian SIM card has to be registered to a person. The regulator, the NCC, asks visitors for their passport; foreigners living or working in the country longer term also have to obtain a National Identification Number, a NIN, and link it to the SIM. For a local card that means finding a service centre, showing ID and waiting for activation.
Our eSIM is not a Nigerian card. It is a foreign SIM that connects to the Glo Nigeria network on arrival, so neither step applies — no shop, no registration. The honest trade-off: you do not get a Nigerian phone number. You cannot receive SMS codes from Nigerian apps, banks or authorities on it, and you cannot make calls over this line. If that is exactly what you need, the local card with your passport is the right route.
What does an eSIM for Nigeria cost?
Simbye offers 2 plans for Nigeria from €9,95 to €18,95 — prepaid, no contract.
Plans for Nigeria range from 1 GB to 3 GB.
Validity runs from 7 to 15 days and starts with your first connection in Nigeria.
| Plan | Validity | Price | Per travel day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 7 days | €9,95 | €1,42 |
| 3 GB | 15 days | €18,95 | €1,26 |
- Networks
- Glo Nigeria
- Setting it up
- A link in your email, or the QR code — one tap is enough
- Network technology
- 4G/LTE — and 5G where the network already offers it
- APN and settings
- Nothing to set. The eSIM brings everything with it
- Hotspot
- Allowed — for a laptop, tablet or a travel companion
- Adding more data
- Top up any time, without setting anything up again
- Calls and texts
- Not included — WhatsApp calls run over the data
- Your own number
- Stays in the phone and stays reachable
- Contract
- None. The plan ends by itself
- Worth knowing
- Roaming on your home contract gets billed here — this eSIM is prepaid, so nothing is added afterwards
Frequently Asked Questions about Nigeria eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
