Nigeria CV Format: The 2026 Lagos and Abuja Resume Guide

Open Word or Google Docs and set the page size to A4 with 2 cm margins. Use Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman at 11 points body text, 12 to 13 points for section headings, and 18 to 20 points for your name at the top. Aim for 2 to 3 pages. Place your name at the top, in bold caps if you prefer the traditional Nigerian convention. Below your name, list your Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, or other city of residence, Nigerian mobile with +234 country code, professional email, and LinkedIn URL. Save the master file as .docx for Jobberman, MyJobMag, and recruiter agency uploads and convert to PDF for direct corporate portal and bank graduate trainee submissions.

Immediately under contact details, add a Personal Information section with: Date of Birth (DD/MM/YYYY), Gender, Marital Status, Nationality (Nigerian), State of Origin, Local Government Area (LGA), and NYSC Status. Standard format: 'Date of Birth: 14/06/1996, Gender: Female, Marital Status: Single, Nationality: Nigerian, State of Origin: Enugu State, LGA: Nkanu West, NYSC: Discharged 2020 (Cert No. NYSC/ENU/12345)'. Religion is optional and conventionally included only for faith-based employer applications. For applicants over 30 at graduation or foreign-trained, replace 'Discharged' with 'Exemption granted' and the exemption certificate number. For current corps members, write 'Currently serving (batch 2025A, PPA in Lagos State)'.

Below the Personal Information, write a 4 to 6 line Career Objective (traditional Nigerian CV convention) or Professional Summary (modern Nigerian CV convention) that synthesises years and type of experience, your specialism, two or three named achievements, and what you are looking for next. Highlight named Nigerian institutions, ICAN or ICAN-equivalent certifications, and banking, oil and gas, FMCG, telecoms, or NGO experience prominently. Example: 'Chartered Accountant with 7 years experience in audit and corporate finance at PwC Nigeria and Access Bank, including 3 years leading the Lagos audit team for the financial services portfolio that grew from 12 clients to 28 clients. ICAN (Associate, ACA, 2020), CFA Level 2 candidate, B.Sc. Accounting (Second Class Upper, UNILAG 2018). Seeking a Senior Manager or Manager role at a Big 4 firm or a Nigerian bank in Lagos.' Update for each application.

List roles in reverse-chronological order, including NYSC service year as a one-year experience entry. For each: job title, company name, city + country (Lagos, Nigeria; Abuja, Nigeria), and date range (Month YYYY to Present or Month YYYY to Month YYYY). Underneath, write 4 to 6 bullet points that lead with strong action verbs (built, led, launched, reduced, scaled, grew) and quantify outcomes in NGN, USD for remote roles, or percentage terms. Nigerian recruiters scan for results and named institutions. Replace 'Responsible for managing customer accounts' with 'Managed 42 enterprise customer accounts totalling NGN 8.4 billion in annual revenue at Access Bank; renewed 92 percent in 2025 and grew net new logo from 11 to 19 customers.' Group recent roles in detail (2 to 3 most recent) and condense earlier roles to one line plus 2 bullets to maintain the 2 to 3 page limit.

List education in reverse-chronological order. Use the full institution name and the standard acronym in parentheses: University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Ibadan (UI), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), University of Benin (UNIBEN), Covenant University, Babcock University, Pan-Atlantic University, American University of Nigeria (AUN). Include the degree, year, and class or grade (First Class Honours, Second Class Honours Upper Division, Second Class Honours Lower Division, Third Class, Pass, Distinction, Credit). For polytechnics and HNDs: Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Federal Polytechnic Auchi, Lagos State Polytechnic. For graduates, list WAEC, NECO, or NABTEB secondary school results with subjects, grades, and number of credits at one sitting. Add Professional Certifications section: ICAN, ANAN, ACCA, CITN, CIBN, CIPM, NIPR, NIMN, NIM, NCS, NBA, with membership numbers where applicable.

At the bottom of the CV, add a References section listing 2 to 3 named referees with their full name, job title, employer, phone number (Nigerian mobile +234 format), and email. Suggested mix: most recent manager (most important for Nigerian recruiter screening), a senior peer or skip-level manager, and optionally a senior client, professor (for entry-level), or NYSC PPA manager for fresh graduates. Ask each referee for permission before listing them and give them a heads-up before each application that they may be contacted. Nigerian recruiters at banks, oil and gas majors, FMCG, and multinationals routinely call references before extending offers, sometimes at the shortlist stage. 'References available upon request' is acceptable but signals you have not lined up your referees, which can read as under-prepared. For faith-based employer applications, a pastoral or religious reference is sometimes added as a third referee.

Open ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and use the AI prompt below to tailor the Career Objective and Work Experience to the specific Nigerian job posting. Specify Nigerian recruitment vocabulary, British English conventions, NGN or USD quantification, NYSC framing where applicable, and ICAN or sector-relevant certifications. After the AI rewrite, paste the resume into Jobscan or compare against your LinkedIn Nigeria profile for the same role. Aim for 75 percent or higher keyword match. Save the final document as PDF for direct corporate portal and bank graduate trainee submissions, and .docx for Jobberman, MyJobMag, and recruiter agency uploads. Submit through the company career portal where possible (rather than Jobberman alone) because direct portal submissions get higher visibility with the hiring manager than aggregator-routed applications.