A Nigerian zip code is six digits, it is issued by NIPOST, and it belongs to a post office delivery district rather than to a town, an estate or a local government area. Ikeja head office in Lagos is 100001. Garki main head office in Abuja is 900001. Port Harcourt is 500001, Enugu is 400001, Lokoja is 270001.
That distinction is the reason no two zip code lists on the internet agree with each other, and it is why the code you found for your area may not exist. This page explains how the six digits are built, what your state’s range is, what to type when a checkout form demands a code, and what changes on 1 October 2026 when NIPOST switches the whole country to a new format.
What the Six Digits Actually Mean
The code is not one number. It is three pieces of information stacked together.
| Position | What it is | In 100001 |
|---|---|---|
| Digit 1 | The region. NIPOST splits Nigeria into nine of them. | 1, which is Lagos |
| Digits 1 to 3 | The dispatch district, used for outgoing sorting. | 100, the Ikeja sorting district |
| Digits 4 to 6 | The delivery location, meaning a specific post office, urban area or rural area. | 001, the head office itself |
Read it as a funnel. The first digit gets your letter into the right corner of the country, the first three get it to the sorting office, and the last three tell the sorting office which delivery round it goes out on.
One useful pattern falls out of this. Head offices end in 0001. Once you know a state’s dispatch prefix, the state’s main post office is almost always that prefix followed by 001. Kano is 700001. Kaduna is 800001. Katsina is 820001. Bauchi is 740001.
Zip Code Ranges by State
Every code issued inside a state sits between the two numbers below. Use this to sanity check any code somebody gives you. If a supposed Ogun State code starts with 3, it is not an Ogun code.
| State | Dispatch prefix | Code range |
|---|---|---|
| Abia | 440 | 440001 to 453120 |
| Adamawa | 640 | 640001 to 652105 |
| Akwa Ibom | 520 | 520001 to 534107 |
| Anambra | 420 | 420102 to 435115 |
| Bauchi | 740 | 740001 to 752105 |
| Bayelsa | 560 | 560001 to 561102 |
| Benue | 970 | 970001 to 982105 |
| Borno | 600 | 600001 to 612104 |
| Cross River | 540 | 540211 to 553108 |
| Delta | 320 | 320001 to 334111 |
| Ebonyi | 480 | 480101 to 491110 |
| Edo | 300 | 300001 to 313111 |
| Ekiti | 360 | 360103 to 372109 |
| Enugu | 400 | 400001 to 413111 |
| FCT Abuja | 900 | 900001 to 905001 |
| Gombe | 760 | 760102 to 771104 |
| Imo | 460 | 460001 to 475109 |
| Jigawa | 720 | 705101 to 733101 |
| Kaduna | 800 | 800001 to 812103 |
| Kano | 700 | 700001 to 713105 |
| Katsina | 820 | 820001 to 833102 |
| Kebbi | 860 | 860001 to 872211 |
| Kogi | 260 | 260101 to 272105 |
| Kwara | 240 | 240001 to 252104 |
| Lagos | 100 | 100001 to 106104 |
| Nasarawa | 950 | 950103 to 962104 |
| Niger | 920 | 912101 to 923107 |
| Ogun | 110 | 110001 to 122107 |
| Ondo | 340 | 340101 to 352120 |
| Osun | 220 | 220001 to 234103 |
| Oyo | 200 | 200001 to 212104 |
| Plateau | 930 | 930001 to 942105 |
| Rivers | 500 | 500001 to 512102 |
| Sokoto | 840 | 840001 to 853102 |
| Taraba | 660 | 660001 to 672101 |
| Yobe | 620 | 620001 to 632102 |
| Zamfara | 880 | 880001 to 883105 |
A caution on three of these. Niger State and the FCT sit next door to each other in the 9 region, and Kebbi and Zamfara both draw from the 86 and 88 blocks, so circulating lists frequently file a code under the wrong one of each pair. If your address is in Niger, Kebbi or Zamfara, confirm the exact code with your local post office rather than trusting a table, including this one.
The Nine Regions, and the Pattern Nobody Points Out
NIPOST built this system with a rule, and once you see it the whole thing becomes predictable. Within each region, the state prefixes step up in twenties: 100, 110 in the first region, then 200, 220, 240, 260 in the second, and so on. That is why you can tell a fake code at a glance.
| Region | First digit | States it covers | Prefixes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Lagos, Ogun | 100, 110 |
| 2 | 2 | Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Kogi | 200, 220, 240, 260 |
| 3 | 3 | Edo, Delta, Ondo, Ekiti | 300, 320, 340, 360 |
| 4 | 4 | Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi | 400, 420, 440, 460, 480 |
| 5 | 5 | Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa | 500, 520, 540, 560 |
| 6 | 6 | Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba | 600, 620, 640, 660 |
| 7 | 7 | Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe | 700, 720, 740, 760 |
| 8 | 8 | Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara | 800, 820, 840, 860, 880 |
| 9 | 9 | FCT Abuja, Niger, Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue | 900, 920, 930, 950, 970 |
Two practical uses for this. First, a quick validity check: a code claiming to be from Ekiti has to start 36, and one claiming to be from Kano has to start 70. Second, it explains the confusions. Kebbi at 860 and Zamfara at 880 are neighbours in the numbering as well as on the map, and the FCT at 900 sits directly beside Niger at 920, which is exactly why those pairs get swapped in published tables.
Note also that the regions are postal regions and not the six geopolitical zones. Kogi is grouped with Oyo and Osun, and Benue sits with Abuja and Plateau. The grouping follows how mail moved between sorting offices when the plan was drawn, not how the country is divided politically.
Why Every Zip Code List You Find Disagrees
Search for the postal code of any Nigerian local government area and you will get five different answers from five sites. There is a simple reason, and it is not that four of them are lying.
NIPOST never assigned codes to local government areas. It assigned them to delivery districts. A local government like Alimosho in Lagos contains several delivery districts, and a single delivery district in a rural state can stretch across parts of two local governments. So when a site prints one code, or a neat range of codes, against an LGA name, that mapping was invented by whoever built the table.
You can see the invention when you check the tables against themselves. Ranges published for neighbouring local governments routinely swallow one another, so the same code appears to belong to three different places at once. Codes that overlap like that cannot all be correct, and it is a reliable sign that a range was estimated from its neighbours rather than looked up.
The honest position is this. Head office codes and the codes of named post offices are real and checkable. State ranges are real. A specific code for a specific street or estate is only real if NIPOST issued it, and the way to find that out is to ask NIPOST.
How to Find the Code That Actually Covers Your Address
- Ask the post office that serves you. Walk in or call, give the street, and ask for the delivery district code. This is the only answer that is authoritative.
- Use the NIPOST postcode finder on the NIPOST website, which searches by name and address rather than by local government.
- Use your state head office code as a fallback. For post that is being delivered by hand anyway, and for online forms, the head office code in your state is accepted and routes correctly.
- Do not trust an estate agent listing or a WhatsApp forward. These are where invented codes spread fastest.
What to Type When a Form Demands a Zip Code
This is what most people are actually here for. A checkout page, a visa application or an app store form insists on a postal code, and nothing you enter is accepted.
Enter your state head office code, six digits, no spaces. In Lagos that is 100001, in Abuja 900001, in Rivers 500001, in Kano 700001. Deliveries inside Nigeria are routed by the written address rather than the code, so a head office code will not misroute your parcel.
Two things people type that are worth knowing about. 23401 is not a Nigerian postal code. It circulates widely because it looks like the country code 234 with a digit added, and forms accept it only because they check the shape of the entry rather than its truth. 00000 is not one either. Both will pass validation on most sites and both are meaningless to NIPOST, so avoid them anywhere the address is used for a real delivery or for identity verification with a bank.
If a foreign site rejects a six digit code because it expects five, that is a validation bug on their end and not a problem with your address. Try the code without the final digit only if the form refuses to submit, and never on anything financial.
What Changes on 1 October 2026
NIPOST is replacing the six digit system with the National Digital Alphanumeric Postcode, launching on 1 October 2026. It is an 11 character code that identifies an individual building rather than a sorting district.
The structure runs down five levels: state, then local government area, then district, then area, then the building itself. NIPOST gives FC02A09DB09 as an example, where FC is the Federal Capital Territory.
Why it matters more than a format change. Nigeria has never had building level addressing, which is the reason deliveries rely on phone calls and landmarks, why banks struggle with address verification, and why e commerce refunds get argued over. A code per building is the missing piece for all three.
What we do not yet know, and what nobody should claim to know, is whether the six digit codes stay valid alongside the new ones, and how quickly banks and delivery companies will start asking for the new format. NIPOST has published the launch date and a public search tool, with a developer portal still to come. Until they say otherwise, keep using your six digit code where a code is required.
Zip Code, Postal Code and Area Code Are Not the Same Thing
| Term | What it is in Nigeria | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Zip code | An American term. In Nigeria it means the NIPOST postal code, and the two words are used interchangeably. | 100001 |
| Postal code | The official six digit NIPOST code for a delivery district. | 900001 |
| Area code | A telephone code for landlines. Nothing to do with post. | 0201 for Lagos |
| Phone prefix | The first four digits of a mobile number, showing the issuing network. | 0803 |
Zip and postal code mean the same thing here, so a form asking for either wants the same six digits. An area code is a telephone code and never belongs in an address field.
Quick Facts
- Format: six digits, no letters, no spaces
- Issued by: NIPOST, the Nigerian Postal Service
- Lowest code in use: 100001. Highest: 982002
- Regions: nine, set by the first digit
- Head offices: end in 0001
- Assigned to: post office delivery districts, not local government areas
- New system: 11 character alphanumeric, launching 1 October 2026
- Not real codes: 23401 and 00000
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the zip code for Nigeria?
Nigeria has no single national code. It has thousands of six digit NIPOST codes, one per delivery district. If a form wants one code for the country, use the head office code for your state, such as 100001 for Lagos or 900001 for Abuja.
Is 23401 a Nigerian zip code?
No. It is not issued by NIPOST and it does not appear in the numbering plan. It spread because it resembles the +234 country code and because online forms accept anything with the right number of digits.
What is the zip code for Lagos?
Ikeja head office is 100001, and every Lagos code falls between 100001 and 106104. The exact code depends on which delivery district covers your street.
What is the zip code for Abuja?
Garki main head office is 900001, and FCT codes run up to 905001. Be careful with lists that mix FCT codes with Niger State codes, because both sit in the 9 region.
Why do two websites give different codes for my area?
Because neither is quoting an assignment that exists. NIPOST codes delivery districts, so any table that maps one code onto a local government area was estimated by its author.
Do I need a zip code to receive a delivery in Nigeria?
No. Courier and post delivery inside Nigeria is routed by the written address, the landmark and the phone number. The code is required on forms, not by the dispatch rider.
Will my six digit code stop working in October 2026?
NIPOST has not said that it will. The new alphanumeric system launches on 1 October 2026 and is designed to sit at building level. Until NIPOST states that the old codes are retired, keep using yours.
What does the new postcode look like?
Eleven characters covering state, local government, district, area and building. NIPOST publishes FC02A09DB09 as an example, with FC standing for the Federal Capital Territory.
Is a zip code the same as an area code?
No. A zip code is for post and has six digits. An area code is for landline telephones and now begins with 020, such as 0201 for Lagos.
Summary
Nigerian zip codes are six digits, structured as region, dispatch district and delivery location, and issued by NIPOST to post offices rather than to local government areas. Head office codes end in 0001 and are the safest thing to enter on any form. Every state sits inside a fixed range, so a code that starts with the wrong digit for your state is wrong no matter which site printed it.
The lists that disagree with each other are all guessing at the same missing information, which is the map from streets to delivery districts. That map has never been public. From 1 October 2026 it effectively becomes public, because the new alphanumeric postcode is issued per building.
Conclusion
Use your state head office code when a form insists, ask your local post office when the delivery is real and the address is unusual, and treat any single code published against a local government area as an estimate. In six weeks Nigeria gets an addressing system precise enough that none of this guesswork is necessary, and this page will be updated the day it goes live.