Relocating to Abuja for Work: What to Move and What to Leave

The offer letter says you resume in Abuja on the first of next month. You have a two-bedroom flat in Lagos full of furniture you bought over six years, a landlord who wants a month's notice, and no idea yet whether the new place in Abuja comes furnished. The temptation is to load everything onto one big truck and sort it out later.

That is usually the most expensive and tiring way to do it. A work relocation goes better when you decide what is worth the trip before you decide what vehicle to request a driver.

Start with the new place, not the old one

Before you sort a single carton, find out what is waiting in Abuja.

1. Is the flat furnished, partly furnished or empty?
2. What are the room sizes? A Lagos parlour set can swamp a smaller sitting room in Kubwa or Lugbe.
3. Is there a generator, water heater, cooker or wardrobe already installed?
4. Will you live there for years, or is it a stopgap while you look for something better?

If it is temporary, move less now. Two moves of a full household cost more than one move of the essentials and one proper move later. If you are still choosing an area, our guide to moving between central Abuja and the satellite towns explains how location affects access and planning.

What is usually worth moving

Items that are expensive to replace, hard to find or personal tend to earn their space on the truck:

• beds and good mattresses
• wardrobes and chests of drawers that come apart
• fridge, freezer and washing machine, if they are in good condition
• work equipment: desk, office chair, monitor, printer
• documents, certificates and anything with sentimental value
• kitchenware you actually use

What is often better left or sold

Some items cost more to move than they are worth, or simply do not suit the new place.

• Old, heavy furniture that is already wobbly. It rarely survives a long road trip better than it survived Lagos.
• Bulky pieces sized for your current flat, like a large wall unit or an L-shaped sofa, when you have not seen the new rooms.
• Cheap plastic chairs, old buckets and worn-out kitchen items.
• Food stock beyond what you will eat in the first week.
• Anything you have not used in a year.

Sell what you can on WhatsApp status or to neighbours, give the rest away, and let the landlord or the next tenant know early if they want any fittings.

Size the vehicle from your final list

Once you know what is going, write the list down and count it: big items first, then cartons. That list decides the vehicle.

A single person with a bed, a few cartons and some electronics often fits in a pickup van. A family household with appliances and several bedrooms of furniture usually needs a truck. Pickup vans on Sphere carry up to 2,400kg, and trucks up to 27,000kg, but volume usually runs out before weight does with household goods.

If you are taking work equipment, pack screens and printers in their original boxes where you still have them, or wrap them in blankets and stand them upright between soft items.

Ready to move?

Request a truck or van on Sphere

Choose your vehicle, propose your price, and verified drivers in Abuja accept or send a counter-offer.

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Pack for a long road, not a short one

An intercity trip means hours of vibration, braking and the odd rough stretch of road. Pack harder than you would for a move across Lagos.

1. Use strong cartons and tape the bottoms twice.
2. Fill gaps so nothing shifts inside a box.
3. Take apart beds, tables and shelves, and keep the screws in labelled bags.
4. Defrost and dry the fridge and freezer the day before, and keep them upright.
5. Keep documents, laptops, chargers and valuables with you, not on the truck.
6. Pack a first-night bag: bedsheets, toiletries, a kettle, phone chargers and a change of clothes.

Plan the Abuja end before you leave

Many Abuja homes are in estates with a gate and a security post. Ask your landlord or estate management how move-ins work, whether a letter or a resident's confirmation is needed, and where a truck can park. Our Abuja estate move-in guide covers this in more detail.

Make sure somebody is at the new address when the vehicle arrives, with the keys. Share the exact location pin and a landmark with the driver, plus a phone number for the person receiving the load.

Timing the trip

Start early. A late pickup in Lagos or Ibadan often means a late arrival in Abuja, and offloading in the dark is slower and riskier. Load the night before only if the vehicle can be kept somewhere secure.

Give yourself at least a day or two in Abuja before you resume work. Setting up beds, the kitchen and the internet takes longer than people plan for.

How to do this on Sphere

1. Open the Sphere app and choose a pickup van or a truck, based on your final list.
2. Add the pickup address and the Abuja drop-off address, with landmarks.
3. Describe the load: big items, appliances, number of cartons, floors and stairs at both ends.
4. Propose a price. Nearby verified drivers accept it or send a counter-offer, and you choose which offer to take.
5. Agree loading and offloading help with the driver before you accept an offer.

Sphere operates in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan. See our Abuja page for more on moving in the capital.