The verdict in three sentences
Budgeting a brochure website's maintenance in Lagos in 2026 means planning NGN 2.5-7 million/year: managed maintenance of NGN 150,000 to 450,000/month, hosting of NGN 30,000 to 120,000/month, plus domain and SSL certificate. This budget covers security updates, backups and small changes, and avoids the costliest scenario: a hacked or down site that destroys your credibility and inbound leads. A site left unmaintained saves a few million naira a year to risk 5 to 10 times more in one incident.
2026 annual maintenance budget breakdown
2026 order of magnitude for an SME brochure site (5-15 pages) in Lagos:
| Item | Monthly cost | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance (fixes, updates, support) | NGN 150,000-450,000 | NGN 1.8-5.4m |
| Shared/VPS hosting | NGN 30,000-120,000 | NGN 360,000-1.44m |
| Domain (.ng or .com) | - | NGN 15,000-40,000 |
| SSL certificate (beyond free) | - | NGN 0-180,000 |
| Off-site backups | NGN 10,000-40,000 | NGN 120,000-480,000 |
| Realistic total | - | NGN 2.5-7m |
A small site with no blog or complex forms stays at the low end; a site with a catalogue, active blog and multiple forms climbs toward the top.
What maintenance covers and the cost of doing nothing
Maintenance is not a comfort expense: it is insurance. Comparison between a maintained and an abandoned site:
| Element | Maintained site | Unmaintained site |
|---|---|---|
| CMS security updates | Monthly | None |
| Restorable backups | Daily | None |
| Hacking/defacement risk | Low | High |
| Cost of a major incident | Covered | NGN 1-6m |
| Time to restore | < 24 h | Days to weeks |
| SEO impact of long outage | None | Ranking loss |
In Nigeria, most hacks target un-updated WordPress sites. The cost of emergency recovery (clean-up, restore, re-hardening) frequently exceeds a full year of maintenance.
Mini case study
Mr Okafor runs a construction-services SME in Lagos with an 8-page brochure site generating about 12 quote requests/month. He hesitates to pay maintenance at NGN 240,000/month (NGN 2.88m/year).
After 14 months without maintenance, an outdated plugin is exploited: site down 9 days, emergency recovery billed at NGN 1.3m, plus an estimated loss of ~30 quote requests (of which 3 would have signed at NGN 1.6m margin). Total loss: over NGN 6m. The annual maintenance at NGN 2.88m would have blocked the flaw and restored the site in under a day. Obvious ROI: maintenance costs less than half of one incident.
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FAQ
What is the realistic minimum budget to maintain a site in Lagos?
Expect at least NGN 2.5m/year (about NGN 210,000/month all-in) for light maintenance, decent hosting and backups. Below that, you cut corners on security.
Can I just pay for hosting without maintenance?
High risk: hosting alone (NGN 30,000-120,000/month) does not update your CMS or watch for vulnerabilities. It is the leading cause of site hacks in Nigeria.
Is the SSL certificate really a paid item?
Free SSL (Let's Encrypt) is enough for most brochure sites. A paid certificate (NGN 0-180,000/year) is only justified for extended-validation needs.
How much is a .ng domain in 2026?
A .ng or .com costs about NGN 15,000-40,000/year. It is the smallest budget line, but a forgotten renewal can cost you the domain itself.
What exactly does maintenance at NGN 240,000/month cover?
Typically: monthly updates, daily backups, monitoring, 1-2 hours of small edits and WhatsApp/email support with a guaranteed response time.
Let's scope your project. Tell us the page count, whether there is a blog/form and your target budget: we will frame maintenance with hosting, backups and support. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
