Writing mechanics
Dates and time
Write dates the way Nigerians say them, and never make a user guess which side of the slash the month is on.
Dates#
Write dates as day month year, with the month spelled out: 14 March 2026. In tight spaces, abbreviate the month: 14 Mar 2026.
Never use all-numeric formats like 03/04/2026 in user-facing copy — Nigerians have lived under both DD/MM and MM/DD systems, and ambiguity around payment dates is expensive.
Do
Your loan repayment is due on 4 March 2026.
Don't
Your loan repayment is due on 03/04/2026.
Relative dates#
"Today", "yesterday" and "2 hours ago" are friendly in feeds — but always pair a transaction with its absolute date and time somewhere on the record.
Time#
- Use the 12-hour clock with lowercase markers: 2:30pm, 9am.
- Nigeria has one time zone (WAT, UTC+1). Only mention the zone when an event involves people outside Nigeria.
Date ranges#
Use "to" rather than a dash in running text: 2 to 6 June 2026. Screen readers don't reliably announce dashes as ranges.
Related guidance#
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