Facebook “Meta” Company Scales Down Nigeria Office Amidst Global Restructuring
In a surprising turn of events, Meta, the tech conglomerate that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is downsizing its office space in Lagos, Nigeria. This move comes after a series of global layoffs in mid-2023 that impacted the Nigerian team, with at least 35 individuals affected. The company’s engineering team, which boasted 24 members as per a 2022 report, has been completely disbanded.
A spokesperson for Meta communicated to TechCabal that engineering services for the region would continue from various global engineering hubs outside Nigeria, without disclosing the exact number of Nigerian employees laid off in the process that saw a global reduction of 20,000 staff.
The decision to reduce office space has led to renegotiations of the lease for the prestigious 15-story Kings Tower in Ikoyi, Lagos, which commands an asking price of $800 per square meter annually. “We regularly review our office spaces to ensure they suit the needs of the business, and the office in Nigeria is no different,” stated Meta, emphasizing the transition to a desk-sharing model for employees who predominantly work remotely.
Despite the downsize, Meta rejects any notion that this reflects a retreat from the Nigerian market—a region it has heavily invested in and previously prioritized. In a reaffirmation of its commitment, Nick Clegg, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, visited Nigeria in March 2024, announcing upcoming monetization opportunities for creators starting in the third quarter of the year. He praised Nigerian creators for their global recognition and community-building efforts on Meta’s platforms. According to Statista, Nigeria hosts approximately 43 million Facebook users.
However, the translation of user numbers into significant revenue growth remains unclear, as Meta includes Africa’s revenue within its broader “Rest of World” category.
Meta isn’t alone in its operational shifts in Nigeria. Microsoft also made headlines with the closure of its African Development Centre in Lagos, resulting in the loss of at least 100 engineering jobs in May 2024. Despite this, Microsoft maintains that its operations in Nigeria continue, even as it diverts a multi-billion dollar investment towards data centres in Kenya.
