7 Questions to Ask a Software Agency Before Signing a Contract in Nigeria

Signing a contract with a software agency is a major decision for any Nigerian business. The wrong choice costs you money, time, and opportunity. The right choice gives you a product that grows your business for years. Before you sign, ask these 7 questions. The answers will tell you everything you need to know about whether this agency is the right partner.

1. What Experience Do You Have in Nigeria?

Building software for the Nigerian market is different from building for Europe or North America. Payment gateways like Paystack and Flutterwave work differently than Stripe. USSD integration matters more than Apple Pay. Data costs affect how you design user interfaces. Regulatory requirements from NDPR, CBN, and NITDA shape what you can and cannot do.

Ask the agency about specific projects they have delivered for Nigerian clients. Ask about challenges they faced with local infrastructure and how they solved them. An agency that has built for Nigeria will ask you better questions and give you more relevant advice. An agency with no local experience will learn on your budget.

2. Who Will Actually Build My Software?

Agencies often sell you their senior team but assign the work to junior developers. Ask specifically: who will be the project manager, who will design the system, who will write the code, and who will test it. Get names and experience levels. Ask to meet the actual team members before you sign.

If the agency is vague about team composition or promises that you will get their best people without naming names, be cautious. The team that pitches you should be the team that builds your product. Ask about turnover rates too. A high turnover agency will disrupt your project when key people leave mid-way.

3. How Will We Communicate During the Project?

Poor communication is the most common reason Nigerian software projects fail. Ask the agency how often you will receive updates, what channel they use, and who your main point of contact will be. Weekly status calls, a shared project management tool, and a clear escalation path are minimum requirements.

Ask how they handle feedback and change requests. Some agencies accept changes only during scheduled phases. Others are more flexible. Know the process before you need it. Also ask how they handle communication delays. If the project manager takes three days to respond to emails during the project, that pattern will not improve after you sign.

4. Who Owns the Intellectual Property?

This is the most important legal question. After you pay for the software, do you own the source code? Do you own the design assets? Can you take the code to another developer if you want to switch agencies later? Some agencies retain ownership and license the software to you. Others hand over full ownership after final payment.

Make sure the contract explicitly states that you receive full IP rights upon payment. If the agency uses third-party libraries or components, ask about licensing restrictions. The last thing you want is to discover that your software uses a library that requires ongoing payments or limits how you can distribute your product.

5. What Happens After Launch?

Software does not end at launch. Bugs need fixing. Users request new features. The hosting environment needs maintenance. Security updates need applying. Ask the agency what post-launch support looks like. How many months of free support are included? What is the cost of ongoing maintenance after that?

Ask about their response time for critical bugs. If your payment system goes down on a Friday night, how quickly will they respond? What is the process for requesting new features after launch? An agency that disappears after launch is not a partner. They are a contractor who finished a job and moved on.

6. How Do You Price Your Projects?

Software agencies use different pricing models. Fixed-price contracts give you certainty but can lead to scope disputes. Time-and-materials contracts are flexible but can run over budget if not managed well. Some agencies use a hybrid model with fixed-price milestones for defined deliverables and hourly rates for changes.

Ask for a detailed breakdown of what is included in the quoted price. Does it cover discovery, design, development, testing, deployment, and post-launch support? What is explicitly excluded? What happens if the project takes longer than estimated? Understanding the pricing model before you sign prevents nasty surprises later.

7. How Do You Handle Disagreements or Disputes?

Not every project goes smoothly. Ask the agency how they handle situations where the client disagrees with their approach, timeline, or deliverables. Is there a formal dispute resolution process? What are the termination terms if you decide to part ways before the project is complete?

Ask about what happens to the work done so far if you terminate the agreement. Do you get the code and designs created up to that point? A fair contract includes clear termination clauses that protect both sides. An agency that avoids this conversation or has no clear process is a risk you should not take.

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