A software engineer in the lowest-paid quarter of their role earns ₦730,000 a month, more than a medical officer in the top tenth of theirs (₦520,000), according to PaidHR’s July 2026 payroll data. The gap is already there at the entry category (₦730,000 vs ₦390,836), and at the median, software engineers earn about 2.2 times as much as medical officers (₦1.07 million vs ₦479,470).
The gap widens at every step up because the two roles climb at very different speeds. Software engineer pay goes from ₦730,000 to ₦2.31 million between the entry and top-tenth categories, more than tripling. Medical officer pay goes from ₦390,836 to ₦520,000, a rise of about a third. By the top tenth, the difference is roughly 4.4 times. The medical officer line is also flat in the middle, with the same ₦479,470 at both Typical and Senior.
The comparison covers two specific roles, not all tech workers or all doctors, and specialists and consultants are not in the data. It rests on 116 software engineers across 21 employers and only 50 medical officers across five, so the medical officer figures have a much narrower base. Pay is monthly gross, including allowances and bonuses that can’t be separated from base salary, and it covers only formal employers using payroll software. Within those limits, the pattern is clear: in this slice of Nigeria’s formal job market, software engineering pays more, and the gap grows the further up the ladder you go.
