How to Set Up a School Computer Lab in Nigeria: Practical Cost and Equipment Breakdown
A real-world cost breakdown for setting up a 25-station, 50-station or 100-station school computer lab in Nigeria, including power, network, furniture, and the items most schools forget.
Why this guide is different
Most "school computer lab" guides online are written for American or European schools where stable mains power is assumed. That assumption breaks the budget for any Nigerian school. We have set up labs in eleven Nigerian states across primary, secondary and tertiary institutions — this is what actually works, with what it actually costs at 2026 prices.
The three components most schools underestimate
- Power infrastructure — frequently 30 to 40 percent of total project cost in Nigeria, versus 5 percent in countries with stable mains
- Network cabling and switches — Wi-Fi is not enough for 50+ simultaneous CBT sessions. Wired backbone is required.
- Cooling — a closed room with 50 PCs running for 4 hours generates serious heat. Air conditioning is not optional, it is operational.
25-station lab — small school
Total budget guideline: ₦8.5M to ₦12M depending on PC quality.
- 25× refurbished business-grade PCs (Dell OptiPlex / HP EliteDesk, Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD): ₦4M to ₦5M
- 25× monitors, keyboards, mice: ₦1.5M
- Server/admin PC: ₦400,000
- 5KVA inverter with 8× 200Ah batteries: ₦1.8M to ₦2.5M
- Network: 24-port managed switch, Cat6 cabling, sockets: ₦400,000
- 1.5HP split AC ×2: ₦600,000
- Furniture (lab tables ×13, chairs ×26): ₦600,000 to ₦800,000
- UPS for the server, power conditioning: ₦200,000
50-station lab — secondary school standard
Total budget guideline: ₦15M to ₦22M.
Doubles the PCs and adds a 7.5KVA inverter, two more split ACs, a second managed switch in stack, and a small generator (5KVA) as the fallback when the inverters drain.
100-station lab — large school or CBT centre tier
Total budget guideline: ₦35M to ₦50M.
This tier requires a proper diesel generator (7.5 to 10KVA), redundant inverters, professional rack-mounted networking, and a small server room with its own AC. At this scale, you also need biometric attendance, CCTV with at least 8 cameras, and a UPS bank for the server room. Most of our CBT clients are in this tier.
What you do not need to spend money on
- Brand-new PCs — refurbished business-grade machines (with documented service history) are 60% cheaper and last as long. Avoid consumer-grade machines from open-market computer villages.
- Wi-Fi routers as the primary backbone — they will not handle 50 concurrent connections reliably. Use Wi-Fi only for the proctor laptop.
- Operating system licences for every machine — many CBT systems run on Linux thin clients with one Windows server licence, cutting OS cost dramatically.
Build it once, build it right
The most expensive labs we have ever rebuilt are ones built badly the first time, by general electricians and "ICT contractors" with no education-sector experience. The cabling has to be in trunking, not loose. The power has to be on a separate circuit from the rest of the building. The room has to be lockable. These are decisions that are easy at the start and very expensive to fix later.
If you are planning a new lab or upgrading an existing one, our team provides full design, procurement and installation across Nigeria. Get in touch on info@eboluw.com or +234 803 566 2450 for a site assessment.
Need this for your school, organisation or exam day?
Our team in Akure handles CBT bookings, school management deployments, ICT training and consulting across Nigeria. Most enquiries are answered within one business day.