Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

This week’s Naira Life is brought to you by QuickCredit. With QuickCredit, you not only get the funds you need instantly, but you also get to pay back at the lowest interest rate in Nigeria.

This product manager may be only 30 years old, but he’s lived many lives. First as a small-time plug, then he ran the club scene in his university. Tech is his most recent stop. For him, this means working three jobs and living on less than half his monthly income. He isn’t looking back.

What’s your earliest memory of money?

I took a pack of chocolate to school once when I was in Primary 4, and someone in my class asked me to give him a bar. I’m not sure where it came from, but I said the chocolate was for sale and each bar cost ₦10. I sold five bars on that day.

I took more to school the following day and sold out. At the end of the week, I had made enough money to buy a pair of plastic eyeglasses and one of those wristwatches that had a calculator built in them. I had arrived. 

I also liked saving money a lot, thanks to my mum.

Tell me more about this.

My mum was the financial planner in the family. She would sit me and my four siblings down at the end of each week and quiz us about how we spent the money we got during the week.  

Everyone in my family understood the concept and importance of financial independence very early. We had open conversations about money, especially about our financial situation. Life wasn’t rosy all the time. There were points we got sent out of school because we owed school fees. My mum would explain why this happened, and what it meant.

My older sisters started picking up jobs in secondary school. I started actively making money in secondary school too, although my ways were different from theirs.

How?

While my sisters worked as lesson teachers and sales attendants, my own strength was in selling stuff to people. I pushed a lot of merchandise in secondary school — from shoes to mobile phones. 

I started with shoes when I was in JSS 3. If anyone in my school had a shoe they wanted to sell, I would take it and find a buyer for them. I was particularly popular among the senior boys because they were the ones who changed shoes the most. 

In SSS 2, I started selling second-hand phones. The first phone I sold was a Sendo X, and I made about ₦6k in profit from that deal alone. I brought more phones in from my plug in the city and sold them. After that, I started helping people download music on whatever phone they bought from me. This brought in extra cash. 

In SS 2, I moved into planning house parties. I organised the first party in 2004, and the gate fee was ₦500. I don’t remember how much I made from it. 

I must also mention that I sold tons of other things. Once I identified a product that moved fast, I would find a plug, get the product and push them to people. But shoes and phones were the quickest to move. At that point, I was making about ₦70k every month from all my hustle. I didn’t have a bank account, so I was saving the money in a section of my wardrobe. 

Secondary must have been a lot of fun.

It was. I was able to do all of this because I had good grades in school. My parents didn’t need to worry about me, so I had the freedom to do everything else I wanted. 

What happened after secondary school?

I finished secondary school in 2006 but didn’t get into uni until 2007. During my gap year, I tried to pick up some computer skills. Computer networking was too boring for me. HTML was too complicated. What I enjoyed was pulling computers apart and fixing them. I bought my first laptop that year — a second-hand Dell laptop, and it cost ₦65k. 

There was barely time to do anything when I got into uni in 2007. I resumed two months after class started. They had started writing tests, so my first few months in uni was about catching up. By the end of my first year, I had settled down and was already thinking about the next thing I could do. 

What did you decide on?

Organising parties. Clubs were the rave during that time. Within a short time, I became the plug for the club boys in my school. Everyone who wanted to organise a lit party knew they had to contact me to help them plan it and handle the logistics.

Later, I started working with a team of organisers and we partnered with clubs in the city where my school was. Most of the money we made came from gate fees, which were ₦2k, ₦4k and ₦6k for regular, VIP and exclusive tickets respectively. 

The parties were a huge hit, and BBM played a big role. Once people who weren’t at any of these parties saw that people were having fun from the BBM updates they shared, they pulled up. That meant more money for me and my team. I didn’t organise more than two parties in a semester, and I got about ₦400k from each party I planned. It was a big market. 

Well, damn. 

Omo, I was living the life. I had an apartment outside of campus and bought my first car in 2009 — a Honda Civic which cost ₦1.4m. I was in 300 level at the time. 

I wonder what your parents thought about this.

I was open with them. I had a conversation with them once and explained what I was doing. They came on board when they realised that it wasn’t illegal. 

When I left university in 2010, the party scene had started dying. The club owners got greedy and wanted a higher percentage of the gate fees. They complained that they were running at a loss because people weren’t buying drinks during the parties, which was a lie. Anyway, I knew my party days were over and it was time to move on. 

What came next?

NYSC. But first, I moved back into my parent’s house even though I had about ₦800k in my account. While waiting for youth service, I went back to computers, but they weren’t moving as I thought and my savings were running low. 

On a whim, I went to the market and bought two first-grade China wristwatches. They weren’t the original thing, but they were close. I pushed them to some people I knew, sold them in no time and made some profit. I continued to repeat the process. During that time, an uncle who lived in Port Harcourt came to visit. He had friends who owned boutiques and asked me if I was interested in trying to get them to buy from me. I contacted my plug and got 50 wristwatches from him. I travelled with my uncle to the south-south with a bag full of wristwatches. Man, I sold 30 on the night I landed. The remaining 20 were sold the following day. 

Mad. How much did you make from the trip?

A watch sold between ₦50k and ₦100k depending on the brand. I made a profit of ₦20k-30k on each watch. I don’t remember how much I made exactly, but it was about ₦400k after I settled my plug and uncle and sorted out other logistics. 

My uncle sent me back to bring more. I hit the road and brought another batch and there was no trouble selling those too. I decided that I would serve in that state. I started working to make it happen, but it was too late. I got posted to a neighbouring state. It was an hour away, so I didn’t mind. 

 I sold my car and moved to the south-south. 

How did it go?

I was posted to a private secondary school for my PPA. I negotiated with the principal, and he agreed to let me come in only three times a week. This freed up time for other activities. I got a job managing a club in the city, and that took my nights. My weekend was solely for selling wristwatches. 

My guys shipped the wristwatches to Port Harcourt on Saturdays. I picked them up at the park and did all my distribution that weekend. On Sunday nights, I was back on the road to the state where I was serving. 

You had about three streams of income, how much were they bringing in?

Allawee: ₦19,800

PPA: ₦10K

Club: ₦30k

Wristwatch hustle: ~₦200k.

My service year ended in 2013, and I returned to the southwest. 

After service?

While I was figuring out the next thing I wanted to do, I decided to help my mum out with her business. She had retired from work and was running a pure water factory. The factory was struggling because her workers were stealing from her. It was three long months, but I managed to plug the leaks. 

Then I started the nine to five life. 

Where was the first place you worked at?

A telecommunications company. I was hired as a customer service officer and my salary was ₦72k. It was a lot less than what I was making on the streets, but I was doing it because everyone wanted me to work in an organisation and have a well-defined career. However, I was still pushing wristwatches and other things on the side. I got tired in December 2013 and knew I couldn’t continue, so I quit. 

Funny enough, this kicked off my journey into tech. 

I’m listening. 

I always heard people talking about building websites for their business. So I had an idea to build a one-stop solution for these people. Three friends came on board and we got some seed funding. Full operations started in 2013. I was in charge of sales and marketing, customer service and product management. I think we did well because a bigger e-commerce company bought us out in October 2014. 

I can’t disclose how much they paid us, but seven years later, I think we could have negotiated a better deal. It was enough for me to change my car and move into a new apartment. So it seemed like big money at the time. 

The good thing was that it was an acquihire. They absorbed the team into their company to lead their product development and merchant operations departments. My starting salary was ₦380k but by the time I left in December 2017, it had increased to ₦440k. Also, I was now in a full product management role.

Why did you leave?

They were downsizing and had already fired people. Besides, I’d pushed out a couple of products and cashed out, so it seemed like the perfect time to take a bow. I didn’t have another job when I quit, but I had done several interviews. Also, I had some safety nets. I cashed out my stock options at the company before I left and got about ₦3.5m. I knew I would be fine for a couple of months.

When did you get your next job?

February 2018. It was the head of product development role in the parent company of an advertising agency. My salary when I started was ₦660k, then I got a few raises. I was earning ₦710k when I left in October 2019. I was simply tired of the politics in the company. 

Before I left, I had started working on some remote product management projects I got from a platform called Gigster and was also consulting for some politicians.  However, my monthly inflow reduced. I was making $1500 from the remote jobs and ₦400k from the politicians. 

I was pretty much winging that period of my life because none of it was a full-time job. It wasn’t until June 2020 that I found a new full-time job.

Where?

It’s a remote job at an American company and the pay is $2k. In August, I got another product management job, which pays $4500. I started outsourcing the first job and working at the second one. The third one came in March 2021, and it’s bringing in $3500. So I’m working two jobs now and outsourcing one. I pay the person helping me ₦230k a month. The others are senior roles, so I can’t afford to outsource them. 

Mad oh. 

The $2k I get from one of the jobs goes into my wife’s account in Canada — I got married in 2019 —  and I don’t touch it. $3500 also goes into an account I don’t touch. I run my monthly expenses with the $4500 I get from the third job. That’s about ₦1.5m. 

Let’s talk about your monthly running costs.

I pay the person I’m outsourcing one of the jobs ₦230k every month. There are always additional expenses. For example, I send my younger brother ₦30k and a younger cousin ₦10k every month. My dad also gets between ₦50k and ₦100k. 

 I made a terrible financial decision last year, and I’m still paying for it. 

What happened?

I knew a guy who was helping people invest in forex. I vouched for him and got some of my guys to invest money with him. But the whole thing went south and my people had about ₦8.5m in it. When it happened, I promised my guys their capital. I’ve been spending ₦800k every month to service that debt. I should pay everything back by December.

Damn. That’s heavy.

It is what it is. After I settle all of these things, I typically save what remains which could be anything between ₦100k and ₦150k. I have ₦400k in my account at the moment. However, I always go back to take out of it because problem no dey finish. 

Lmao. What do you mean?

People in my extended family always need me to come through for something. So I use the money I have in the bank account to take care of these requests. I don’t stress it though. I do it when I have the money and say no when I don’t. I’ll admit that I don’t stress so much about it because I have more money stashed away.

How much do you imagine you have in those savings accounts right now?

About $20k. They are my core savings and will play an important role in my long-term financial goals.

How do you navigate investments?

I’m always investing in something, mostly forex. At the moment, I have two forex traders who do the heavy lifting and trade for me. I started with $10k last year and have topped it up over the months. I currently have $42k in it. I know forex is volatile. In fact, the people I outsource it to make losses. But so far, they’ve made more gains than losses. Once we lose 10% on a trade, we activate the stop loss. We cut our losses and move on. 

Interesting. 

What’s interesting is that I’ve made more money since I got married. I don’t know how to explain it, but getting married has been a blessing for me. My wife is also involved in every money decision I make and signs off on them. Once whatever it is will take more than ₦100k, she has to know. All of our expenses are documented on a google sheet, so she sees everything. 

How much do you think you should be earning now?

Between $12 and $15k. I’m probably earning less because I’m living in Nigeria. It’s the only reason I’m considering relocating. I’m not big on the whole japa thing, but I’ve gotten to a point where I know that it’s the best thing for me. It’s currently in the works. 

Good luck. Where do you see all of this in five years?

For starters, I’d like to build my savings and investments to $2m by the end of 2023. 

The plan is to reduce overhead costs, work, outsource, save and invest. A lot of it will come from investments, which is why I save a lot. My investments can only grow as much as my savings. We’ll see what happens. 

What do you want right now but can’t afford?

The Mercedez-Benz ML 350. The 2019 model I want costs about $30k. I can close my eyes and splurge on it, but it will affect my 2023 goals. I like it and want it, but do I need it? It’ll have to wait. Besides, what’s the point of buying a car when I can buy a house, which is another thing I really want. I’ve started looking at some properties, but I don’t have ₦40.5m lying around right now. 

What’s the last thing you bought that required proper planning?

I didn’t really have time to plan because it was impromptu, but I thought long and hard about it. My wife’s Macbook crashed three hours before a presentation. The new one cost ₦1.1m, and I had to pull money out of a couple of places to buy it. 

When was the last time you felt broke?

2014 or 2015. I had less than ₦200k in my accounts at the time. That taught me to set up a minimum threshold. That number is at $10k at the moment. If I have less than $10k in all my accounts, I feel like I’m in trouble.

What’s the last thing you splurged on that improved the quality of your life?

I finally bought myself a MacBook after thinking about it for months. This baby cost me $2350, but I don’t regret it. It’s all about convenience, really. The old one had started slowing down and affecting my work.

How have all your experiences shaped your perspective about money?

I think mindset plays a big role in proper financial planning. If you think all that you can earn is ₦500k, then you may not be able to go past it. Of course, there are other factors, but I’ve realised that the more I expand my mindset, the higher I set the bar. Also, I put in the work to match the mindset. My approach to hustling has changed a lot over the years, but I still put in the hours. 

Another thing I’ve learned is to live within my means. I earn more than ₦1.5m every month, but it’s what I live on. I’m good with the life it gives me. It’s great to have money but I think it serves more purpose than just showing off to people.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

8. However, I think I’m still struggling. First, I wish I didn’t have to work two full-time jobs and supervise the third one before I earn what I currently do. Also, there is stuff I can’t do without affecting my long term financial goals — I can’t buy the car or the house I want. I can’t travel to see the world. I’ll probably hit a 10 when I hit $2m. Then I’ll set a higher financial target and move back to an 8. Human wants are insatiable after all. 

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Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

This week’s Naira Life is brought to you by Quick credit. With Quick credit, you not only get the funds you need instantly, but you also get to pay back at the lowest interest rate in Nigeria.

The 25-year-old graduate assistant in this story worries about two things: her salary and her low job satisfaction. It’s also unlikely that either will improve in the next few years if she stays at her current job. So what does her #NairaLife look like?

What’s your oldest memory of money?

Handling money for the first time when I went off to boarding school in 2005. I was nine years old at the time. My parents put about ₦2k in my school account per term and gave me an extra ₦500 cash to hold. 

What was it like growing up, pre-boarding school?

My parents work in civil service. I’d say it was comfortable, although there was a time we were moving between upper and lower middle class. At some point, my parents struggled to pay the school fees and we got sent out of school But not for long. The longest we were out was a week. However, there was always food and accommodation and things got better over the years. 

Do you remember the first thing you ever did for money?

Does doing chores for my mum and getting money count? I got between ₦50 and ₦100 from my mum as an incentive to do some chores. But there was a time I got ₦1500. I started working and earning money actively after uni. 

So how did uni go?

I was 15 when I got into uni. My parents opened a bank account for me and topped it up with ₦50k. But they also gave me an extra ₦25k. They wanted me to have at least ₦50k in my account at all times. Subsequently, I got between ₦10k and 15k every month.

But one day, I found out that one of my friends was getting ₦100k in allowances from her parents. She randomly showed me her account balance and it ran into millions of naira. I felt so poor at that moment but I won’t say I found it intimidating. It was just a realisation that there are people who will always have more than me. 

I tried to leverage this information to negotiate a new allowance with my parents. It didn’t work the way I hoped — they didn’t increase my allowance from ₦10k – ₦15k, but the money started coming more frequently. Sometimes weekly. Sometimes biweekly. This worked for me. 

I never got broke in school until my third year. 

Tell me about that.

My parents were upset with me — I don’t remember why. The allowance still came but the frequency went back to once a month. I was mostly living on vibes because the timing was wrong. I was writing an external exam and most of my resources were going into my transportation expenses.  My boyfriend at the time helped me get through it. He paid for a lot of my meals and randomly sent me money too. This lasted for a semester. 

I went for my IT during the second semester and things got worse. I interned at a research lab and they were supposed to pay ₦25k every month. But I got in and they started giving excuses about how funding had stopped coming from their headquarters in Abuja. During the six months I spent there, I wasn’t paid once. 

Ah. 

Also, I wasn’t getting anything from my parents. They had been transferred to different states and I didn’t tell them what was going on, so they thought I was earning money. I was living with an uncle at the time and he would sometimes drop me at work or give me ₦5k once a month. I had to figure out how to stretch ₦5k for 30 days.

Close to the end of my IT, I spoke to my mum and complained about the whole situation. She looked at me and said it was a lesson in learning how to communicate when I need help. 

I graduated from university in 2016 and served in a government agency. My parents wanted me to save my ₦19,800 allawee so they put me on an allowance again. ₦20k per month. Also, my mum kept about ₦700k with me and instructed me not to touch it except in an emergency. Somehow, I spent everything on my boyfriend. 

Ehn?

It’s very funny in hindsight. He started by asking me to loan him small amounts of money. ₦5k here. ₦10k there. He would make purchases and ask me to pay for them with a promise to refund me later. I felt compelled because he came through for me when I was broke during my third year. In my head, he wouldn’t betray my trust. So I paid for these things. 

Then one time, he said he needed to invest ₦200k in a business. I was so trusting that I gave him everything he asked for without asking questions. He ghosted me after he got the money. 

Uh-oh.

He returned after a couple of weeks and apologised for his disappearance. After that, he needed money for something else and I gave him another ₦200k. 

I didn’t start panicking until my mum requested my account statement and I realised that I had just ₦40k in the account. 

I called and texted him to return the money. Nothing. There was even a time I travelled to the state he lived in. I was at the car park from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. waiting for him to pick me up. This man didn’t show up. After chasing him for some more time, I was like “fuck it” and came clean to my parents. 

How did they take it?

My mum was heartbroken, and I don’t think I forgave myself for betraying her trust. But she forgave me. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t forgiving. It didn’t help when they found out that I wasn’t saving my allawee either — that money also went to my ex. Fortunately for me, he has a soft spot for me too, so he slowly started to come around. It took close to a year though. 

Phew. You had finished your service year by that time, right?

Yeah. I finished my service year in 2017. My aunt is a DG at the agency where I worked. I thought Nigeria’s nepotism would work for me and I’d get a full-time offer. Besides, she had promised me a job at the agency. On my last week at the job, I went to see her and she said “Ah, I’ve employed many of your cousins.  I don’t have any slots anymore.”

Hopes dashed. 

Nigerian uncles and aunts, right?

Haha. I was home for close to a year. At first, I wanted to return to school for my masters but the process was long and expensive. In December, my parents and I agreed that I’d enrol in a tailoring school. I paid ₦25k for the course and I got good enough that I started making clothes for people. On average, I was earning ₦9k per month from that. 

I lived on that until I got a job in February 2018. 

Whoop! How did it happen?

A cousin reached out to me in September 2017 and asked me if I’d be interested in a research assistant role at a company. I told her I was interested but when I didn’t hear from her after a couple of weeks, I forgot about it. 

In March, she popped up again and asked if I was still interested and open to resuming work the following week. There was no formal interview or negotiation. I was offered ₦80k per month. 

The salary never came on time even though it was owned by a politician. We got our salaries two weeks into the new month. This meant that we got paid for only eleven months in a year.

Ah. 

I was working but living hand to mouth. Because my salary wasn’t coming frequently, I was borrowing money to fund my running costs every month. Yet the workload was crazy — I was the research assistant, the front desk representative, the tea girl. At some point, I was putting the gen on and off.

Omo. 

On the plus side, the politician always had visitors who sometimes tipped us between ₦5k and ₦10k.

Still, I knew I needed to leave in 2019.

What happened?

He travelled in January for an election campaign. Before he left, we told the CEO to talk to him and get him to leave a standing order with the bank so we would get our salaries. Nothing happened. The man was gone from January to April and we didn’t get paid once. Guess the first thing he did when he returned?

I can’t. We’re talking about a politician here. 

He bought a new car for his second wife. 

That’s actually on-brand.

There’s something else — the wife was an employee who worked with us before he married her. I was so miserable watching him spend money without caring about the welfare of his staff. I would see the company’s statement of account and find out that he was taking out the company’s money.  He had seven staff; he needed to spend only ₦750k every month to settle all of us. He could afford to pay us. He just didn’t want to.

By the time I left in May 2019, I was owed ₦240k. When I asked the new CEO he’d just hired, he removed me from the office group chat and blocked me. 

I’m sorry about that. You left because you’d gotten a new job, right?

Yes. My mum works with a couple of influential people and she called in favours to get me the job. It was as a laboratory assistant job at a military university in Kaduna state. My starting salary was ₦77k. 

Five months into the job, I got a proper placement and was promoted to a graduate assistant. I joined the academic staff and started teaching students. My salary got bumped to ₦120k.

Nice.

It got complicated though. The commandant who promoted us was transferred and they brought in a new one. Some staff members were disgruntled with the promotion process. They claimed that due process wasn’t followed so they signed a petition. As a result, the new commandant directed that the new batches of promotion should be reversed. I was one of those people who was affected. And no, they didn’t return me to my old salary. Between March and August 2020, I was earning between ₦60k and ₦80k.

Ah, I’m confused. Why did that happen?

It’s part of the ritual of working in the civil service. There’s a lot of politics behind the scenes. The salary thing happened because IPPIS couldn’t find a proper pattern to use in paying us because of the promotion situation, so they just paid everyone affected what they felt was right. 

The situation was fixed in August and the promotion stood. From September, I went back to earning ₦120k.

Lit.  How do promotions and salaries happen in the university?

First, you’re due for confirmation after your first two years at the university. I haven’t even been confirmed as a full staff year.

After confirmation, the academic and non-academic staff are due for promotions every three years. But the people in academic staff need certain qualifications to stand a chance of being promoted. I’m currently doing my masters programme and when I get my results, I can expect to be promoted to an assistant lecturer. But again, it doesn’t always happen like that because of the politics involved. 

In an ideal situation, If I get my PhD, I’ll move from assistant lecturer to lecturer II. I could wait three years to be promoted to lecturer II or get research papers published in academic journals. Each published work will earn me points and as I get more points, I move up the academic ladder. Every promotion comes with a ₦15k increase. 

I think professors in the university I work at earn about ₦600k. But it’s a lot of years of teaching and research. I’m not sure I want to be an academic for the rest of my life when job satisfaction is this low. 

Why do you think that is?

For starters, I don’t get any allowances — no 13th-month allowance or any other welfare benefits. My monthly salary is the only thing I get from this job. Besides, while I love teaching, I’m more interested in scientific research. I took this job because I wanted to be motivated to start my master’s programme. My job satisfaction is 3/10 and that’s because of the breaks when school is not in session. 

That sounds intense. What’s your monthly running costs like these days?

I don’t do well with savings, so I started this contribution thing with six other people at work. Each person drops ₦50k and one person takes it all at the end of the month. 

Whatever remains after I settle my bills goes into buying study materials for school. Luckily, my parents are doing well and I’m not obligated to pay black tax. I send money to my siblings only when I can. 

Great. How much do you have in your savings account right now?

₦20k. I had ₦200k in October last year but rent took ₦150k. I started the contribution thing at work shortly after. I’m getting ₦350k in July. At least, I know rent for next year is sorted. 

How has your relationship with money evolved in the past few years?

I’ve moved from making money and blowing it to breaking down in tears when an unexpected expense comes up. The other day I wanted to leave work and my car refused to start. I sat in the car for an hour and cried before I called a mechanic. It’s very draining. 

I’ve realised that I’m not even in the middle class. I’m poor. I feel terrible saying this because I understand that there are lots of people who don’t earn as much as I do. It’s just really difficult to get by. 

How has all of this shaped your perspective about money?

Money is very fleeting and can put you in trouble. What really helps is the relationships you build over the years. I got my first job because of my cousin. My mum’s connections got me my current job. I also have a feeling that when I finish my masters and start looking for another job, relationships and friendships will help me get it. 

Where do you see all of this in five years?

I should finish my master’s degree later this year or next year. I would like to start my PhD immediately after. I’m not sure I’ll be working in academics five years from now, at least not full time. A laboratory research job will be great. But in that time, I want to be earning at least 6x my current income and working at a job I actually like. 

Rooting for you. What’s something you want right now but can’t afford?

A new car? Oh wait — I just need enough money to fix my car and it’s myriads of issues. A month’s salary should be enough for all of it. 

What’s the last thing you paid for that required planning?

Tuition for my master’s degree. I paid ₦100k and an extra ₦30k for lab fees.

When was the last time you felt really broke?

Last week. I didn’t have any money and a friend randomly sent me ₦5k. What did I do with the money? I used it to buy pizza. I just wanted to do something good for myself for once. The bills pile up every month and by the time I settle the ones I can, there’s hardly anything left. 

What part of your finances do you wish you could be better at?

Investing. It would be nice to have a passive source of income. The returns don’t even have to be huge. An extra ₦10k every month is good enough for me. But I’m currently not doing any of that. I was looking at crypto but I don’t want to cry because of money anymore. 

Lmao. Do you have an emergency plan?

My parents. They’ve come through for me so many times and I’m grateful for them. But I know it’s not sustainable. I’m working to have an actual emergency plan I can fall back to. Building a savings nest will be a good place to start. 

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

1/10. I don’t want to sound ungrateful but I could do so much more than I’m currently doing. It’s hard when I want to do something but I can’t do it because of my finances. Or when people reach out to me for help and I can’t do anything. Things like that get to me a lot. I’m not unhappy, I’m just very dissatisfied.

Great! You got to the end of this article. Know what’s even better? You can get QuickCredit faster than the time it took you to read this article. With Quickcredit, GTBank customers can get N2million in less than 2 minutes and pay back over 12 months at an interest rate of 1.5%. No forms. No collateral. No hidden charges. Get Your Quick Credit on GTWorld

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

This week’s Naira Life is brought to you by Quick credit. With Quick credit, you not only get the funds you need instantly, but you also get to pay back at the lowest interest rate in Nigeria.

What’s your oldest memory of money?

One evening in 2012, my dad returned from work and gathered the family around. He opened his bag and there were bundles of ₦1000 notes inside. The money inside the bag was ₦1m, and he called us so we could see what that kind of money looked like.

Oh wow. Did he say where the money came from?

My dad is a civil servant who dabbled in politics. Around this time, he was making bank because of his political affiliations. So the money came from that. 

Unfortunately, he spent all the money he made on women, and when it dried up, we went back to square one. 

Can you paint a picture of what square one looked like?

I grew up in a face-me-I-face-you house that belongs to my mum’s father, and we lived there for years. At first, our financial situation wasn’t totally bad because we weren’t dying of hunger.

When my dad’s political money started coming in, we started living a little better. We moved to a proper apartment and finally had DSTV. It was an opportunity for my father to get us out of the lower class. But he took mismanagement of funds to a different level, got a new wife and new girlfriends. Eventually, he set us back to a point where we were worse than before.

You know what is funny? Through the years we lived in a face-me-I-face-you compound, I didn’t think we were poor. 

Why?

I don’t know. I was surrounded by poor people, but for some reason I thought I was a rich kid. I always believed I was an exception. 

It wasn’t until I went off to a polytechnic in 2014 that I realised I was indeed poor. When other kids were going to restaurants for lunch, I could only afford to buy a packet of Cabin biscuits.

Ah.

I left the polytechnic after a year. No reason. I just dipped. 

At home, things spiralled out of control when my father ran out of money again. He became physically abusive towards me and my mum. They eventually separated in 2015. 

I’m sorry. What was it like with your dad out of the picture?

Things were okay for a while. My mum is also a civil servant, so there was a regular stream of income even if it wasn’t great. The year we left my dad was probably the best year of our lives. But it lasted for only a short time. 

What happened?

The government didn’t pay my mum her salary for several months, and when they did, they paid only half of one month’s salary. 

By the way, I was back in school, in a university in Benin Republic. I wasn’t getting an allowance from my mother. I’m not sure my father even knew where I was. I had to borrow money to pay tuition. But there was hardly enough money left for rent or feeding. Sometimes, I would eat only once in two days. On the good weeks, I would boil rice and beans together just so I could have something close to a balanced diet. I dropped out of school again in 2016 because there was no money.

Omo.

It was soul crushing. I was forced to move from my childlike mentality of “We’re not rich but we’re also not poor.” to “Oh shit. We’re POOR poor.” I realised there were limits to what I could do because of my family’s financial situation. I was on my own. For a long time, I couldn’t buy new clothes and couldn’t participate in other activities regular kids my age could. Poverty closed me off.

When I returned to Nigeria, I had nothing to do, so I opened a blog. From there, I started learning how to use social media. A few months later, I met someone who worked in marketing online, and they helped me get a job as a social media manager for a lingerie brand. My salary was ₦10k per month. 

That must have been a huge relief. 

It definitely was. I didn’t have a bank account, so the money was going into my mum’s account. The job ended after two months because the person handling the brand’s marketing left. 

Later that year, I got a one-off project and wrote a blog post for a company in the US, and it paid $50. I didn’t even withdraw the money — I just used it to purchase a proper domain name for my blog. 

Lit. When did you find another job?

Three months after the last one ended. Someone I follow on Instagram used to write for this publication and always shared the content she created for them on her Instagram story. One day, I went from her account and landed on the publication’s website, then their contact page where I found the editor’s email. I was like, “You know what, I’m not a bad writer.” So I sent an email to the editor and attached a copy of my badly done resume. She reached out, we had a conversation, and I got the role. Guess how much they offered to pay?

How much?

₦1k for an article and I had to write at least three articles every week. I didn’t mind. I had just started at a university in Nigeria, and my mother wasn’t sending me an allowance because she couldn’t afford to. I was writing up to five articles and making between ₦15k and ₦20k per month. The money was doing a lot for me because I needed money to pay for food in school, transportation and things in between.

A couple of months after I started the job, I got an email from another person who owned a fashion publication and she offered me a job. That one was ₦25k per month. However, I left after two or three months because I realised that the person didn’t really have a structure or direction. 

By this time, I had gotten bored with the one that paid ₦1k per article. My earnings at the job weren’t consistent — the amount of work I did in a day determined how much I got paid at the end of the month. I wanted to leave, but I didn’t know what else to do. Or if I had options to do anything else. 

Out of the blue, a bigger media company reached out to me. The editor of the publication had seen my work and asked if I would like to be a contributor for their website. It wasn’t going to be a paid gig. 

Oh?

I’d realised that as much as money is important, clout is almost as important in some situations. This job was going to give me some level of clout, so I was hyped about it and determined to make the best of it. I started writing for them in October 2018. 

I’m guessing you remained at the ₦1k per article job. 

I did. But the editor of the publication I’d just started working with had a PR agency she was running on the side and asked me to come on board for a copywriting project. I got ₦45k from that. 

After two months on the job, we had another conversation, and I told her that I would like to join the team as a full staff. They were concerned that I didn’t have a degree, but I gave her a whole ass speech about why they needed me. She promised to do something about it but nothing was guaranteed. 

Now, the publication where I was earning ₦1k per piece terminated my contract. Apparently, I was working for a direct competitor, and they didn’t like that. I lost the only paying job I had without any idea if the second publication was going to offer me a full time job. I was pretty much running on vibes. 

Did the offer ever come?

Thankfully, it did. I got a call from HR in January 2019 to notify me of my promotion. It was ₦50k per month — the biggest salary I’d earned up until that point. However, I was going to write three articles every day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays.

The ghetto.

It was mostly 200-300 words newsy stuff and the occasional opinion article, but I was perpetually tired because I was also working on weekends and still had to go to school.

By the way, I didn’t have a laptop. I had been typing with my phone. I barely slept and spent most of the night writing so I could have enough time to spot any errors and fix them. My first laptop came in February 2019. I put out a request on Twitter and people donated about ₦100k in a few hours. 

Whoa.

The laptop made the process easier, but I was still working every day of the week. At some point, I started managing two of their social media accounts. I left the job in September 2019.

Why did you leave?

I started making more money.

Whooop. Tell me how that happened.

In March 2019, I got an idea for an article. I was going to write it for the publication I was working with at the time, but their editorial process was too restrictive. So I randomly googled “How to pitch articles when you’re a freelance journalist”. I wrote a pitch and sent it to an editor in the UK. They liked the idea and commissioned me to write the story. 200 pounds, which was about ₦90k at the time.

I was like, “Wait, this is almost 2x of my salary.”

Cue in the existential moment.

Lmao. I got another job off that story. One of the people I interviewed recommended me to the commissioning editor of a consulting company. They asked me to write a report on youth culture in Nigeria and offered me ₦200k for it. That was literally my salary for four months. It picked up from there — I got two more gigs back to back and each paid me more than my full time job.

I knew my time at the publication was over when someone I met on social media who was attracted to me flew me out to Abuja for a week, and I spent the whole week relaxing and spending someone else’s money. That was my first time on a plane. It was also when I realised that I deserved to live a proper baby boy lifestyle. When I returned, I texted my editor and told her I was done working there.

And you went full freelance?

Yup. But I’m not going to lie; it was scary. I was leaving paid employment for something that may not have worked or even be sustainable in the long run. The gig could stop coming at any point. Lucky for me, a publication I’d previously written reached out to me in October or November and wanted me to cover an event for them. They paid me about ₦400k to attend and cover the event. And boy, did it calm me down a bit. I also had another company that paid me ₦200k for another story. I knew I was good for the rest of the year. 2019 was the first time I had a steady source of income for a whole year. And I just carried the energy into 2020.

Love it. Let’s talk about 2020. 

I had found a balance and knew I wanted to stick with freelancing for at least most of the year. It’s a bit hard to give an accurate picture of what I was making per month because of the way freelancing is structured. I could get commissioned for a story in January and get paid in March.

Also, the first quarter of each year is usually slow because publications are trying to figure out their plans for the year. But I didn’t do badly. On average, I made about ₦500k monthly in the first quarter of 2020. And I was writing about three stories for different publications per month. 

That’s way more than you were making in the quarter of the previous year. Lit.

Yes. By the time the second quarter started, Covid had hit and the media industry was unstable. But I got a lucky break — I landed a gig and started writing for a publication every week. $200 for each article. That meant I was sure of at least $800 at the end of the month, which was about ₦288k. Other than that, I was writing an average of five stories per month for different publications, and was getting paid anywhere between $1300 – $2000 per month.

What was the highest amount you got paid to write a story in 2020?

₦800k. I got a DM on Instagram about the possibility of doing a profile of an artist. This was even in the thick of Covid, but I accepted it. The process was straightforward —  I did the interview, wrote the story and got paid.

Interesting. So what were your finances looking like at the end of 2020?

They weren’t bad, but when you are a freelance journalist, you always have anxiety about money. In the last three months of 2020, I was making something around ₦700k per month. It’s a struggle to know if you’re doing good because you’re not sure when the next gig will come. Also, it didn’t help that I was bad at saving. 

How so?

I was making enough money in 2020 to afford anything I wanted, and I didn’t hold back. There was a time my phone fell down and the screen cracked. I bought a new phone the following week. Also, I was in a long distance relationship and was flying across states almost every week and spending about ₦200k on flights and accommodation each month. Things like that. I started actively saving around October 2020. By December, I had ₦1m — most of it came from one article I wrote so I don’t think it counts as savings. The money eventually went into renting an apartment in 2021.

Ah, I see. What’s 2021 looking like for you?

Well, I got a full time job with publication in January 2021. It happened in the DMs. I indicated interest, and they set an interview up for me the following day, which was a Friday. I got the job offer in my mail on Monday. By Wednesday, I resumed work.

How much?

₦300k. I’m trying to live a nice baby-boy lifestyle, and I thought it was wise to diversify my streams of income. Also, I want to leave the country and the programme I might use as my ticket out requires me to have a paying full-time job.

Man. How much do you make every month these days?

About ₦700k-₦800k. My salary from my full time job is ₦300k. On average, I make between ₦400k-₦500k from freelance work monthly. It’s hard to break it down because it’s not in naira. Also, the money fluctuates because each publication has a different rate. 

This is the part where we break down your monthly running costs.

What’s your savings plan now?

I’m trying to be better with savings. My salary pays for my running costs each month now. I started saving ₦200k from what I make from freelancing since February after I sorted my house rent. 

Investment scares me because I’m bad with numbers, but in the near future, I’ll explore my investment options and hopefully learn how best to manage and invest my money. 

Lit. Looking at your career now, how much do you think you should be earning?

I don’t have a problem with my current earnings. It just would be nice if all of it comes from one source. However, any job that wants my 100% focus at the moment has to pay me between ₦800k and ₦1M. But to be honest, I don’t think I have any interest working with any Nigerian company moving forward.

Energy! How has your experience shaped your perspective about money?

I know that when people tell you that money doesn’t bring you happiness, they are just being liars and dirty bitches. Money definitely does bring happiness. My therapist told me that my self worth is tied to how much I make because of my experiences, and she’s right. I mean, I come from proper poverty and the anxiety of not wanting to go back there is always there. In a way, it powers me because I’m working so hard to ensure that I never experience it again. I realised that I hated being the poor kid when I was in the polytechnic, and I was determined to never be the poor kid again. 

My only financial struggle right now is the black tax. It’s the bane of my existence. 

When did you start paying black tax?

From the moment I started earning. I’m the oldest son and the first child of my mum. When I started the first job that fetched me money, I didn’t have a bank account, so it was going into my mum’s account. The only thing I took out of the money was what I needed for data. 

In 2018, I was funding my schooling but my mum was also “borrowing” money from me. There was a time she called me to ask for ₦60k to pay for my sister’s school fees. That was even more than my salary at the time. There is an expectation that I need to chip in and help regardless of what I make. 

At what point did you clock this?

I don’t think there was an exact moment where I realised this. It’s always been a lingering feeling in the air. And I know it’s going to be perpetual. I really don’t know how I feel about that. On one hand, you’re making good money. But on the other hand, you’re taking responsibilities you shouldn’t have to. 

When I’m at home, I pay for everything from food to light bills. At the end of each year, I know my bills are about to skyrocket because of Christmas. Someone needs to buy clothes. Or they need to stock the house with food. Now there are things I want to do with money that I can’t because of these responsibilities. 

Sounds hectic. 

See. Just after I paid my rent in February, my mother started calling me that their rent was also due. I had to pay for that one too. 

On some days, I just pretend to not hear what they need. My sister called me the other day to ask for me to buy a phone, I just didn’t say anything till she ended the call.

Do you ever think your black tax expenses will stop at some point?

I really doubt that it will. I’ll feel guilty if I stop giving to my family. Also, my family feels like I owe it to them, so there’s that. I might be in this forever. I really hate it and have a lot of anger about it, but I’m trying to deal with those emotions in a healthy way by seeing a therapist.

Sending you love and light. What was the last thing you spent money on that made you happy?

My TV. I don’t even watch TV like that, but it was a good idea to get one. It cost me ₦150k. Also my Apple Watch. It was a very random buy but I started going to the gym this March and I thought it would be great to have one, so I went out and bought it and I’m really glad I did. It cost about ₦200k and I have no regrets.

When was the last time you felt really broke?

At the beginning of the year. I had less than ₦200k in my account because I had just paid rent. It felt scary, not having money for me means not having options, and I hate that feeling. I was anxious until the next credit alert came in. 

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

7. It would have been an eight if I wasn’t dealing with black tax. I’m making money I couldn’t fathom a few years ago. However, with black tax and the anxiety I have about money, I occasionally find it hard to enjoy it.  But hey, we move.

Great! You got to the end of this article. Know what’s even better? You can get QuickCredit faster than the time it took you to read this article. With Quickcredit, GTBank customers can get N2million in less than 2 minutes and pay back over 12 months at an interest rate of 1.5%. No forms. No collateral. No hidden charges. Get Your Quick Credit on GTWorld

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

This week’s Naira Life is brought to you by Quick credit. With Quick credit, you not only get the funds you need instantly, but you also get to pay back at the lowest interest rate in Nigeria.

Between 2019 and 2021, this 22-year-old investment analyst grew her income by almost 400%. What’s her trick? Going after the right internships, building important relationships and leveraging her network.

What’s your oldest memory of money?

It was my primary school allowance for me. I started getting pocket money for school in 2005. I was six years old at the time. The money was a nice touch because I took lunch and was driven to school. It started with ₦30 and increased in the subsequent years. When I left secondary school, I was getting ₦250 to school every day. My friends thought I was rich because I always had money in my pocket. But I didn’t understand what they meant for the longest time. 

Baller. Why didn’t you think you were rich though?

I grew up in a small town and went to a cheap school. I thought if my parents were rich, I would go to a more expensive school. I started to understand why they thought I was the rich girl as I grew older. A car dropped me at school while others took the school bus. In comparison to most of my classmates, I had money. 

To be honest, I never lacked anything growing up even though my family is a large one — my parents have five children. The first time I got familiar with lack was after I finished secondary school and found out that I couldn’t go to my dream school because we couldn’t afford it. 

Tell me more about that.

I wanted to go to uni abroad. I got an admission offer and a 70% scholarship. But my mum insisted that I wrote JAMB. Later, she sat me down and told me that I couldn’t go. I was like, “But I have a 70% scholarship.”

Wiun.

She said the best they could at the time was to send me to a private university in Nigeria. My father even kicked against that for a bit and told me to consider a federal university. 

Why?

He was managing a family business and farming on the side. I grew up in a civil service state and the governor wasn’t paying salaries; that affected pretty much everybody in the state, so there was nobody to sell his farm produce to. There were also a series of unfortunate events — his farm flooded one time and he was dealing with family disputes as well. 

My mother, on the other hand, was an administrator at a manufacturing company and she was still working and getting promoted. Anyway, we eventually decided that I would go to the private university.

So uni?

I got my allowance at the beginning of each semester, and when I broke it down, it was ₦15k a month. By the time I was in final year, it was ₦25k. There were other allowances too courtesy of my aunts and elder siblings. 

I was careful with money in university. I only spent on essentials. For example, the cafeteria food was terrible, but I went there anyway because we had paid for it.

I got a scholarship in my second year that paid me ₦100k every session until I left uni. I also started going after internships in my second year.

Your first work experience?

Yes. I went for the first one in 2017. I wanted to intern with one of the “Big 4” but it didn’t work out. I found work in a family friend’s audit firm and spent the two-month session break there, earning ₦15k per month. I didn’t incur a lot of expenses because I took food to work and transportation in the town was cheap. 

The second internship happened in my third year. This time, it was with an asset management firm in Lagos. They paid me ₦60k per month. Most of my earnings went into transportation, a little into flexing, and the rest went into my savings. I returned to school after the internship for my final year and got elected into the student council. This came with a ₦100k allowance every semester. 

Your school paid you to be on the student council?

Yes. 

Greatest Gba Gba is shaking.  What did your finances look like when you left uni?

I had about ₦400k in savings. One of my sisters had warned me that my allowances would stop coming the moment I finished from uni and she was right. I hadn’t even gotten a job when my parents cut me off. 

Lmao. When did you find a job post-uni?

June 2019 — about two months after I left uni. It was an internship at one of the Big 4s and it paid ₦60k. I was there for two months before I left for NYSC. And I’d gotten a job elsewhere before I left. This is how it happened: during my internship days at school, I networked a lot and maintained relationships with the people I worked with. Right as I was preparing for NYSC, one of those  people texted me to inform me that she was leaving her job, and they were looking for someone to replace her. She wanted to know if I was interested in the role. The company was well-known in the finance industry and I was like, “Yeah, sure.” The interview was a breeze. My offer letter followed. ₦70k net. 

Lit. 

I earned ₦103k during NYSC — ₦70k from the company and ₦33k from the federal government. As my service year drew to a close, it started looking like I wasn’t going to get a full-time offer at the company. My boss was saying that he wanted me on the team but HR wasn’t saying anything. I started looking for a new job in June 2020 though my service year was going to end in October. I filled out tons of work applications, got a couple of interviews, but none of it came through. Companies were still trying to navigate Covid, so recruitment was weird. Anyway, I had no job when NYSC ended. 

Wiun. How long were you unemployed for?

Three long weeks. I didn’t have a lot of money saved up anymore. I live with two of my siblings but I’d started contributing more towards housekeeping because their incomes were fluctuating. I had ₦300k saved up but during those weeks, the only thing I was thinking about was, “What will I do when this money finishes?”

Thankfully, that didn’t happen before I got my next job. I actually got two offers almost at the same time. 

Again, my relationships with people helped me here. Someone else I knew was leaving a company and left my name as a possible replacement. I was still serving when I got a Linkedin request from someone at the company. The man who reached out said that they were looking for someone to fill the role and were wondering if I would be interested in having a chat with them. Of course, I was even though I didn’t think I qualified for the role. The first interview happened, then the second. But nothing happened after that, so I thought they went with another candidate. 

A month after, they reached out and went, “You’re not who we were looking for but we like you. Do you want to join our team?”

My heart.

My God, I was so excited. I think I almost cried. The second offer came in the same week. 

Let’s talk about benefits.

The first company isn’t Nigerian owned and they offered me a gross salary of  ₦5m/annum. My take home every month would be ₦337k. The second company wanted to start with ₦2.5m per annum. That’s about ₦150k/month. 

I decided to go with the first company. The money wasn’t the only factor that made me choose them though.

Fair enough.

Right before I resumed work at the company, I contributed ₦220k towards rent for 2021. I was at square 0 when I started work in December 2020. There was hardly anything in my savings. 

What’s happened between then and now?

I was hired as an investment analyst and was on probation when I started. Then someone left the team and an opportunity to take some of her responsibilities presented itself. I wasn’t sure if I could do them, but I said yes when they asked me if I wanted to. They were impressed with my work and when it was time to confirm me, they increased my pay by 20%. My gross annual salary shot up to ₦6m. My current net is ₦400k per month. 

Mad. You’ve come a long way in such a short time. 

I’ve been fortunate. When I graduated from uni in 2019 and moved to Lagos, I carried one box of luggage because I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay but it’s been about two years and I’m still here. Also, I’m lucky I had siblings who could house me. I think I got a soft landing. 

However, I won’t discount the work I’ve put in. I graduated from uni with a first class. When I was in uni, I sacrificed my session breaks from my second year up to my final year for internships. The work experience looks good on my CV. Also, I networked ridiculously. I’m here because people have reached out to me when they were leaving their roles or put my name on the potential candidate list when their company is hiring. Another good thing that has helped me is that people are comfortable telling me their salaries, so I know what to ask for during negotiations. 

Oh, I also get ₦50k-₦150k from contract work from time to time. This mostly comes from the more experienced people I have worked with when they need an extra person on their projects. 

Lit. What does ₦400k/month do for you?

I put ₦62k aside for my accommodation expenses because my living arrangement will change next year. At the moment, I contribute ₦50k for things we need in the house. When I first started living with my siblings, I wasn’t contributing anything at all. Bit by bit, I started contributing some money because I realised that resentment can begin to set in if I wasn’t pulling my weight. As my income increased, my contributions increased.  

There are skin care expenses, but it doesn’t happen every month. There are courses I pay for too.  I spend money on food when people invite me out for stuff, so that’s also not fixed. I clear the basic bills first and whatever remains after this can go into whatever comes up. 

How do you approach wealth-building tools, especially savings and investments?

My savings and investments are looking good right now. I have a target to build my wealth portfolio to ₦2m by the end of the year. So far so good, I have a little over $1000 in dollar savings, a few hundred dollars in crypto. There’s another ₦60k in cash and ₦100k in stocks — about ₦800k in total naira value. All of this is separate from my rent savings which is in mutual funds

I plan to save at least ₦150k every month and when I’m comfortable with my liquid cash position, I can expand my investment portfolio to dollar stock and maybe increase my crypto holdings.

How has your experience shaped your perspective about money?

I know that because of my background in finance, I don’t spend money anyhow. I want to buy things I like, but I can’t let go. Yes, I’m still very anxious about money. Like what would happen if I lost my job?

But I also know that I can be financially independent with a 9-5 though a lot of discipline will come into play. I believe money is a tool I can make work for me. Also because of my work in asset management, I’ve seen how rich people deploy their funds. I’ve heard an asset manager talk about portfolios worth over ₦500m, and I was like, “In this same Nigeria?”

Haha. How has your work in finance influenced the way you manage money?

I already have my personal stock portfolio, and I use the skills and knowledge I learn on the job to manage it. I’m wiser with the way I approach what I earn and what I spend. Now if I earmark an amount of money to something, it has to go into it. I trust my financial decisions because a lot of thought goes into them. 

Interesting. How much do you think you should be earning now?

That’s tricky. I’m earning above ₦200k-₦250k, which is the industry average for my level of experience.  There are companies that can pay me as high as ₦800k. The only problem is the options are limited to a few places and it’s hard to get into those companies. If I leave my current company now without a good exit strategy, I’d most likely get a pay cut. When I was looking for a job, I went to an interview and told them that my salary expectation was ₦200k, and the guy burst into laughter. I’m good right now but to put it out there to the universe, ₦800k-₦1m will be great. 

Where do you see all of this in five years?

I hope I’m out of this country. I want to go for my MBA in 2023. I’ll spend two years in grad school, so in five years I should have gotten a better paying job and be earning about $150k/annum. 

I’m saving hard right now so I can raise something for my MBA — at least for the application fees and initial deposit. Most of the rest will come from scholarships and loans. There are organisations that give international students loans and they start to get their money back when you get a job.

What part of your finances do you think you could be better at?

I’ve noticed a pattern in the last two years — I save a lot of money then something comes along and deflates my savings. It was my phone in 2019. It was the rent contribution in 2020. I think I should have a separate emergency fund, so I won’t have to touch my core and long term savings if something comes up. I need to build that armour tank. 

What’s something you want right now but can’t afford?

I want a bone straight wig but my mind won’t let me rest if I take the money out of my account. I don’t think it’s a good use of my resources at the moment. I also need an AC for my room but I can’t buy it yet —  maybe in a few months.

Hmm. Anything you bought recently that improved the quality of your life?

A headset. I’m in a lot of work meetings, and it’s made the experience much better. It’s only ₦10k but serves me well. 

On a scale of 1-10, how will you rate your financial happiness?

5. I hate that I have to think and plan a lot before I spend money on things I want or even need. For example, my accommodation arrangement is going to change next year. Although I’ve set up a separate savings plan for it, it’s still a big expense and that makes me a bit uncomfortable. I’m not really sure if I will stop being anxious about money. My biggest fear is becoming a burden to the people that care about me.

But I think earning between ₦800k and ₦1m can improve my financial happiness and take the number to an 8. It’s very rare for people in my experience level to earn up to that, but it’s possible. I probably won’t leave my current employers if I get an offer like that. I’m careful about my career choices and I really like my job. But I can use an offer like that to negotiate a higher pay.

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Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

The 32-year-old politician in this story ran for office in 2018 after years of being a businessman. Now he’s the vice chairman of his local government. He shares details of how his monthly allowance is barely enough to cater for his needs and how his privilege and network is keeping him afloat.

Let’s take  back a little. What’s your oldest memory of money?

In 1992, during sallah, my uncles gave me money. I was four, but I remember that I made close to N2500. 

What could ₦2500 do for a four-year-old kid in 1992?

I loved Coca-Cola and the 25cl bottle was sold for ₦2. There was this balloon game I played a lot too — where you attempt to win the biggest balloon — and a round was ₦1. 

₦2500 was a lot of money and it would have gotten me a long way. Of course, my mum took all of it. 

Speaking of parents, what did yours do for money?

My mother was a full housewife. My father was the quintessential Nigerian businessman. He did everything and took advantage of government policies at different times. He started as a tailor, then he sold textile materials. He made some money at a young age and that gave him the opportunity to mingle   and build relationships with the  aristocratic kids. They helped him later in life. People might call it nepotism, and I agree, but it worked because he was only trying to be enterprising and turn a profit. He acquired a controlling stake in a construction company much later, and that became his main gig.

I grew up with money and privilege. I understood what privilege meant very early on. It was a polygamous home though — my father had 15 kids, so there was a bit of competition too. The privilege didn’t mean I wasn’t humbled a few times. 

What do you mean?

Living in a polygamous family meant everyone had their favourites. I wasn’t our driver’s favourite. He left me at school once or twice when I was in primary two, and I had to trek home. He claimed he didn’t notice that I wasn’t in the car which was bullshit. But it got me thinking about how privilege shouldn’t be an excuse for naivete. It was a good lesson to learn.

Hmm. When did you start working for money?

2004. I had just finished secondary school and tried going to the Nigerian Defence Academy, but it didn’t work out. Then I decided to go to Finland for uni because they offered free tuition at the time. But the thing is, my father paid for our education, but he would never  give you a penny if you wanted to go to school out of Nigeria. I really wanted to go to school abroad, so I was determined to figure it out myself. 

While this was going on, I needed a job and I got one in 2005. Our next door neighbor and a friend of the family owned a domestic airline. I approached him and he offered me a  job as a ticketing officer. My salary was ₦11k. I worked there for a year before I travelled to England. 

England?

Finland didn’t work out either. One of my cousins who was living in England reached out and asked me to consider a diploma course in England. I did the whole process myself and was offered admission to a college affiliated with a major university in the UK. My father was just looking at me like I was a mad man. My mother sold some of her jewelry to pay for my flight. In January 2007, I left and had only $500 in my pockets. 

How did you figure things like tuition out?

First, my tuition was £1950 per semester. I negotiated a payment plan with the school and they allowed me to pay £190 a month. I got a job at a warehouse as soon as I settled in and was paid £720 each month. The job paid for my tuition and rent. I sent about £100 home to my mother every month too. Man, every penny had to be calculated to do all of this. 

Was that the only job you had in the UK?

No, I got a customer service job after that. It paid better and it wasn’t as stressful. The first customer service job I got paid me £800 per month. After a year, I got a second customer service job and my monthly earnings increased to about £1600. When I stopped working in my final year to focus on my dissertation, I had about £3500 in savings.  My father finally realised I was serious and paid my tuition in my last year. 

Haha. When did you finish your programme?

July 2010. I returned to Nigeria a day after I wrote my final exam. My parents had divorced a month prior so I wanted to come back as soon as possible. My mother was a housewife when she was with my father and was trying to restart her life, so I had to be there for her. 

When I got back to Nigeria, I started importing cars from the UK.

Interesting.

My father had sold cars in the past, so this gave me a head start because I knew a couple of people in his network. I hit them up and told them about cars I think would sell. The numbers made sense and they signed on. We began shipping cars in and making a healthy sum. Man, it was some quick money. Nigerians still had money to spend at the time, so we sold these cars in record time. 

Talk to me about the numbers. 

A Peugeot 406 car cost £1000. The shipping fee was £700. We spent an additional ₦180k (~£256) to clear a car at the port. After settling all this and changing the driving system to left-hand drive, everything would have run into ₦900k. After that, we would sell the car to a car dealer at a profit of ₦300k. That was it. 

I started with one or two cars. But when people started chipping in money, I increased the volume to five cars a month.  I don’t suppose cars sell as fast anymore because the pull has greatly reduced. More people are selling cars and less people are buying. 

I had the car business on lock but I was also a fashion designer. I would buy yards of materials at the market and make them into outfits.  A trip usually cost me about ₦100k-₦200k but I made up to 1000 per cent in profit. 

HOW?

I was a big boy designer, so I sold my outfits to high-end users. I did a couple of other things too — bought iphones in Dubai and resold here; bought onions during their on-season and sold them during the off-seasons. Pretty much everything. However, I stopped all of these things in 2018. 

Why?

I entered politics. I grew up around politics enthusiasts, so the interest has been there for as long as I can remember. Before my dad passed away in 2012, he was a treasurer and major financier of a political party. Also, one of my adopted brothers ran for political office in the 90s.

In 2018, I came out looking to be elected as the chairman of my local government. My privilege played a role here. I won’t lie, I use it anywhere I find myself. 

That’s very honest. 

I put in the work too. I wanted to run for a councillorship seat in 2011 but I didn’t get it. I chinned up and continued politicking. In 2015, I was too up in my businesses to run for anything but I was involved in local politics. When the talk of local government elections came up in 2018, I presented myself. 

How did it go?

Well, I created my team and started my campaign. But it didn’t work out. Privilege and connections are good, but sometimes, there’s only so much they can do. The powers that be didn’t think I was the most politically-acceptable candidate. And to be honest, I wasn’t. 

Why?

I was relatively new to the race. I started my campaign 12 weeks before the primaries and there were people who had begun their campaign two years earlier. I hadn’t done the rounds or built a solid base. 

Anyway, the stakeholders held a meeting a few days before the primaries and told me I wasn’t the best candidate the party could present in the polls. However, they told me to run as the vice-chairman. By that time, I had spent about ₦10m on my campaign but I agreed to it. 

Omo. Do you remember what that ₦10m went into?

Consultation with stakeholders: ₦5m

Ticket:₦ 650k

Publicity: ₦3m

Team logistics:₦1.5m

I guess your political party won the local government elections. 

Yes. I’m currently the vice chairman of my local government. 

I have so many questions. But first, how much do you earn as the vice-chairman?

Well, there’s the basic salary and there are allowances, which are mostly the running cost of the statutory committees and projects I manage as the vice chairman. My salary is ₦210k after tax. But when you add up the allowances, it runs into about ₦750k per month. 

However, I received the allowances for only eight months after I resumed office. 

Ah, why?

The chairman and I fell out. Our working relationship was borne out of a political marriage of  convenience. We had different ideas on how things should be and he probably thought I was trying to undermine his authority or trying too hard to be popular.

Uh-oh.

When this happened and our relationship wasn’t as good anymore, the local government council started paying me my basic salary only. And this was a problem because if I wanted to have at least a 50% approval rating in the local government, I needed to spend at least ₦300k for my constituency needs — from mini infrastructure and development projects to other welfare stuff.  Before I fell out with the chairman, I had enough money to cater for these needs. 

How are you navigating this?

At first, I dipped into my savings. But now, it’s donations. I rely on my family and friends to find the money to fund these projects. 

Back to this in a bit. How does money move in a local government?

Most of it comes from the federal government. There is a Federal Allocation Account Committee (FAC) meeting every month, and that’s where Nigeria’s money is shared among the states. At the state level, there is the Joint Account Allocation Committee meeting and that’s where each local government council knows how much is due to them. Typically, my local government gets ₦220m every month. 

Unfortunately, we don’t generate a lot of Internally Generated Revenue. So what we get from the federal government is hardly enough. We pay about 1900 teachers, 240 staff at the local government secretariat, 400 healthcare workers at the primary care centre. After everything, we end up with a deficit of about ₦20m. The state government clears that for us. 

I’m very concerned about how we’re not tapping into the IGR potential in the local government. That alone could bring us an additional ₦100m every month, but the chairman doesn’t want to see it. That’s one of the reasons we fell out. 

Sounds hectic. What about your businesses, anything coming from those?

No. Everything is on hold. The law doesn’t allow me to run a business while in office. And yes, that has affected my lifestyle. I’ve gone from being a top boy to begging for alms from my friends and family. I used to go on vacation at least once a year, but I can’t afford to do that anymore. I’m living a spartan life. 

How do you reconcile with that?

Man, I see my job as a service and a privilege. I know it sounds like bullshit coming from a politician, and I understand that. It is what it is. I have gone through life to understand that I love having money but I get most of my satisfaction from looking back at how I’ve made people’s lives better. 

Tell me more about this. 

Sometimes, it’s the ₦500,000 spent to drill a borehole for a community of 2000 people; to the culvert or drainage system you construct to make a road passable for a community of more than 1000 people. There are also the annual JAMB and WAEC fees for over 200 students to give them a shot at tertiary institutions. 

This is the sort of satisfaction I’m talking about.  It’s the whole reason I’m in this politics business in the first place. I believe politics is the biggest tool for social change. Also, I know that the privilege I have is a responsibility and I need to give something back to the society in the best way I can. 

Interesting. This is a good place to talk about your monthly running costs.

Haha. I spend about ₦300k on my immediate needs and family. My basic household expenses, including feeding, cable subscriptions, and other utilities cost about ₦150k. I support two of my siblings and send them ₦50k each per month. My security guard and my kids’ nanny salaries take another ₦50k. 

On the political front, at least ₦300k gets me through each month. I talked about what the money goes into earlier. 

Your monthly outflow is about ₦600k but your income is ₦210k, how does that work?

I know people I can always count on, and they’ve not stopped helping. I’m not really the person currently funding my life. Sometimes I don’t even ask, I just get a credit alert. 

Mad. So how much do you have in your savings now?

₦70k

Huh?

Since I’ve gotten into office, I haven’t had more than ₦200k in my account for a long period of time. The money that comes in goes out almost as quickly. Also, we just finished the primary elections in my party. I’m vying for the chairman of the local government this time. 

That’s going to cost money.

Yes. But I’ll be fine; donations will keep me afloat. I’ve received a significant amount already. 

How much?

I wouldn’t want to say disclose that at the moment because it’s an ongoing process. I’ll tell you something though. 

I’m listening. 

If you want to run a robust citizen-focused campaign for this office, from the primaries up to the general elections, you may have to spend about ₦50m. Politics is a people and numbers game — who you know and how much you can raise through them matters a lot. 

Interesting. Where do you see all of this in five years?

I’ve gotten the ticket to represent my party at the polls for the chairman seat. We’ll see what happens after that. I don’t know if I’ll be in a political office in five years, but I’d like to be one of the people that will decide who will govern my state. I’m not an Abuja guy. I just want to be involved in the local politics of my state as much as possible. 

Back to your personal finances. If you weren’t in office, how much do you imagine you will be earning per month?

Nothing less than ₦3m. Also, I know I would have started a couple of other businesses. But it is what it is. 

What part of your finances do you think you could be better at?

Maybe not letting my emotions dictate how I spend money. I do that a lot, and it’s not helping me. I could see people in trouble and go all out to spend money to fix whatever it is without giving it much thought.

What do you want right now but can’t afford?

I want to go for Hajj. It’s high up on my bucket list but I can’t afford to right now. I would need about ₦2.5m – ₦3m on that. Another thing I could use right now is a bigger house because I have two kids now and my family is growing. 

Speaking of family, how does your wife deal with your irregular finances?

My wife is a businesswoman with her own money. She understands where I’m at. Sometimes, she chips in and supports me financially too. 

Lit. What’s something you bought recently that improved the quality of your life?

I bought an iPhone 12 Pro Max about three months ago. It cost about ₦700k and the money was even a gift. This is a good place to add that these gifts don’t come from people who have financial dealings in the local government. 

Ah, I see. I find it interesting that you live on donations and gifts. How has this shaped your perspective about money?

See, I’ve learned that the greatest source of wealth is from a network. It’s not how much you own personally because things change quickly and that can affect what you can and can’t afford. However, with a network of reasonable and successful people, you can afford everything without actually having the money. 

On the other hand, I shudder at the amount of wealth inequality in the country, and it’s a time bomb. But I see more young people becoming more interested in politics and coming into the system. I can be optimistic that this will start to change things. 

Fingers crossed on that. How will you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?

7. I’m very content with what I spend my money on. The problem is I always have to rely on other people to raise most of it. I will probably move to a 10 If I’m on an improved salary.

Last question. How much is a good salary to you right now?

₦800k.

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The 29-year-old in this story lives on ₦35k/month, but that’s not everything there is to him. It’s also about how he’s trying to make things work for his family. His biggest challenge though? Job security.

When did the hustle start for you?

It was after my dad died in 2005. He was a retired soldier and married many wives. After he died, we saw that we didn’t know the number of children he had. This one would come and say he was his son. Another one would come and say she was his wife. Trouble started when they started sharing his property, and I knew I had to start my own life. 

What happened?

My mother had already warned my three brothers and me not to drag anything with them. She said it would cause a fight. True true, that fight started. One person would say, “Na me be the second born. You know when them born me?” Another person would also talk about their age and how it should decide what they got. That’s how they started carrying knives to wound themselves. My father had some boats, cows, and pieces of land. I didn’t take anything.

I left his house with my things. 

My mother had a piece of land she farmed on. That’s where I started to farm. 

If you didn’t want to farm, what were your options?

School. I was in JSS 3 when my father died. His plan for me was to go to NDA and join the Army. I wanted it too, and I continued school for a while. But there was nobody to pay my school fees again, so I dropped out in SS 1. 

And you faced farming.

Yes. I started my hustle at the farm and was planting guinea corn and rice. I didn’t need money like that in the village, so we ate most of the goods. If someone needed money or one person was sick, I would just carry one or two bags of goods to sell. One bag of corn was ₦6500, and one bag of rice was ₦5500 that year. 

By 2012, my mother was already telling me to go and marry.

Haha. Why?

That’s how things work in my village. If you spend a lot of time on the farm, you marry a wife to take care of things at home. My mother was tired of how hard I was working. After spending all day on the farm, I would return home, to still fetch water and cook food. The stress was too much, and my brothers weren’t helpful.

I see. I imagine getting married cost money.

Yes. I started working on people’s farms and helping them make ridges. I got ₦3500 for every 2000 ridges I made. Within a month, I got the money I needed to buy the things my in-laws asked for. I think I spent about ₦35k on that but there were additional expenses.

 That’s how I got a wife, we gave birth to our first child in 2014 but he died about a year after. He fell sick and didn’t survive it. It hurt but life had to continue.

Damn. I’m sorry.

In 2016, I started thinking about leaving the village. 

Why?

I thought I could hustle better in a big city like Abuja or Lagos. I went to Abuja first because someone from my village was there and he told me that there was work. When I got to Abuja, he took me to his boss, and that one asked for my CV. Before the end of my first week, I got a job as a security man in an estate. My salary was ₦15k. 

How did that go?

The money wasn’t bad. But the job? Very bad. From midnight, we would start blowing whistle every hour. That’s how they knew we were working. When it’s morning, they still won’t allow anyone to sleep. If they saw you trying to close your eyes, they would book and fine you. The mosquitoes were doing their own too. After two months, I left the place. 

Did you find another job in Abuja?

No, I returned to my farm in Jos. But one time in 2017, I travelled to Taraba state with a group of five people from my village to work on rice plantations. They plant rice very well there, so it was easy to find work on someone’s farm when it was time to harvest them. The job took like three weeks, and at the end of it, each person got ₦30k. I went back home but I didn’t stay for long this time. In 2018, I moved to Lagos. 

Because there were better opportunities there?

Many of my people from the village who had come to Lagos always told us about how the place was good and how the jobs paid more. They said I could be earning up to ₦50k in a month. So I thought I could achieve something here. I left my mother and wife again and came here. I returned to bring my wife in 2019. 

You found a job in Lagos then?

I have an in-law here. I’m living with him and his family. He helped me find a job. He knew a supervisor at a security company and he took me there. Sharp sharp, they did an interview for me and gave me a uniform. Then they assigned me to a house on the Island. That was the first place I worked in Lagos. 

How much?

₦45k. I liked the job and the money was enough for everything I wanted to do. But I quit in 2020.

Why?

Covid. Before it started, if I slept at work this night, I would sleep in my house the following night. But because of Covid, my boss said I had to be sleeping at work everyday. My wife was pregnant at the time, so I told her that it wouldn’t work for me. We spoke to the security company and they transferred me to a bank. That’s where I’m still working now. I’m managing this one because the work is too much and the money is less. 

How much are you being paid?

₦35k. The only good thing now is that I’m not spending a lot of money on transportation. When I was working on the island, I used to spend about ₦600 on transport everyday, but now I’m spending ₦150. However, I prefer my previous job because it wasn’t as stressful as this one. The only thing I had to do was open the gate when my boss wanted to go out. It’s not that way at the bank —  you have to be everywhere all the time. 

What does ₦35k do for you now?

I give my wife ₦15k to buy food in the house, but she recently travelled back to the village to visit her family. I save ₦20k every month and put it inside an Ajo with five other people at work and one person takes it all at the end of the month. I also try to send money home, but that’s not fixed. 

Where do you find money to take care of other daily expenses?

Everyday, I hope some of the bank customers give us money. On a very good day, I can get up to ₦1500. I also do another Ajo with the same people, and that one is ₦500 every day. At the end of the week, someone takes ₦15k. That’s how I manage every month. 

Interesting. 

But I don’t like working at the bank because of the way people treat us — from the bank manager, to the supervisor, to the customers. If anything happens, they will blame the security men even if it’s not our fault. You can tell a customer to use a face mask and they will start cursing you. If you react and it gets to the manager, they can report you to the supervisor and tell them to change you. I’ve seen it happen to people and every time, I always wonder when it’s going to be my turn. 

Did I tell you that I give my supervisor ₦1k out of my salary every month?

No. What’s it for?

That’s the way things are done. The supervisors are the ones making the money. They collect at least ₦1k from each person they are managing. Some people even pay more than ₦1k. 

I’m curious, what happens if you don’t pay?

I don’t want to know. They can transfer you to another place over any small matter or even sack you. They have the power to do that, so the money is for them to help you keep your job. That’s why I want to leave and find something else where I won’t have to fear every day  like this. 

Omo. But how much do you have in your bank account right now?

I’ve saved about ₦180k, and it’s for the house I want to get. I’ve seen a one room and parlour apartment and they said it’s ₦250k. When I get my money from the Ajo I’m doing in two months, I’ll use the money to settle that and start all over again. 

How much will be enough for you as salary right now?

₦50k will be good for me. There’ll be enough left after taking care of the house and saving.

Do you ever think about how much you want to earn in five years?

I don’t know. I hope I’ll be earning more, but also, anything can happen. But I’ll be so happy if I have saved up to ₦800k by that time. My biggest fear is someone falling sick because I know how hospitals take all your money. It won’t matter how much the job is paying. I even forgot to talk about my wife’s second delivery. 

I’m listening. 

We registered her at a hospital close to the house. In my mind, I thought ₦40k would be enough for delivery. When it was time, the baby refused to come out. When the hospital got tired, they transferred us to a hospital on the island, and that one was more expensive. The baby finally came but we spent about ₦135k. The money I had wasn’t enough and I had to borrow ₦50k  from my neighbour to pay them. So anything that involves the hospital like this, I don’t pray for it. 

Do you have a plan for when anyone falls sick?

Ah, I pray it doesn’t happen. But if it happens, it’s my savings. The only problem is that it will affect other plans.

How has all of this shaped your perspective about money?

Money is important. For me now, it’s how to manage and save what I make in a way that I will always have something to take care of my wife and my boy. He’s a year and five months now, and every day, I’m thinking about what I can do to make sure that he won’t meet things the way they are when he grows up. I’ve suffered for money, and I don’t want him to suffer like this. But as I’ve not made it yet, the little I make, I try to save it. It’s hard but I know that God will do it and things will get better.

Rooting for you. What’s the last thing you spent money on that made you feel good?

Sometimes, I tell my wife not to cook and take her out to a restaurant. That makes me feel good. But in December last year, I bought clothes for my wife and my boy. I spent about ₦50k on that, but I happy die. I didn’t care that it took me months to save the money. 

What was the last thing you bought that required serious planning?

I sent money home to the village and asked them to buy me a cow and three sheep. I didn’t have the ₦65k I sent like that, but I wanted to have something waiting for me if God forbid something happens and I lose this job.

This fear you have about losing your job, where’s it from?

Oga, many things happen at this job. For example now, because of Covid, we’ve reduced the number of people inside the bank at a time. So when a customer comes and the bank is too full, we tell them to take a number and sit down outside until those inside the bank come out. 

A few weeks ago, some customers got angry because we asked them to take a number and they forced their way into the bank. When the manager heard about it, he called the supervisor and told him to remove all of us. When they eventually realised that it wasn’t our fault, they died the matter. But I know we won’t always be lucky. 

I was recently transferred to a new branch and I know I’m here to replace someone who had been sacked. It can happen to anyone. As I am now, I won’t mind going back to working at a residence. Those ones are not this hard. But as I’ve not seen one yet, I have to manage this one. 

Omo. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

5. I’ve only spent about three years in Lagos and I have some money saved up and already thinking about getting my own place. I hope it gets better from here so I can move to the next level, which is having enough to send my boy to school when he grows older. As long as nobody falls sick and I don’t lose my job, I know I’ll reach 10 one day.

UPDATE: Upon request from readers, we’ve added a payment link for people interested in sending him some love and light here.

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

The 28-year-old in this story was at her last job for three years and didn’t get a raise once. Two years into her new job, she got a raise. She’s built her wealth to ₦7m within two years, but she thinks she can do a lot better.

What’s your oldest memory of money?

I didn’t grow up with privilege. My parents and I lived in a face-me-I-face-you one bedroom apartment, and we shared a toilet with a couple of other tenants. I knew we didn’t have money because my parents struggled to pay rent. Eventually, we got a quit notice. Like that, we were homeless. My mum went to one of her friends, my father lived with his brother, and I moved in with one of my uncles. We were separated for about two years. 

What were those two years like?

God, I hated it so much. Even though we had no money, my mother spoiled me because I’m her only child. I didn’t cook or wash my clothes. I had to do all of that and other chores at my uncle’s. The most stressful part was that there were like six other kids in the house and we ate from the same plate. I wasn’t used to that and it didn’t help that I was a slow eater. I went to bed hungry a lot of the time. 

That doesn’t sound like fun. How did your living situation change two years later?

My mother did the work oh. In those two years, she learned a new trade, went out on her own and started making money. My dad was there too, but he was comfortable with his civil servant salary even though it wasn’t a lot. He liked the stability. My mum was the one who was always looking for the next opportunity. I imagine they raised the money together, but my mother was the major contributor. We moved into a two-bedroom apartment this time.

Were there other expenses your mum took care of?

Many. She was the breadwinner in so many ways. I remember that we were going through cash problems when I got into secondary school and couldn’t afford my ₦25k school fees. My mother managed to  find the money. Things like that.

Also, she was always worried that I would have to carry the weight of my family in the future, so she wanted me to have the same hustling spirit she had.

What did that mean?

She made me work as soon as she thought I was ready. I was 12 or 13 and in SS 1 when she hooked me up with one of her caterer friends. I started working with her friend twice a month during holidays and served guests at parties. My pay was ₦800 per day. ₦1500 on days she felt generous. 

How long did you do this for?

About a year, but it was also on and off. By the time I was finally done, I’d raised enough money — about ₦6k. I used it to buy a phone. 

Well done. Did you do another job pre-university?

Yeah. I was admitted into university in 2008, but there was a three-month wait before resumption. I got another job as a sales girl at a call centre. My salary was about ₦5k per month, and I was there for three months.

In uni, my allowance was ₦5k or ₦6k. I had a boyfriend who used to supplement what I got from my parents and buy me food every now and then. We were together for two years until he broke my heart. 

Wiun. 

University was all right for the most part. At least until my father got sick when I was in my third year. 

He had a stroke. He and my mother had just returned from an outing when I noticed that his mouth looked weird and brought his attention to it. He took some meds that night. The following day, they went to the hospital and the doctors told him he had a stroke. They gave him some medicine and said he was free to go. When they came back home, he couldn’t get out of the car. He had lost the use of his legs. 

Damn. 

They returned to the hospital, and he was there for more than six months. He was ill for anoher three years.

That must have been tough. I’m sorry. 

My mother had to slow down with her business to stay by his side and take care of him at the hospital. I still got an allowance every month, but it wasn’t always ₦5k anymore. I wasn’t even comfortable asking for money because I knew my mother had enough problems. So I went out to find a job.

What job did you get?

An ushering job. I held it for a while and got between ₦10k and ₦20k from each job I went for. I took some of the money I earned out and started selling shirts in school. I’d buy for ₦800 and sell for ₦2500 or ₦3k. 

So money was coming in?

Sort of. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t consistent. I was occasionally broke. One time, I went to the bank to withdraw my last ₦4k. On the bus ride home, they removed the money from my pocket. I wanted to run mad.

I’m not even going to try to unpack that. 

Lmao. I finished university in 2013, and my mother told me that she had tried her best to send me to uni and I was now on my own. 

What does a reality check like that do to someone?

You find a job ASAP. I started working almost immediately after I finished university. At first as an intern at an agency and on a ₦20k salary.

I went for NYSC that year. And nothing spectacular happened until I was done in 2014. 

And it was back to job hunting?

It was such a struggle. I was squatting with a friend, so I had accommodation. But you know when you’re living with someone but can’t contribute ₦1, you always wonder when they will kick you out. I continued looking for a job frantically. It took five months before I found one.

Whew.

It was at the same agency I interned at before my NYSC. I went back and started working in the finance department. My salary was bumped up to ₦74k.

Nice. You were earning money now. Did that change anything?

A month after I got the job, things went sour between me and the friend I was squatting with, so I had to move out. My parents live on the outskirts of the city, but I moved back in with them. For next five months, I would get out of the house at 5:30 a.m., hitch a ride with someone, take a bus after that and then walk the rest of the way to the office. The entire experience was draining. 

I was saving ₦40k out of my salary every month to raise money for rent. I eventually got a dead apartment  for ₦150k. God, two people couldn’t fit in the kitchen or the bathroom. Don’t even get me started on the rats. Two years later, I left the house. 

What happened?

My landlord asked me to pay rent in advance. I wasn’t going to do that. But I also didn’t have enough money to move out. 

How did you navigate that?

I thought my father would help. He’d just collected his pension, which was a decent amount of money. I asked him for a loan, but he refused. He blew the money away. He claimed he bought a car and a plot of land. Till today, we haven’t seen anything.

When I didn’t get the money from him, I applied for a loan at a loan company and the interest rate was insane — about 21%. I was desperate, so I took ₦250k from them. The good news, I was able to finally move out of my shitty apartment. The new apartment cost ₦230k. The bad news, I had to pay them a portion of my salary every month.

Were you still at the same job?

I was there for about three years and didn’t get a raise once. But that was about to change too. I met this HR person on a random day. We spoke for a while and I casually told him I was looking for a job. He asked for my CV. A few months later, he reached out to me about an opening at an FMCG company. I applied, interviewed and got a job in their sales department. This was 2017. 

My salary went from ₦74k to ₦200k. They also gave me a car. It felt so surreal. I had walked the streets of Lagos in my dusty shoes, but now I was getting a brand new car. 

I get that.

I cleared the outstanding loan first which was about half of the initial ₦250k I took plus interest. Then I started saving more aggressively. For the first time, I could see where my life and career was going. I’ve been at the same job since that time. 

Cool. What has happened between then and now?

I’m my mother’s daughter. I’ve done a couple of businesses on the side — I’ve sold make-up products, perfumes, clothes and other stuff at different points to supplement my salary. 

I was promoted at work in 2019 and moved from ₦200k to ₦420k. I was managing a lot of sales reps when I joined the company, but after the promotion, I started dealing with clients directly. However, all of this came with a transfer. 

Yay? 

Not really. They only gave me a few weeks notice, so it was scary. Fortunately, they gave me ₦600k to get a new house and ₦100k for my flight ticket. But it took a while to settle in at the new office. My job is pretty male-dominated, and I try not to ask for privileges because the men already think I’m supposed to be bad at my job. I got the hang of it quickly and still hit all my targets. I mean, I’ve not missed a target since 2018. 

This flex. Let’s talk about those targets.

Each salesperson has their own yearly target, and It depends on the type of customers they’re  managing. For me, it’s usually between ₦200m and ₦500m. Meeting your targets means getting a performance bonus.

What has been your best performing year so far?

2020, weirdly. Most of my clients are supermarket chains, and consumers moved to those kinds of outlets to buy their products instead of going to the markets. I was able to grow our numbers despite the virus. I got a bonus at the end of each quarter in 2020, and it was between ₦400k and ₦600k. But money came from other sources too. 

I’m listening. 

I’m a babe, so there were a couple of men who liked to give me money or take care of some of my bills. I was bent on moving to Canada in 2019 and someone paid my visa fees. Another person gave me money to add to my proof of funds. I also started seeing someone casually and he was giving me ₦100k to ₦200k every month, so I wasn’t spending my salary.  When men like you and they think you have money, they like to give you more money to impress you. The best thing about it was that I could save more aggressively than before. 

I stan. 

Lmao. At the end of 2020, I had ₦5.5m in savings. 

Interesting. 

2021 has been pretty slow so far, but I’m still saving more than ever. I think I have saved about ₦7m. However, I hardly ever have money in my main bank account. I sort of have my money everywhere.

Can we try to trace where your money is and break down the numbers?

Dollar investment on Risevest: ₦4m

Cryptocurrency: ₦1.8m

Emergency funds: ₦600k

Rent savings: ₦470k

PiggyVest: ₦50k

I invested ₦270k in a friend’s business and I’m expecting my capital and ROI in a couple of months. I also have ₦400k in a special fund I opened for my dad’s funeral. 

Wait, what?

I know it sounds very dark, but it is what it is. I like my father, even though he’s done some bad shit to me and my mother. But he’s elderly and will die eventually, and I want to be ready for the expenses that will follow. I started thinking about this last year because of Covid. 

I wonder what your relationship with him is like.

Like I said earlier, my mother was pretty much the breadwinner. He became intimidated, and it morphed into violence. There was a time he beat her and didn’t stop until she fainted. Fast forward to the time I needed the loan from him, he didn’t come through. He was spending money for outsiders, yet I was suffering. I don’t think he has ever treated me or my mother fairly.

I-

He’s my business, and I take care of him now, but I wish we didn’t have to struggle so much when I was younger. If he carried everything on his head like my mother did, some of these things wouldn’t have happened to me. I like him as a person. But as a dad? Not very much. 

This has impacted my relationships too. If I meet someone and they start giving me signs that they’re intimidated by me, I start to panic. I’m very careful with my relationships. I would hate to be in the same position my mother was. 

However, I still do my duty and send him and my mother money every month. I’m not even sure if my mother needs it. She has more money than I do.

Phew. This sounds like a good place to talk about your expenses. 

I don’t really spend the money I work for. I get gifts here and there, but my running costs per month should look like this. 

Interesting. But how much do you think you should be earning now?

At least ₦8m per annum. However, I’ll have to leave my current job to get that. Leaving the job isn’t my priority. Leaving Nigeria is. 

Is there something you currently want but can’t afford?

I don’t know. I live within my means and I’m not big on things. Wait— I’d like to buy my first designer bag this year. The bag I want costs about $1200. 

Cool. What was the last thing you paid for that improved the quality of your life?

My smart TV. It’s made me like my house more. I got a good deal for it too because it was on sale. It was only ₦70k.

What do  you think you could be better at, financially?

I think I’ve saved up decent money, and I’m cool with that. There’s nothing I want that I can’t buy for myself. All I want to do this year is to double my income, and I’ll do it. I just have to take all my side businesses seriously. 

I see. How have all of these experiences shaped your perspective about money?

I still live in panic mode all the time. It’s why I’m so big on having an emergency fund. Covid didn’t help matters. I was so scared I’d lose my job even though I was making money for them. I save most of the money I get, but I still don’t think I’m doing well for my age. 

What would make you panic less about money?

The goal this year is to add at least ₦5m to what I currently have. That should do it. 

How would you rate your financial happiness then, on a scale of 1-10?

7. I’ve made a lot of progress in the last two years and I’m thinking about my future and actually working towards it. But at the same time, I feel like I could do better and time is running out. If I hit my extra ₦5m target this year, I can move to 8. 

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

The 29-year-old guy in this story placed his first bet over a decade ago as a university student. At first, it was for the thrill. It quickly became a coping mechanism. Then an addiction. He thought he was in control but his debt profile and troubled relationships proved something else: He was not. 

What’s your earliest memory of gambling?

I lived with my grandmother for a while with some of my older cousins. They were much older and played dice and rubber games and bet against themselves. The first time I saw gambling on the screen, I was watching a movie with an uncle and a casino scene came on. He explained how Russian roulette and the other games worked, and how people made money from them. I found it fascinating. It felt like a sure way to make money. Besides, the people I saw looked like they were having fun.

When was the first time you acted on this?

Towards the end of my first year in secondary school. I started taking decks of cards to school and signing my classmates up to play and place bets. Although I was investing my money into buying cards, I never staked or made money from it. I was only trying to recreate what a casino looked like. I did this from 1999 to 2002. I got bored in JSS 3 and abandoned it. That side of me didn’t resurface until a few years later when I went into sports betting. 

What happened?

In 2007, I travelled to the UK for my A-Levels. I was 17, but one of my closest friends who was two years older than me  was into gambling. There was no football  game he wouldn’t place a bet on. At first, I was only helping him research the best games and odds. When he won, he spent the money on us. I liked the distraction it created. The following year, I asked him to teach me how it worked. 

I placed my first bet in November or December 2008. I selected the games and I staked £5. I didn’t win anything in the first month. I eventually won £30 after a couple of losses. 

Hmm. 

The following week, I staked another £10 and won £120. I remember this because I was coming to Nigeria for the Christmas holidays and my winnings went into buying gifts for my family. 

Back to back wins.

Yes. I thought I had learned the trick. I spent about two weeks in Lagos before I returned to school. It was a struggle to continue gambling because school became overwhelming, and I couldn’t keep up with the whole process. Occasionally I’d find some loose change and put it in a game. If I won, I celebrated and if I lost, I kept it moving. It was money I could afford to lose. 

What happened after that?

I finished my A Levels in August 2009 and came back to Nigeria. A few months later, I returned to the UK for uni. It took 8-9 months before I gambled again. 

Why was that?

I found other distractions. Parties, girls, and my local football team. The Champions Leagues final in 2009 was my return to gambling. I was watching the match with a couple of friends when an advert from a betting company lit up the screen. It was something like “Bet £10. Predict the next goalscorer and win £1000.”

My friends and I immediately raised the money. I created a profile on the website, funded the account, and placed the bet. 

Did you win?

Nope. Right after that, another sign flashed advertising new odds. We could 10X our stake this time if we predicted the number of corners left in the game. We put £50 in and lost that one too. My friends gave up. But me? I wanted to make the money I had lost. 

I returned to gambling regularly. I was getting £600 from home every month and was placing bets up to £100. I adjusted my spendings to fund my gambling. But once I reached the £100 threshold, I was done for that month. I was partly playing for the thrill of it and in the hopes that I might recover all the money I’d lost over time. There were the occasional wins too. This continued until 2012 when I finished my degree. 

I guess that was when I got addicted. 

Why do you think so?

While waiting for my masters, I got really bad news from home. My mum had fallen sick and my family kept it a secret from me. It was a tradition for her to visit me at the beginning of every school year. When I picked her up from the airport, I knew something was wrong. She broke the news to me on the car ride to my apartment, and it hit me so hard. 

Do you want to talk about it?

It was cancer, man. 

I’m so sorry.

Thanks. My parents decided that she would be treated in the UK. My sister was also preparing to move to the UK for school. My dad insisted that I remain in school while my mum got an apartment in the UK. I was splitting my time between her apartment and my campus. It was a tough year, and I needed a distraction.

You went back to placing bets.

Yes. And it worked for a bit. When a match was on, I didn’t think about anything else but my stakes. I had started betting on other sports too, so it was a 24-hour process. Football in the afternoons, basketball, hockey and baseball at night. 

My monthly income at the time was £750: £600 from my dad and £150 from my job. After spending money on groceries and travel tickets, which was about £250, the remaining £500 was for gambling… 

Ah.

Luckily, my mum got better the following year but my dad had spent about £30k on her treatment. I don’t know how my dad did it but I respect him for how he worked his ass off and carried the family on his back. 

I get what you mean. But now, you had no reason to gamble anymore?

No, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t go a day without it. I finished my Masters in 2014 and returned to Nigeria. After a couple of weeks, I realised that I wasn’t ready for Nigeria yet. I moved to the US in January 2014 because a work opportunity opened up. As soon as I settled in, I researched betting companies and found out that online betting was restricted in the city I was in.  For about two months, I stayed off. In March, I found a VPN to bypass the location restriction and went back to it. 

Nothing changed?

The only thing that changed was that I was earning about $3500 every month. My major expenses were rent and groceries, and these ran into $2000 in a month. I was saving $1000 every month too. I returned to staking small sums of money — $5 here, $10 there, but they stacked up to $200 in a month. 

I spent a little over a year in the US before I finally returned to Nigeria in October 2015. I thought I was coming back to a job. The uncles who promised me jobs in Chevron or Shell didn’t come through.

I’ve seen this movie before. 

Hehe. I had about $10k in savings, so that was good. I started my NYSC that year but I was alternating between Nigeria and the US because of my girlfriend. When I finished NYSC, I took another break from gambling and travelled across Europe and America. However, I was spending a lot of money on plane tickets. 

During one of those visits to the US, I met an uncle — we weren’t related but I called him uncle. He had a clearing and forwarding business and needed someone on the ground in Nigeria to help clear his goods at the port. I thought I could do it, so I agreed to it. The plan was I would pay the agents at the port and once the goods were cleared, I would get my money with an additional cut. The arrangement worked fine the first three times. But everything went sideways the fourth time. 

How?

He needed about ₦40m to clear his containers. I promised to find at least half of the money. I told a few friends what I was up to and vouched for the guy. I raised ₦20m, added ₦3m from my savings and gave it to him. Uncle disappeared after that. 

Ah!

The goods landed in Nigeria a couple of weeks later, and I went to the port to clear them. But there was no arrangement to move them out of the port. That meant I had to pay more money every day for storage. 

That wasn’t my biggest problem — the people I promised their money back started disturbing me. So I needed cash, and fast. In the middle of this,  I would open the newspaper and see an advert from a betting company: someone posing with a cheque of ₦20m, which they won from placing a bet with ₦200. I was like, maybe I should start gambling again since I was technically in debt and needed to raise money. 

Omo.

I reached out to an uncle, and he sent me about ₦700k. All the time, I was thinking about the multiplier effect of sports betting. If someone could win ₦10m with ₦100, then it should be easier for me to turn ₦700k to ₦70m. I just needed to have one good week and I’d make enough money to clear all the debt at once. 

How did that go?

Terribly. I placed a bet with ₦200k at first, hoping it would return ₦4m. It didn’t. Then I went all in and staked the remaining ₦500k on basketball games. I lost all of it in a night. I was back to square one again. 

This is scary. 

I was very desperate. I started borrowing more money from other people and giving them conditions that were impossible to meet. I raised another ₦3m in the following week, cleared ₦1m from the debt and gambled the rest of it away. I was winning insignificant amounts too, but ultimately, I was always back to 0. It became a cycle and it lasted for months.

Omo.

We had incurred an additional ₦3m on the port bill and my debt profile had risen to ₦35m in only a few months. I  was tired of the whole thing and decided to bring my grandmother into it. She was the one I trusted to talk to my parents on my behalf. Unfortunately, she died before I could tell her about the whole situation. 

I’m sorry. 

This is how I lived during that period: if I made a new friend, I would ultimately ask them to loan me money and use it to place bets in the hopes that I’d get the money back and return it to them. I wasn’t gambling casually anymore — I actually needed it to make me money. But it just wasn’t working. 

Did you ever talk to anyone that you might be dealing with an addiction?

I actually told a couple of people but they brushed it off. I remember someone telling me “Don’t worry. Your eyes will clear.” I locked up after that and decided that it was my mess to clean.

How long did this last?

About 5 months. Within that time, I gambled away ₦15m. That’s an average of ₦3m every month.

Wild! How much was your debt profile at this point?

It had risen to ₦45m. It became harder to borrow money from people because I had used up all my goodwill. I pretty much went into the dark and avoided all my friends. Some of my close friends finally managed to contact my mum and informed her that I might be in trouble. My mum invited them into our home, and I was forced to tell them about everything.

How did your parents take it?

They were very upset. If my dad had a gun, he would have shot me. But they also wanted to put an end to it as soon as possible. My dad asked me how much I owed and I stupidly lied and told him it was ₦35m instead of ₦45m. 

A few days later, he asked for a list of people I owed money and cleared everything. Till today, he claims that he paid the ₦35m from a portion of my inheritance.

But fresh start, yeah?

Yes. I started actively job seeking and got a job in financial services in January 2018. My starting salary was ₦180k. But remember I was still owing about ₦10m. I was committed to clearing that myself. I would take ₦50k out and put the rest in my savings to raise the money. 

However, in April 2018, I ran into an old acquaintance. I visited him at his house one day and he talked about how he rented and furnished the place from his winnings from gambling. Like that, I started thinking about it again. I was like maybe I lost all that money because I was placing the bets myself. I told him I had ₦500k I wasn’t using and looking to turn it into ₦1m before the end of the month. He agreed to select the games for me. 

Wiun!

I won ₦200k on my first attempt. I should have taken it slowly but the following week, I put the whole ₦700k into it. And I lost it. The moment that happened, I knew I was done. 

That’s what finally did it for you?

Man, I had made significant progress between January and March and couldn’t just fall into the trap all over again. Besides, the tension between my parents and me was at a peak. My friends had removed me from our group chats, and it was incredibly awkward whenever we ran into one another. Also, I’d started staining my girlfriend’s white because we rolled in the same circle and the gist had reached her. She broke things up that same year. 

That’s a lot. 

Yeah. So, when I lost the ₦700k, I just knew I had to cut my losses and move on totally. 

Whew. What’s happened since then?

I kept my job and got a couple of raises. I was earning ₦250k in 2019, so it was very easy to save. By the end of the year, I completely cleared my debt. I should add that some of the people I owed pardoned some portion of the debt. 

Yay.

I had nothing in my savings though.

2020?

I returned to gambling. 

Sir?

The lockdown was the trigger this time. After the second week of lockdown, I got bored and started staking money on virtual games. Nothing more than ₦1k though. What I do now is that at the beginning of every month, I send ₦5k into a separate account. If I lose the ₦5k before the end of the month, that’s it. 

I had a stroke of luck last year and had about ₦300k in winnings between June and September. I took ₦200k out and sent it into my fixed deposit account. That’s how I approach it now. 

The plan is to keep it in control?

Yeah, I’ve realised that I might not be able to stop completely, but I can control the way I gamble. I mean, I started as a casual gambler, then it became a coping mechanism before it blew into an addiction. I think I’ve returned to doing it casually and not expecting anything from it.  I’m in a better place now. But imagine my parents weren’t there to clear the bulk of my debt?

I don’t know, man. What aspect of your life does gambling make you feel guilty about?

The stress I put on my family. My relationship with my parents and my sister has been strained since that time, and we are only just beginning to return to the old days. I can’t randomly ask my sister for money without her asking for intricate details. If an unknown number calls my mum repeatedly these days, she thinks it’s because I’ve gambled someone’s money away or I’m in some money trouble. They don’t completely trust me anymore, and it’s my fault. 

That’s deep. 

That’s why I need to move out of the house as soon as possible. This was supposed to happen last year but I had to buy a car. 

Why?

I had an accident and my last car was totalled off. I’m actually not sure how I survived. About ₦5m — most of my savings — went into buying a new car because of work.

Sorry, man. Speaking of work, how’s that going these days?

I’m still at the same job and my salary has increased to ₦380k. I don’t have any major expenses at the moment, so I’m saving as much as I can. 

What does your running costs look like every month then?

I’ve built my savings back to about ₦1m between the time I bought my car and now. 

That’s great. What do you wish you could be better at financially?

Unlocking new ways to make more money, especially in forex. That would get me to my goal faster. I’ve registered for digital marketing and coding classes. We’ll see how it goes.

What has your experience with gambling done to your perspective of money?

I hate how much importance we attach to money. I think people give money way too much respect. It was how I couldn’t cut my losses and let go before things got out of control.

Uhm. What about your happiness levels?

I’m currently at a 5. I’m not dissatisfied but I’m also not extremely happy. But I will take it. I’ve been at my lowest and I know how that feels. At some point, I couldn’t afford data without borrowing money from someone. On the other hand, some people earn considerably less than I do but have a better quality of life. They cut their coat according to their size, which is something I should have done earlier. 

I’m curious, what do you think your life would currently look like if you hadn’t been addicted to gambling?

I would still be with my ex, and we would probably have started talking about marriage. We broke up because of the whole mess I got myself into. If I had also put all the money I blew away into streams of investments, I’d probably have a strong portfolio now. 

Ah, right. Did you ever get in touch with that “uncle” again?

Oh yes, I got in contact with his sister. He ran into a wire fraud situation in the US. He’s currently in prison. I think he’s getting out next year. 

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

A couple of things to know about the guy in this week’s story: He’s 34. Spent 13 years in university. Has done a couple of stuff but currently works in comms. He’s found a way to balance a full-time job with three side gigs. This is his #NairaLife. 

Do you remember your oldest memory of money?

My mum worked in the civil service but she always dabbled in one thing or the other. When I was 12, she did a bit of GNLD and built a community where we lived. I was involved in the business and got a few orders for her. The first and most memorable moment was when I pitched some supplements to a classmate who had a bad case of acne. She told her mum about it, and her mum signed off on the purchase. It was about ₦10k, and I made ₦2k from it. It wasn’t about the money, but the thrill of making it. 

Nice. What happened after that?

By 2002-2003, the GNLD thing had gotten saturated and there were competitors springing up everywhere, so we moved on. I finished secondary school in 2002, took a gap year and got admitted into university in 2004. I should lead with this: I spent 13 years in university. 

Wait, what?

My university was a special breed. We took at least two months break between semesters, and there were also long school closures and strikes. Also, I wasn’t passionate about the course I was studying, so I struggled with it. I eventually switched departments in my fourth year and started all over again.

That sounds intense. 

It was. By the time I switched courses in 2011, it’d become easier because I was doing a couple of things on the side and making money. I was pretty much a non-academic student. 

Haha. Let’s talk about that.

I partnered up with a friend and we started consulting for people who wanted to start their businesses. Our services mostly revolved around strategy and marketing. The only problem was that our potential clients either had a limited understanding of how branding works or didn’t have the budget. It took a while but we eventually landed a client who wanted to start a school and we did a feasibility study for her. We got ₦25k from that job. Other jobs came too, but they were far and in between so the business wasn’t the core money earner for me. 

Oh. So how were you earning?

It started in 2010 when I was in a government-funded TV show where I was paid ₦300k. I remember I bought a laptop and a Blackberry phone with the money. The following year, I deferred a semester from school as part of the process for changing departments. I opened a blog and started writing about government policies in the North since I was born and was living there. At the end of the year, a blog reached out and asked me to be a contributor. The deal was that I’d write four articles a month and get ₦10k. I was like “Great! Now I have BIS money.” This gig ran for 3-4 months. As it was ending, I got another contract with a different blog and it paid me the same amount. 

Interesting. 

Writing gave me a lot of visibility, and it helped build my clout. A lot of people weren’t writing about the kind of topics I was interested in. The clout brought better opportunities. Once in a while, I would get invitations to be a resource person on a  project or get invited to a conference and get per diem allowances — this was anything between ₦60k-₦300k. This continued until 2014.

In the months leading to the 2015 elections, I got a lot more writing contracts, especially from foreign publications, and of course, the pay was much better. I was averaging at least ₦50k per article.

Baller. 

It didn’t feel like I was making a lot of money, although it did increase my standard of living in school. I’d also become totally independent and wasn’t living on an allowance from my parents. Life was sort of soft. 

Of course. 2015? 

I worked at an NGO for my I.T for  ₦100k monthly. I had two side hustles at the time too — a writing gig that paid ₦20k monthly and a social media job that paid ₦30k monthly. Now, my income was steady and I knew how much to expect at the end of each month. 

What was that like?

This is very embarrassing for me to say. I lived with a family friend during my IT, so I wasn’t spending money on accommodation or feeding. But there was a lot of lau-lau spending on hangouts and women. I saved some money too, but what I saved was not a reflection of what I earned. 

IT ended in 2016 and I returned to school. I eventually graduated from uni in 2017 and moved out of town to a city in the North-Central. 

Man, 13 years though. What was your post-uni plan?

The initial plan was to pick up the consulting business with my partner from where we left off and focus on it, but it didn’t work out as quickly as I hoped — the jobs weren’t coming in. My parents also gave me two choices: find a job or move back home. I found a job. 

Lmao. When was this?

May 2017. It was at the Nigerian division of a non-profit focused on renewable energy. I was hired on a six-month contract to handle comms which kept getting extended, and my salary was ₦400k per month. But there was a challenge. 

What was it?

Salary never came on time, and nobody explained why this happened. We could go three months without a salary and it made it very hard to make plans. My boss in the Nigerian office also had her own NGO, and she started giving it more attention. In December 2018, she brought most of us in on her project. That meant a contract revision and a pay cut. 

How much?

₦200k

Oop.

Well, we were being paid on time. A while after I started the new job, I got a side job with another NGO, and they offered me ₦150k per month. That brought my monthly earnings to ₦350k

Lit. 

I was with my boss until the end of 2019. There were lots of departures that year, so I took on a lot more roles and my workload increased. My health suffered for it in the third quarter. I was physically and mentally exhausted. I’d wanted to quit earlier, but I was involved with a family project with my brothers and needed to keep earning.

Anyway, a media company reached out to me towards the end of the year and gave me an out. But I knew the arrangement wasn’t going to last because of their model. They were very particular about recruiting people who had large social media followings, even if they couldn’t write. We agreed to a ₦30k per article deal. It lasted for about three months, but I made at least ₦380k every month from them alone. 

…

It ended in January 2020, and I had also quit my job. I took the whole month off from work. Money was already running out in February, so I found a job at another non-profit. My salary this time was ₦250k. Everything went sideways the following month.

Covid?

Yeah. There was no money coming in and everything came to a standstill, including our salaries. I was meh from April to June. My income dropped massively. Fortunately, I had a small gig with a media company that was paying ₦20k, and it became what I relied on to get me through each month. My brothers also stepped in from time to time to help because I was the hardest hit. 

Damn. What was navigating that period like?

It made me realise the difference between needs and wants. It also made me cut down on my spendings. I wouldn’t have thought that I could live on ₦5k per week. 

Things started opening up in July and I got hired to work on three projects back to back. An energy consulting company I’d reached out to months earlier finally got back to me and wanted to see if I was available to work on a part-time project. I signed on to it. Also, I reached out to a UK risk analysis firm and was brought on one of their projects. Not long after, the last NGO I worked with came back to engage me on something else. I worked long hours in August and September. At the end of it, I think I got about ₦800k from all of these projects. 

Wild! Can we break it down?

1. Energy consulting: ₦570k

2. The UK risk analysis firm: ₦140k

3. NGO: ₦100K

Must have been a huge relief.

It was like a swing from one extreme to the other. I started deliberately reaching out to more folks for job opportunities and attending job interviews. In January 2021, I got another full-time job at a non-profit I applied to in August last year. I’m currently leading their communications team and getting paid ₦320k per month. The good thing is that I’m still working with the energy consulting company and the UK risk analyst firm. Also, there’s another writing contract with a media company. At the moment, I have a full-time job and three side gigs. 

How much do you make from all of them?

About ₦600k. My full-time job pays ₦320k. The UK risk analysis firm and energy consulting company pay me  ₦160k and ₦100k respectively. I also work with a media company, and it brings in ₦20k per month. 

How do you balance all of this?

Time management. I decide on the numbers of hours I need to spend on each job per day and stick to it. However, I don’t work on all of them every day. Besides, there are deadlines and that helps too. 

Ah, I see. How much do you think you should be earning now?

My earnings are fair. I can live comfortably without even touching my core salary. However, I’m still trying to find my footing with my new earnings because of how life has changed.

What do you mean?

My biggest worry at first was balancing my side gigs with my full-time job, but I’ve been doing that well. I got married in January, and now, there is a kid on the way. Kids aren’t cheap, so there will be a lot more expenses. Also, I moved into a new apartment recently and well, my account took a hit.  

I’m curious about what your running costs look like each month now. 

This is more of a projection because everything is currently changing so fast. I expect these numbers to change in the coming months. 

Let’s talk a bit about your savings 

I have about 200k in my savings account now. I’m just coming out of a wedding and have just moved into a new apartment, so that’s a factor. However, this doesn’t include all the money I have outside — I always have money outside from jobs that haven’t paid. 

Do you have investments?

I talk with friends and I follow conversations about investments on social media. There’s also a lot of reading and research on my own part. I started a portfolio with Risevest last year but I couldn’t consistently fund it because of the pandemic. My investment portfolio is about 100k at the moment. The plan is to be more consistent this year. 

What do you think you need to unlock your next level of income?

Working on more side gigs. I want to get to a point where the money I make from these projects is at least twice my monthly income. That should do it. 

How have all of your experiences shaped your perspective about money?

I’ve realised that people will always pay for value, so I know that whatever money I spend will always come back.  At the same time, savings and long term investment plans are important. I’m afraid that the quality of my life will drop if my salary stops coming through — I’ve seen it happen to a lot of folks. That may be why I’m so committed to having multiple streams of income.

Fair enough. What’s something you want but can’t afford?

I’d like to furnish my new apartment to taste, but that will run into 500k-600k. I can close my eyes and do it, but it will affect a couple of things. 

Interesting. What’s something you got recently that improved the quality of your life?

My car. It was a gift from my parents. I thought I was doing fine without one, but my life has been immensely better since I got it. 

Nice. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

I’ll give it a 7. I’m not there yet but I’m in a place where I can conveniently take care of my basic needs and some of my wants. The way I see it, it can only get better from here. 

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

At the beginning of the year, the 24-year-old subject in this story was working at a job she hated and barely making ends meet, and then things changed because of a tweet she responded to. Through her highs and lows, one thing remains unchanged: her faith in God. 

What’s your oldest memory of money?

That’d be taking money out of my mum’s purse to buy choco milo. This was 2002 or 2003, and I was six or seven years old at the time.

I – 

By JSS 1, I was stealing between ₦100 and ₦300 to buy fruits and ice cream. I was caught once, but I didn’t stop. I was caught again in JSS 3, and this time, my dad flogged the budding Anini out of me. Since that time, I’ve not taken anyone’s money. 

Omo. Moving on from that. What was it like growing up?

It was good at first. My dad sold trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles, and his business was good. We got everything we wanted, and my siblings and I went to good schools. I was in JSS1 when things first changed. 

What happened?

My dad was a womaniser, and a lot of his money went into that. There was a time he bought a house for his girlfriend and built another one for her family. It wouldn’t have been a problem, but he lost a deal he was hoping to get, then, he was scammed and lost a lot of money.  

Omo. 

It took him about three years to bounce back, and when he did, what did he do next? He returned to his old ways. A few years later, he lost all of his money again. He tried to float another business but it failed. Like that, we were broke again.

Ugh. Where was your mum in all of this?

I don’t think my dad was giving her money even though he was generous to other people. My mum worked hard to keep up appearances and maintain the status people thought we had. She had a restaurant, and that was where she spent most of her time. She wanted to own two to three outlets. The stress got to her, and she died in 2015. 

I’m so sorry.

Thank you. Her death hit my dad so hard that he took a year away from working. I was in my second year at university at this time. Before all of this happened, I was getting ₦15k-₦20k as my allowance. After everything, it reduced to ₦2k per month.

What did that mean for you?

I realised that I had to fend for myself. One of my friends worked as an usher for an event planner. One day, I asked if I could follow her to an event she was working at, and she agreed. She put in a word for me with her boss and said I could assist in serving food. My pay was going to be ₦2k. But I quickly spoke up and said I could be an usher too, even though I had no experience. She agreed to give me a try. At the end of the event, she paid me ₦4500. I gave my friend ₦500 and kept ₦4k.

Was that the only time you worked for her?

Nope. She called me two weeks after for another event and paid me ₦5k. It became a weekly thing. Every weekend, I had an event to work at. So I was getting paid about ₦20k every month. 

Were you still getting an allowance from home?

Yup. The ₦2k came without fail. It was a good thing that I got the job because I was able to maintain the life I lived before things became difficult at home. I held the ushering gig for 2-3 years, I also did other things for money.

What else did you do?

Sometime in my third year, I heard that recharge cards were moving. I put ₦25k into it and started selling recharge cards. I did that for only 2-3 months, but I had made my capital back and an extra ₦30k in profit.

In my final year, I sold toast bread. It became as though I did blood money. 

I’m listening. 

This is how it started: one morning, I made toast bread and shared it with my roommates. Then they went, “Babe, you need to start selling this thing.” The next day, I bought two loaves of bread and six eggs. The cost of everything was ₦1800. The students next door bought everything, and I made ₦3500 that morning alone. In the evening, I decided to take it a step further — I bought a crate of eggs and loaves of bread. The students who had bought some earlier in the day spread the word that someone was making toast bread in the hostel. I got 55 orders and sold out that evening. Slowly, it became a thing. I increased the price to 150, and in a day I’d get up to 150 orders.

How much were you making from this?

₦8k-₦10k in profit per day.

Mad oh.

I should add that I stopped doing this every day. I couldn’t keep up with the stress, so I was open three days a week. I was going for the ushering gigs too. The steady means of income meant taking care of my tuition and other expenses and having enough left to save. I saved ₦100k every month from what I made from both sources.

What were your finances looking like when you left uni?

I left uni a rich woman but ended up broke three months later. 

What happened?

I had between ₦650k and ₦700k when I graduated from university. But I went home and found out that my dad had sold our house to offset debt and had moved somewhere else. I didn’t like the state of the house he was living in and also didn’t want my sisters to come home from boarding school to that. I gave him ₦300k to renovate the new place. 

I’m not sure how I spent the rest. I was reckless with money at the time, spending frivolously on food and hotels. I knew I was in trouble when I had run my chest down to ₦90k and I didn’t have an apartment. 

Omo.

I found a job as an attendant in a store, and the pay was ₦60k per month. Also, I found two roommates and we gathered our resources together and rented an apartment at ₦300k per year. 

What was it like going from ₦700k in savings to almost nothing?

I don’t think about money that way. True, I was reckless but I always knew I would bounce back. Once I realised my account was getting low, I was already praying to God to come through and started thinking about how to save the situation.

 I see. How long did you spend at the store?

I was there between February and June 2019. I had to go for NYSC, but I had saved up ₦70k. A week after I left camp, I found another job as a front desk officer, and they offered me ₦85k. The federal government was also going to pay me ₦19,800. For the first time in a while, it looked like things were looking up again, but…

But?

But I quit eight months into the job. The owner of the place was moving mad. Eight people left the company on the same day. 

Ah!

I didn’t think this through, but I moved out and spent most of my savings — about ₦300k — on another apartment. I thought I would get another job as soon as possible. But Covid said hello. 

How long were you unemployed?

Six months. My allawee stopped coming in June when I finished NYSC. I had no support system or safety net, but God was with me, and I kept my faith in Him. Someone gave me ₦20k on Twitter in July and a friend gifted me ₦10k in August. I don’t know what I would have done with all of this. I lived on the money while being super prayerful.

I eventually settled for a job in September 2020. It was a personal assistant job a friend referred me for, and my salary was ₦40k.

That’s almost half your previous salary.

Omo. It was better than nothing. But I realised how tiring the job was very quickly. I was just powering through each day, praying and hoping for a better job. I quit officially in January 2021 but worked till February. I wasn’t paid for either month. 

Was a job waiting for you when you quit?

There was no job, but God finally answered my prayers. It was like He was telling me, “You must have learned your lesson. Now let me say hello.”

That sounds interesting. What happened?

A few days after I finally cut ties with my previous boss, someone tweeted on Twitter: “Say what you want, you don’t know who is watching.” I quoted the tweet with “God should answer my heart desires.”

A while after, someone entered my DMs and asked what my heart desire was. I told her that it was a good job. I didn’t know this at the time, but she posted our conversation on her IG story. Later that day, she hit me up again to tell me that someone was asking for my CV. She asked me to send them a DM, and I did. 

I went for a test the following day and was invited to interview after that. Two days later, I got an offer letter. 

Ghen Ghen. 

I was hired as an operations manager. My new salary? ₦230k.

That’s a significant raise, all things considered. 

It is. And there are other great perks too. It was so unreal. It happened at the perfect time too. My rent had almost expired, and I didn’t have anything saved up. I didn’t care about a lot of things — I just didn’t want to be homeless. 

Talk about a close shave. You’re earning ₦230k every month now, what do your running costs look like?

I don’t spend a lot of money on food because the office takes care of my meals. About the miscellaneous: I send ₦10k each to my sisters. Also, I have an account I opened for my boyfriend, and I put ₦20k in it every month.

Aww. What do you think you could be better at financially?

I could do a lot better with how I manage my finances. There’s only so much I could do if I continue spending money —  which isn’t even a lot —  and hoping something else will come up. My faith is lit and God always comes through, but I should really be more responsible. I’m working towards that. I have to build my savings up first before considering other options.

What’s something you want right now but can’t afford?

A car. But it will have to wait because I’d be moving out of my apartment soon, and I also want to save enough to travel somewhere for a vacation this year. 

Interesting. Anything you bought recently that improved the quality of your life?

I’ve always been big on health and wellness, but I couldn’t afford the vitamins and other essentials I wanted to buy. Recently, I bought WellWoman and some other vitamins for ₦33k. You should have seen the smile on my face when I left the pharmacy. 

Have you thought about where you’d like to see yourself in five years?

If I’m still at this company, I hope to have made it to a managerial position. Also, I should have started and finished my MBA, and hopefully, be in a position where I can spend more on myself. And if I don’t have everything by that time, I’m happy the way I am. I just need to put my head in my job and keep my faith alive. 

I’m curious, what do you think could have happened if your dad was still making enough money and your mum was still here?

I definitely would have had it easier. I probably wouldn’t be in this country, and I would have finished my MBA. Oh God, I would have almost finished seeing the world. 

Man. I wonder what your relationship with your dad is like these days?

On some days, I’m angry at him for his mistakes. But I also love him so much I can’t stay mad at him for long. Besides, he’s trying his best to make us happy. It is what it is.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

I’m at a 7 now. I’m not crazy about building excessive wealth. I’m okay as long as I can afford the basics, and I’m in a better position to do that now. The only thing I want right now is to travel as much as I want to. There were many opportunities to do that when I was younger, but my father didn’t make it happen. Now, I can’t afford the places I would like to visit. This number will definitely shoot up once I can.

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

Do you remember the first time you knew what money meant?

2005 or 2006. I went to a government secondary school and lived in a boarding house. My folks gave me just enough allowance to survive — about ₦2k per term. One day, my dad drove to my school and gave me ₦500, which I was supposed to survive on for 25 days. He probably thought I still had money and wanted to top it up. I lived on ₦20 a day, basically buying biscuits and a sachet of water. At the time, I was somewhat afraid to ask my parents for anything, so I didn’t say anything or ask them for more.  

Omo. What was it like growing up, financially?

My dad runs a couple of businesses and my mum has a nonprofit she manages. For as long as I’ve existed, my parents have worked for themselves. I was born around the time they were still getting on their feet. We weren’t very comfortable, but they managed to do the basic things. Things consistently got better over the years. We moved to more decent apartments and did. more than we used to. I mean, all of my parents’ kids went to university outside of Nigeria. I did mine in the UK.

Oh. How did it happen?

After my A-Level, everyone at my school was applying to universities in the UK. I told my parents I’d like to apply too, and they went, “We don’t have UK money oh.” But they let me try my luck with the application process. When they saw how good my A-Level results were, they relented, researched school fees and started planning. I continued the application process and got an offer to study law, and that was it. The tuition was £11k and my accommodation was £3600. The exchange rate was around ₦270 at the time.

Fun times! So, how was uni?

My parents gave me £200 every month, which was enough for me to get groceries, pay my phone bill, buy a nice dress once in a while, and purchase standard train tickets to neighbouring cities. 

Lit. Do you remember the first time you worked for money?

My first internship in 2013. I’d just finished my first year of university and came back to Nigeria for the holidays. I always knew I wanted to work in Nigeria, so it was important to build a network here. I got a job at a multinational company as a legal intern, and they paid me ₦30k per month. I spent a month and a half on the job before I returned to school. That meant ₦45k in total for the time I worked there.

I graduated from uni in 2015, returned to Nigeria and went to law school. I went  through quite a number of recruitment processes immediately after completing law school, and I got a job at a law firm during my service year in 2016. They paid me ₦150k per month. The federal government paid ₦19800.

You were balling, weren’t you?

Well, all my expenses were capped at ₦50k, and the rest went into my savings. I didn’t always stay on the budget, but for the most part, I was easily saving ₦100k out of my salary. I didn’t touch my allawee at all. 

What did your monthly running costs look like in 2016? 

My idea of flexing was buying shawarma or dining out once a month.  I used to go out with my friends who were doing better than me financially and they’d foot the bill.

What happened after NYSC?

I was promoted to full staff at the law firm and my salary increased to ₦200k. My expenses didn’t change, so I added an extra ₦50k to my savings every month. By the time I left the job, I had saved about ₦2.5m. 

Why did you leave the job?

I was going back to school for my master’s. I got a full scholarship, so tuition was covered. But my savings went into every cost that was associated with going to the US — application fees, transcript processing, medicals, plane tickets, enrollment deposits, and all of that. I had about ₦500k left in my savings when I travelled. 

Oh wow. How did it go in the US?

My parents came through again and put me on an allowance of $400 per month. My running costs were about $200, and the other half went straight into my savings. My recurring expenses at the time was $120 for groceries and my $40 phone bill.

Also, I picked up a job at the school kitchen to supplement my allowance, and the pay was $13/hour. I worked 5-hour shifts, three days a week. The first time I got my paycheck, I was like, “What’s this?”

Why was that?

Taxes. I was getting paid about $160 after tax. Anyway, it was still extra cash and it mostly went to shopping. I didn’t have guilty pleasures and I wasn’t one to splurge on things, but I could go to the store, see something I liked and buy it. 

Ah, lit. When did you finish your masters?

2019. I worked in the public service for a year after. My annual salary was $37k before tax, and I got about $2300 every month. My major expense at the time was rent, and it was $600. I consistently saved at least $1k every month. I knew I was going to come back to Nigeria, so I wanted to save as much as I could in dollars before I returned. I didn’t meet my $15k savings goal, but I was very close. Then I returned to Nigeria in 2020.

How much was “close”?

I had $13k right before I started preparing to return. But my travelling costs were expensive because of the pandemic and my account took a hit. I had $11k after everything was done. I took ₦300k out of it because I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to find a job here. The rest is still in my US account. 

How long before you found a job in Nigeria. 

Omo. It took about four months. I took some time to rest before I started job hunting.  I thought it would take one or two months because it didn’t take me that long to find my entry-level job. The joke was on me. 

What were those months like?

A lot of tears and second-guessing my decision to move back. Doing the right thing can be very painful sometimes. I applied to jobs, friends referred me to jobs, and headhunters reached out to me. I did multiple interviews and made it through various stages, but it wasn’t just clicking. 

Money wasn’t coming in, what was that like?

I lived on the  ₦300k I took out of my savings. I reduced my monthly running costs to ₦30k, which was great. I ran out of money last month, but thankfully, I had gotten a job in February. 

Yay! How did you get the job?

A friend referred me, and it is a multinational company. I made it to the final stage of their recruitment process and was offered a job in their legal department. 

How much?

₦750k.

Litttt! So what does an ideal month look like these days?

I haven’t yet figured everything out but my expenses are pegged at ₦150k, and that’s even me being extravagant. I’m on track to save about ₦600k every month.

The cable subscription is for my parents because I’m living with them and want to start contributing to the house bills in my little way. Flexing for me is still buying shawarma or going out to eat in restaurants. But I don’t eat out anymore because of the pandemic. Chances are that the ₦80k will still go back into my account. 

Your spending power is relatively low compared to what you earn.

I don’t know how to explain it, but I don’t get the urge to spend money. For starters, I don’t pay rent. I hardly buy clothes and shoes. Apart from a few work clothes and shoes I bought when I was moving back, I haven’t changed my wardrobe in a few years — my size has remained the same, and when making purchases, I focus more on buying quality items that last for years. 

In an ideal situation, I could squeeze my monthly expenses to ₦100k if I wanted to, but spending ₦150k every month doesn’t sound bad, and it won’t affect my savings goal.  People have told me that I might be frugal. But I happily spend money on other people; it’s a problem to spend anything on myself because there aren’t a lot of things I like. 

Ah, I see. What was the biggest amount you’ve spent on someone?

About $300. I bought a phone for my partner at the time. 

Where do you think this “frugality” came from?

My parents never gave me the kind of money that afforded me the luxury of splurging for no reason. I couldn’t be living on £200 a month and buying Jimmy Choo shoes. Also, I truly don’t have guilty pleasures.  One of my siblings tells me all the time that when you earn more, your taste improves and you spend more. That hasn’t been very accurate for me.

Mad!

I’ll be honest and say that I’m probably pulling this off because I don’t worry about my parents’ finances, and that has taken a huge burden off my shoulders. What that does is motivate me to earn more money so I can spoil them. The best part is that I can pace myself and have enough time to plan for whatever I want to do for them. I’m also grateful that I get to live with them, and there’s mutual respect between us. I can move out if I want to but that’s an additional and unnecessary expense. Like, have you seen the price of curtains?

Lmao. How do you think all of these experiences have shaped your perspective about money?

I understand that money is a good thing to have although it’s not something to hold on tightly to. It’s also made me curious about investing and growing my money. I used to think that you need to have a certain amount of money saved up before you think of investing. Now I know that’s not true. I’m trying to get educated on the right options for my level of income. But maybe I’ll need to save a little less to pull it off. 

Speaking of savings, how much do you have in your stash?

About $12k. I’m very broke in Naira. I don’t have up to ₦50k in my bank account right now: I’ve sent the bulk of it into my savings account.

Savings is the core of your personal finances, do you have a savings goal?

I want to consistently save ₦5m every year for the next three years. Then I’ll see what next I want to do. That means I have to grow my income because I also want to have an investment goal, though I’m risk-averse and wary of putting money I can lose in anything. I’m trying to see if I can invest $2k in something every year. If I see the compounding effect of that in the next three years, I’ll be happy to increase my goal. Right now, I’m focused on growing my savings and gaining investment knowledge. Not something like, “They say agric is the hottest thing now, let me put money in it.”

DFKM. What investment options are you looking at?

At the moment, it’s stocks and real estate. I put $500 in my Risevest account. I’ll see how it does in the next six months and go from there. 

Cool. How much do you think you should be earning to cater to your savings and investment plans?

About ₦1.2m. I can conveniently save ₦1m every month if that happens.

What needs to happen for you to unlock your next level of income?

Promotion or a job change. But since I just started at this job and really like it, promotions are my best bet. In the next three years, my goal is to be earning at least double of what I’m currently earning. 

What’s something you need but can’t afford?

Would it be weird if I said a new phone? I’ve been using my phone for almost three years now, and it’s about to give up on me. I checked the prices of phones the other day and decided that I can’t afford it. I mean, I have the money, but I can’t bring myself to splash it on a phone. 

What’s something you want but can’t afford?

Something I want but I really can’t afford right now is a second passport. I want access to the world in a way that’s not limited by borders, so a passport that gives me access to 180+ countries will bang so much. It would be great to be able to afford citizenship by investment in such countries, but I’d need more than $100k for that. Omo.

Haha. What’s something you wish you could be better at financially?

Spending money on something without feeling like it’s an unnecessary expense. I almost feel like I have to justify spending money. The recurring question I ask myself is, “Do I have to?” I’m struggling to move between the different layers of comfort and finding the balance between planning my finances and living my best life. I want to sometimes splurge on myself without feeling guilty. But I understand that it’s a journey. 

I have to ask, what’s something you bought recently that improved the quality of your life?

Wait, it’s not recent but I bought an Amazon Echo Dot when I was in the US, and it’s improved the quality of my sleep. I was dealing with insomnia at the time, and it was the worst. That cost me $30. 

Nice. How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?

7. I don’t worry about money and I’m not in debt. I have good health insurance courtesy of my job, so I’m not worried about a health emergency. I’m in a good place to grow my savings. However, I still want to start investing in order to make my money work for me, earn more and save more. And more importantly, get to a place where I can actually start splurging on things without feeling any guilt. 

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

Let’s begin with a throwback. Do you remember your oldest memory of money?

I’d say it was the house-to-house visits during Christmas. I always looked forward to that every year, even though the money I got from them wasn’t a lot — about ₦800 at the end of the day.  It was a big thing because every kid my age was doing it. 

Apart from that, it was watching how my parents managed money. My dad was a frugal parent. He believed his core responsibility was taking care of our education, and nothing more. My mum was the one who took care of the extra things. Nothing luxurious, but just enough to get us by. 

What did luxury mean for you at the time?

Let’s start with allowances. My friends in school were living large and bringing about ₦200 to school. I had ₦20 to spend. Also, video games. I wanted SEGA and PS1 at different points, but I didn’t get them. The only fancy things I remember us doing was going to restaurants, and those were far and in between. 

This didn’t affect me in any major life-changing way — I always thought that I could do whatever I wanted when I started making my own money.

Speaking of money, do you remember the first time you made some?

My grandmother used to sell bread, and she bought it from a bakery close to the house. Sometimes, I put some of my money into it when I went to get a fresh batch. So, if I had ₦20 and invested it, I would make like ₦10 naira extra. 

I also worked intermittently at the bakery from 2002 to 2005. The highest I made from the job was ₦500, but I ate a lot of free bread. I didn’t think the pay mattered because I was young and the job was fun. 

That’s interesting. What happened after?

In 2005, I moved in with my aunt in Lagos to continue school. It wasn’t a major change because I’d always visited her. At her house, I had some of the things my parents couldn’t give me. 

Oh? What sort of things?

A better allowance for starters. Also, my aunt worked at the port, so I got some of the things she brought in from the port. I even had a Gameboy at some point. You could say I was a little spoiled. 

Lmao. What was that like?

It was definitely a step up. It was nice having some of the things I thought were out of reach. The people she worked with thought I was her son and that brought in some additional perks.

Like? 

Making extra money. I always hung around the port every day after school and people started asking me to wash their cars and would give me about ₦500 when I was done. After a few times, I became more intentional about doing this and tried to wash as many as four cars in a day. On average, I made ₦10k every week. 

Impressive. Do you remember what you did with the money?

I saved most of it with my aunt’s daughter. If I needed anything, she bought it for me. I didn’t need a lot because I got whatever I needed already, so most of the money was hers.

After secondary school, I taught at a private primary school for ₦6k per month. I quit and went to university when I got an admission offer later that year. 

When was this?

2011. Another change happened here: my aunt retired from the ports authority around the time I got into uni. I slowly realised I had to sort myself out for the most part. My allowance used to be ₦10k per month at first and I got it on time. Then it reduced to ₦5k, then it went down to ₦3k. At some point, nothing came for months. 

What did that do to you?

It spurred me to get a job. In my second year, I became a private tutor— six hours a week and I got ₦10k at the end of the month. In my final year, I did a bunch of things — typed projects for people or helped them with their research. The money I got wasn’t set in stone, but it was between ₦5k and ₦20k. 

When did you leave uni?

2016. But before that, I did this internship that changed the course of my professional life.

Tell me about it.

I studied a science course and was supposed to intern at a research institute or something that had a lab in my third year. But a friend called me and asked me if I wanted to intern as HR admin at an insurance brokerage firm. I thought to give it a try and applied for the role. There were concerns about what I was studying but I convinced them to give me an interview. The interview went well, and I got the job. They paid me ₦25k every month, but I was living at Apapa at the time and going to work at CMS. The commute took most of my money. I didn’t mind, I thought the job was giving me more value than what I studied could ever do. My internship ended after six months, and I returned to school with the knowledge that I wasn’t cut out for lab life. 

I wasn’t doing a lot of courses during the second semester of my final year, so I asked them if I could come back to intern with them. They agreed, and I combined the job with school until I graduated.

So, after uni?

I got a job at another HR consulting company, which paid me ₦40k a month. I was there for a little over a year before I left in October 2017.

Why did you leave?

My boss was a pain in the ass. The company used a monthly performance review system to determine who got paid for a month. That wasn’t a problem, but my boss would delay the review until the 26th or 27th of each month. That meant we couldn’t get our salary until the first week of a new month. It wasn’t sustainable for me. So when I got a new offer, I left. The best thing about my time there was that I’d transitioned into sales too. I have the same boss to thank for that. 

Inside life!

I got a job with a fintech company operating in the payment space. They hired me as a business development executive. My salary when I started was ₦85k. Since it was a sales job, I had targets and was expected to bring 15 agents to the business. On average, I brought in 13 agents, and each agent was doing ₦3m-₦4m in volume every month. I wasn’t doing badly. After six months, I was moved to operations and became a team lead. I left the field and started managing a team on the field. My salary was bumped up to ₦135k.

Nice. 

The environment became somewhat hostile at some point though. Someone I used to report to on the team thought I was undermining them. Also, there was a problem with some transactions I was in charge of, and I got a series of queries for it. At the end, I left. This was December 2019.

Ouch. 

Yup. I had been looking for a way out too. Shortly after I left, a friend reached out and asked if I would be interested in a Head of Sales role at a new Edutech company. I applied for it, and I got it. ₦180K per month.

A few months into the job, Covid happened. The company was building solutions for schools, and when the pandemic hit, schools stopped coming. The homeschooling product we tried to ship didn’t scale as much either because parents weren’t willing to pay. We got a 15% pay cut. Then salaries started coming late. Later, we were hearing talks about the founders shutting down the business and moving into something else. Nobody’s job was certain. 

I was working a HR gig on the side while all of this was happening, and it was paying me ₦200k, so I didn’t feel the heat as much as I would have. 

When did you finally leave the Edutech company?

July 2020. I was home for a month before I got a new job as an e-commerce manager at a renewable energy company. They offered me ₦200k, but what did it for me was that they promised me up to ₦500k in commissions after my first six months on the job. 

Did it happen?

I didn’t spend up to six months. The system was flawed. First, the salary came on the last day of the month, which I wasn’t comfortable with. But that wasn’t the deal-breaker — they weren’t completely honest with where their products came from, and I was at the forefront of managing their displeased customers because I was the salesperson. To be fair, I always knew I wouldn’t stay there for long before I ran — there weren’t many chances of growth..

 When did this happen?

January 2021. I had a defining moment when I was planning my exit. A friend I used to work with moved to Europe and started a YouTube channel. In her videos, she talked about the process of relocating and applying for remote jobs. That spurred me, and I was like, “Okay, I need to go all out about this remote job thing.” At the end of January, I had three remote sales jobs. 

Wait. How do you go from being out of a job to landing three remote jobs?

Information. My friend talked about Linkedin and one other site, which I didn’t find very useful. I started with Linkedin and followed the steps she talked about. It was as simple as typing “worldwide sales manager jobs” in search, and I got a list of options. I got my first remote job within a week of applying, but it didn’t work out. 

Someone I follow on Twitter tweeted about another platform — angel.co. I signed up to the website and started seeing roles that were specific to my needs. I applied to a bunch of jobs, got matched with prospective employers, and interviewed with them. These three jobs came from that.

Omo. Tell me about the jobs.

Two of them are contract jobs, and they offered me 10% and 15% of my monthly turnover. The third one is a full-time job and I’m a country partner managing their markets in Africa and Europe. My gross salary is $8k per month.

FROM ₦200K.

Yup, it’s a massive difference. I started full operations in February, but I got $7k at the end of the month. Something about taxes. They are working on that since I’m not a tax resident in the country they work out of. But yeah, I’m currently earning about ₦2.6m from that job. 

Mad. And the other two?

I’ve not made anything from those ones. As I said, they are contract jobs and I’m only getting a percentage of whatever we sell. One of them is actually on hold right now because the company we were contracted to work for had some technical issues. 

Omo. This is the part where we break down your monthly running costs. 

I’m still living on my old salary. However, there are so many other bills to pay.

I’m listening.

Most of it revolves around family. There are projects that I’m expected to chest. And there are the additional emergencies that come out of the blue. My sister needed money for something recently, and I had to cough up ₦400k. I’ve never been able to save because of these things. When I was still earning my old salary, I used to save half of it at the bank and before the end of the month, I would have touched it. As a matter of fact, I only had ₦60k in my account a week before I got paid. 

The first thing I did when I received my first paycheck at this new job was to clear all my debts, which was about ₦300k. Also, I spent ₦600k to take care of my traditional wedding expenses. 

At least I’m debt-free now. One job took care of all that.

That’s lit. Going forward, how do you imagine your personal finances will look?

I have $3k left in my savings now. The plan now is putting 50% of my monthly earnings into that account and letting the money breathe. The other 50% will go into my monthly running costs and other projects. This means I can’t be chesting every little bill for my family anymore. I’m also starting my own family, and I have to think about that too. 

Looking at your career now, how much do you think you should be earning?

$15k. I’ve realised that I can’t take a job that pays in naira anymore. I expect to hit that figure soon because  I’m currently in talks with other companies. The plan is to get about two full-time roles and some contract gigs on the side. 

That sounds like a plan. What do you think has made all the difference between the time you left your job and now?

The quality of work I do. I’m all about the value I provide. Most of the jobs I got were through referrals. Also — and this is very important — the quality of information I had access to. I probably wouldn’t have thought of finding remote jobs that pay forex if I didn’t hear about them or the process involved from someone I knew and trusted. 

That makes sense. What’s something you bought recently that changed the quality of your life?

I spent ₦350k on a laptop and upgraded my iphone. Working has been a much smoother experience. 

Haha. Anything you want but can’t afford right now?

A car. My budget is ₦3.5m but I should raise that within three months.

Do you have any financial regret?

Maybe not saving as much as I should have tried to all these years. But I have an opportunity to remedy that now, and I will. 

Rooting for you. On a scale of 1-10, how will you rate your financial happiness?

At the beginning of the year, I was at a 2. I had more expenses than my salary could cater to, and it wasn’t healthy. But with everything that’s happened since that time and my new earnings, I can say I’m at a 9 ½ at the moment, and it’s the best feeling ever. Now we move to $15k per month. 

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

The lady in this story is quite young, but frankly, that’s not the most interesting thing about her. It’s how she started photography as a hobby and followed through till today.

Five hard years, long YouTube hours, a couple of projects later, here’s what her #NairaLife looks like.

Let’s start from the beginning. What’s your oldest memory of money?

When I was in Primary 2, my dad started giving my siblings and me pocket money for school. He thought we were too young to handle money, but we begged. We didn’t need the money; we just thought it would be cool if we could join the queue to buy stuff from the vendors at school during the break period. He started with ₦5 and increased it over the years. 

Haha. Do you remember the first thing you did for money?

In JSS 1, I started making this flavoured drink solution — Eve — and sold it to kids in my compound. I bought a sachet for ₦15 and sold a cup of the drink for ₦10. I made up to ₦200 from that.

It was going well until my mum woke up one day and went “If you continue with this, you won’t be serious with your books.” She collected what I’d made to keep for me. Well, we know how that goes.

Lmao. Speaking about your parents, what did they do?

My dad had a printing business, but he left Nigeria for the UK when I was five years old. This was 2004, and we didn’t see him for about five years after that. One day, my younger sister told him on the phone that she wouldn’t recognise him if she saw him. This triggered him, and he took the next flight home. He’s into a bunch of things in the UK but he comes home at least once every six months now. 

My mum sells clothes and other materials. At first, none of them wanted us to be involved in the business because they didn’t want us to mix with the crowd of people where her shop was. We moved into our home when I was in SS 1and my mum found a new shop close to the house, so we started helping out.  It was fun at first, but before I finished secondary school, I wasn’t so keen on helping her at the shop anymore. My younger sister was more interested in the whole thing and I didn’t hear the end of it. 

What was the next thing you did for money?

I don’t know if this counts, but I got a job as a teacher right after I finished secondary school. I didn’t last up to two days there.

Haha. Why?

Those children were stressful. They wanted to pay me ₦5k and they wanted me to be teaching all subjects. I wasn’t down for that.  After my second day, I told them I was done. 

What happened after that?

I went to university. My allowance was ₦10k at first, then it increased to ₦15k. In my first and second year, the only thing I cared about was my studies so I could graduate with a 2.1. It’s funny now because I was hardly in school in my third and final year.

What changed?

I found something more interesting. Photography.

Let’s back it up, how did you get into this?

In 2016, I met someone on Twitter and during one of our conversations, he asked if I had anything I was interested in. I told him I’d like to capture moments but I didn’t have a camera. He advised me to start with my phone. 

I started taking photos with my phone and putting it out on social media. Slowly, my follower base grew. Later that year, the same friend asked me if I would be interested in working for a smartphone company. I would take pictures with their phones and share on social media. It was a micro-influencing kind of gig. Of course, I was interested. A month later, the company set up a meeting with me at their office. I was hired and offered ₦50k every month.

Lit. 

I decided to give professional photography a chance and see if it would work out. I saved for six months and bought my first professional camera — a used Canon 650d for  ₦150k. I had a community of photographer friends, and I put the word out that I was looking for gigs. I got my first job in less than 24 hours after I bought the camera. 

What was it about?

I assisted a photographer at an event and he paid me ₦25k. Immediately I got the money, I spent ₦16k on an external flash.

Two weeks later, I got another job, which paid me ₦50k. Then other jobs started coming. The first photographer I worked with was a major plug. He always called me back for jobs until we shot at a wedding and lost all the pictures. 

Omo.

I still have no idea how that happened. It was a stressful experience. The client threatened to lock us up and all that. I would wake up in the middle of the night and start crying. I think the guy even travelled out of the city for a few months until it blew over. 

We move.

After that, I focused on portrait photography. Though event photography paid more, I was still in school, and it was a struggle going out every weekend to do a job. 

With portrait photography, people were booking me to handle their birthday shoots and stuff like that. I charged an average of ₦6k-₦7k per look, but it was a lot of work for little money. If they didn’t complain about the price, they would have something to say about the pictures. I realised that I couldn’t make a lot from that. Shooting videos looked more promising, so I thought it would be cool to learn and combine both. 

How did you learn how to shoot videos?

I watched a lot of YouTube videos. Also, I was in my third year at this time and there was this long strike. I got a job as a behind-the-scenes photographer on a cooking show. Then their video guy travelled out of the country, and they asked if I would like to try shooting their videos. I took up the offer. That started my transition into videos.

How much were you being paid for that?

Nothing. But they gave me a chance to learn on the job and paid for the logistics. It didn’t matter if I was being paid because I was also doing photography on the side and making an average of ₦80k every month. 

Ah, I see. 

It didn’t take long before people noticed my work on the cooking show. I started getting small video gigs. I think the first one I worked on came from someone in the cooking show crew. They hired me to work on another project they were on and paid me ₦70k.

The other video projects I worked on doing the time paid between ₦50k and ₦100k. But I wasn’t good at editing and was outsourcing it. The ginger to take video editing seriously came in 2018. I had shot an Independence Day video for the cooking show, but they couldn’t send the cuts to the regular editor. They asked me if I could just do it, and I downloaded Windows Movie Maker on my laptop. YouTube got me through it. Omo, I spent four hours editing a one minute video. In the end, they liked what I did. 

Mad.

The rest of 2018 was pretty much about sharpening my editing skills.I bought a new camera and upgraded my laptop in 2019. I also invested in a couple of other gear. In that year alone, I spent about ₦1m on gadgets. Once I got paid for a job, I made sure to buy something I needed for work. I’m not sure a lot happened in 2019 except that I graduated from university and went all-in on personal projects.

I’m listening.

I did a short film at first and spent about ₦500k on it, but it didn’t bang the way I thought it would. The next project I worked on was a documentary, which I co-produced with someone. That one did considerably better. It was selected for short film festivals, and we had private screenings. Suddenly, people were reaching out to me for interviews.

Did you make any money from these projects?

No. But they were worthy additions to my portfolio. Also, I made sure to share everything I worked on and tried to be visible online. 

How did this affect your earnings in 2019?

I was making an average of ₦150k on a project, though I was investing a lot of it back into my craft. At the end of the year, I had saved about ₦300k. 

Impressive. 

2020 was weird in the beginning. I went for a vacation in March and the country went into lockdown the week I returned. 

That meant you couldn’t work.

I couldn’t oh. A lot of brands weren’t even interested in video projects anymore. They pivoted into motion graphics. I was stuck at my parents house, broke and tired. I did something for an American brand during the lockdown in April  $500. That  was the only thing I worked on for about three months. I didn’t even get paid until July.

How much did you have in savings before the lockdown?

About ₦1.2m. However, I wanted to get an apartment and had sent ₦1m to a friend. 

So I had ₦200k in my account. When the lockdown was lifted, I had only ₦70k left. Most of the money went into paying for food and the internet. 

Luckily, I was hired to shoot and edit a TV commercial for a brand immediately after the lockdown and they paid me ₦400k. That kicked things off. I got a mini-flat for ₦750k in July 2020 and moved out of my parent’s house. I’ve spent an extra ₦600k on purchases and renovations since that time. Tears!

Lmao. What happened in the second half of 2020?

It was the best. The jobs kept coming in. A big brand here, a small business there. The interesting thing was that I didn’t have to spend money on logistics on some of the jobs I was getting — the companies that hired me took care of those, which was great for me because these logistics expenses always took a chunk from my earnings. I got one that paid me ₦750k and another one that paid ₦1.9m. 

You were charging more to work on projects. How did this happen?

The quality of my work had gotten better, and I had gotten better at self-promotion. I was sharing every project I worked on social media. That made the difference.

 I didn’t have to look for new projects to work on. Most of these new clients were referrals or people who had been following me for some time. I was getting emails like, “I think you might be interested in this project. Are you free to work on it?” I guess that gave me the leverage to negotiate what I wanted. 

Of course, I was still investing in gadgets. I bought a drone for ₦600k in September. It was my biggest work purchase last year. 

Nice! What did your finances look like at the end of the year?

I had about ₦3.5m in savings. I took ₦2.6m out and bought a car.

How did that feel?

I felt proud of myself. I’d been planning to get one since the beginning of the year because I was spending about  ₦100k on Uber every month. I even had an Uber guy who drove me around whenever I had to go out, and I paid him ₦15k every day I needed him. 

My parents were just beginning to accept that I wasn’t living in their house anymore when I bought the car. When I moved out, they were like, “Go and see the world and come back home.” They definitely didn’t expect that a car was the next thing for me. They were proud, but they were surprised too. 

I get that. I think you’ve come a long way between 2016 and now. What’s 2021 looking like for you?

I was working on a photography project for an American company at the beginning of the year. It was supposed to pay me $10k, but they suspended the project halfway. I only got $4500. I started working on other projects at the end of January. There was this four-day project I worked on that paid me ₦850k. I’m currently working for a production company, and I’ll be paid ₦1.1m for it. 

I still get the ₦200k and ₦300k jobs, but they are far and in between. And when they come, I probably just pass them off to my assistants.

I’m coming to accept that I deserve the money I charge. I know the work and I’m an all-rounder — I’m good with cameras and drones. I’m good at editing. Clients like to work with people who can do everything effectively. I’m that person. 

Energy! Can we break down your monthly running costs?

I started paying myself ₦120k as a salary at the beginning of the year to control my spendings. 

I don’t pay black tax, but my parents could call me and ask me to buy something in the house or loan them money they won’t return. I spent about ₦400k in money gifts for my family in December last year. At the beginning of the year, I decided to see someone through school. I give her about ₦25k every month. 

What about savings?

I currently have $4500 in my domiciliary account and ₦1.5m in my savings account. The total should be about ₦3m-₦4m.

Are investments your thing?

Lmao. I invested ₦250k in cryptocurrency recently. The thing dipped the day I put the money in it, and it was like that for a week. The money is still there, and I won’t touch it. However, I like to open my bank account and smile at what I see. 

What aspect of your finances do you think you could be better at?

I could be more prudent at spending money. I’m a fan of “problem no dey finish”, but it would be great to stick to a budget. I could literally spend my last kobo on food or wine. 

What’s the largest amount you’ve spent on food at a time?

I took someone I liked on a date once and the bill was ₦40k. I’ve done that three or four times now. 

What do you think the next five years will look like?

I don’t want to be in Nigeria. I’d like to work with a company like Netflix and handle their post-production or working with a global production company. Also, I’d like to build my own production company. I registered it in 2019 but recently started putting some structure around it. So I have to work on classic projects and invest more in myself and other people. I love investing in people. I think it makes everyone’s lives easier in the long run. 

Love it. Back to the present, what’s something you want right now but can’t afford?

In the short term, a vacation. I spent ₦650k on my last vacation. I’m thinking of going to Europe this year, and my budget is ₦700k. I don’t have that kind of money at the moment, but I hope to raise it soon. I also want to go to film school — New York or Vancouver. The tuition alone is about $25k, so I imagine I need about ₦10m – ₦15m  to make it happen. 

What’s the last thing you spent money on that significantly improved the quality of your life?

My car. I also bought a new camera in January for ₦1m. Normally, I used to rent the camera for ₦25k per day when I needed it for projects. Now, I don’t have to. 

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

It’s between 6.5 and 7. I have a lot of anxiety about when I’ll get my next job or if it will even come, which is funny because I have gone from charging ₦200k per project to at least ₦700k-₦800k in a few months. I’ll feel better when I work with all the brands I want to work with or execute foreign projects in Nigeria and get paid in dollars. Nobody deserves to be broke in this country. 

How has your skillset evolved over the years?

2016 — Started as a mobile phone photographer. Got my first gig with a smartphone company.

2017 — Transitioned into professional photography.

2018 — Started learning cinematography and editing. 

2021 — I’m thinking of learning animation and design. I’m getting bored.

Got it. Last question. How old are you again?

22.

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

The subject of this story first got published in 2004. A lot has happened since that time, and most of it is about employers and publishers not holding up to their end of the deal. Now he’s taking a crack at building his own publishing company. But how did he get here? 

What’s your oldest memory of money?

That would be the allowance I got from my parents growing up. But the awareness really came when I got into university and published two children’s books in my first year at university. I was 19 at the time. 

How did you get into writing?

I had friends that loved reading and writing. We were bookworms. I also got lucky. When I was 17, an extended family friend started a publishing company,  and someone in the family suggested that we worked together. The man asked me for a sample of my work, and I sent him some — which were terrible — but he liked them. After that, he gave me a story pitch and told me to write around it. He liked what I did and signed me to his publishing company. 

Ah, great. Back to those books. 

 I published the two books in 2004 and got ₦8k in the first wave of royalties. My dad insisted that I bought shares at a bank and ₦5k went into that. I also paid ₦800 in tithes at my church. I’m not sure what happened to what I had left, but I remember that I bought gifts for my parents and my girlfriend at the time. 

What came after?

One of the books was selected by an international organisation for a project they were working on at the time. They bought 1000 copies and distributed them across libraries in Nigeria. 

Interesting. How much did you make off the book in subsequent years?

2005: ₦45,000

2006: ₦25,000

2007: ₦20,000

2008: ₦10,000

After the fifth payment, the publisher stopped paying me. The demand for the books had decreased, and he complained that people owed him money. In the middle of this, we had a fallout. He had some of my manuscripts he was supposed to publish that he didn’t, so I collected everything back. 

 That’s rough. 

Yeah, I know. I finished university in 2008, went to serve in the north, and got a job at an insurance company. I got ₦30k from the company plus  ₦9,775 from the federal government. I worked in three departments — admin, IT, and marketing. But I enjoyed the perks of working in marketing. I made between ₦2,000 and ₦3,000 every week on commissions alone. 

The company also gave me a furnished apartment. I lived on my commissions and put the remaining money in my savings.  By the time I finished service in 2009, I had saved about ₦1m. 

That’s impressive.

After NYSC, I got a job at an IT firm in a state in the south-west. They were supposed to pay me  ₦45k every month. I spent three months there and wasn’t paid once. Their excuse was that there were no sales, so they weren’t making money. 

Omo.

The only reason I stayed that long was because I wanted to learn more about system engineering and cable TV installation. After I left, I went out on my own and ventured into the same services the company provided. My dad has a company, and I’m a director there, so I used the company to get jobs, mostly cable TV installation. 

How much did this bring in?

In good months, I made nothing less than  ₦10k per week, especially if the cable TV companies were running a promo or a price slash. Things were even better during Christmas — I could conveniently make ₦10k  in a day. But when there was low activity, I could make the same ₦10k in a month. I made about ₦300k  in that year alone. 

I got job offers in the following year, but I didn’t accept them because I was working on my first novel. It was published in 2011. 

Lit. Tell me about that.

It was a young adult novel. I self-published with a publisher in the UK, and the whole thing cost me about £600. I also submitted it for the Commonwealth Book Prize, and although I didn’t make the shortlist, I got a notable mention. 

Aw.

In 2012, I wanted to do an MFA in the UK or go for a postgraduate management course at a Nigerian university after that. I got both offers, but my dad didn’t agree to sponsor my MFA, so I went to the Nigerian university angrily

I finished my masters in 2014 and got my next job as an admin officer at a security company. The salary was ₦50k, but when they didn’t pay me at the end of my first month, I jumped ship. I got another job immediately at a real estate company in the same building. My salary there was also ₦50k.

Wait, same building?

Haha, yes. My previous boss obviously wasn’t happy with it, but it was a good move for me — I actually had a job to do and was being paid for my troubles. 

Oh, I also got a Nigerian publisher who was interested in publishing the Nigerian edition of my novel in the same year. We agreed to a part-publishing deal. 

How does that work?

The publisher splits the production cost and royalties with the writer. The production costs for my novel was ₦400k, so I brought ₦200k and he raised the other half. 

I see. 

The publisher made a lot of noise about his plans for my book, but he didn’t pull his weight. When I got tired of waiting, I stepped in and took the book to bookshops. My cousin gave me the biggest boosts — she worked at a bank and took copies of the book with her to work. A copy of the book sold for ₦1k, and I sold about 100 copies.

There is a  digital edition of the book too. We built an app and hosted it on digital stores. ₦400 airtime unlocks the content of the app, and I get 70% off every purchase. I made about ₦50k in digital downloads in the first year.

And the publisher?

I have no idea how many copies he sold till today. We printed 1000 copies, so I took 500 copies off his hands and left the rest with him. 

How much have you made on that book since 2014?

About ₦250k, and I still get some ₦10,000 per year on digital sales. I stopped promoting the hardcover, so nothing comes from it anymore. 

Got it. Back to your 9-5?

I was at the real estate company until 2015. I was due for promotion and the general manager role opened at the time, but my boss passed me over and brought in a new person to fill the position. It didn’t sit well with me, and I resigned immediately. I didn’t work at another job until five months had passed. My next job was at an entertainment company, and it was also an admin role. They actually did a lot of things, but events and logistic management were their biggest drivers. Another division of the company handled Merchandise-In-Trade businesses. I was hired to work in both divisons. My salary was ₦60k.

I’m curious, what’s Merchandise-In-Trade about?

You see those branded trucks loaded with drinks you see on the road? There are companies who manage them on behalf of the bottling companies and ensure that the products are distributed. The company I worked for managed these trucks for a bottling company in a state in the south-west.

Interesting. 

When I started working there, I had 28 people under me. The job meant that I had to be on the road all the time to make sure everything ran smoothly. I also had to return as fast as I could to handle the entertainment division of the business. 

That sounds like two jobs. 

It was. The good thing was that I made more money in bonuses from the MIT job — an extra ₦100k – ₦120k every month. 

How did your role evolve?

The company had a very good year in 2016  and performed better than the other MIT companies working for the bottling company, so they gave us two more states. I was put in charge of those states, bringing the number of states I managed to three. The number of people I managed grew from 21 to 110.

That was more work, but I didn’t get a raise, which was confusing. I requested for my payslip and found out that my basic salary was supposed to be ₦200k. I confronted my boss, and he tried to sell me a story about how there were more expenses than revenue. I didn’t buy it. I resigned from the job. It was about time too. 

Why?

I was working long hours from Monday to Sunday, so my writing suffered. I decided that I wouldn’t do another full-time job if it wasn’t related to writing. I didn’t get a job like that between 2016 and 2017. However, my experiences with managing events at my previous job came in handy during that time. People started reaching out to me to plan their events. 

I charged clients 10% of the total cost of the event as my service fee. But at the end of each event, I usually got more than that because I had necessary contacts and vendors and leveraged these relationships to get discounts. 

On average, how much did you make from each event you planned?

It wasn’t a lot and depended on how big the event was. There was a time I made ₦200,000. There were also times I made ₦50,000 and ₦10,000 on a job.  My biggest payout was ₦900,000 from two events I did back to back. This got me my first car, which I bought for ₦650,000. 

Lit. What happened after?

In 2018, a friend called me and said he was starting a publishing company and was looking for writers to work on his first book project. After he explained what he wanted to do, I offered to come on board and help him kick things off the ground. I joined the company to manage a small team of four writers at ₦50k per month. I didn’t care about the pay because I had another stream of income. However, I didn’t know that I was making a mistake.

What happened?

He didn’t have a blueprint for his business or provide all the things he promised to ensure that the project ran smoothly. Then in April 2018, he decided on a whim that he wanted a break from the project, and that was it. Everyone on the team left. 

Omo.

I knew I wanted to set up my own publishing company, so I started the process soon as I left that job, and it took about four months. Later that year, the same friend reached out to me again and asked me to lead a bigger team. The direction had changed too. Now we would be ghostwriting academic books for other publishers. 

Sounds interesting. How did this affect your salary?

It increased from ₦50k to ₦70k. Things were more structured this time too. There were more people and more roles, which gave me room to focus on managing the other writers. It was exciting at first, then I started having problems with the boss when I got a publishing deal. 

 Let’s start with the publishing deal.

I’d been in talks with the publisher for a few years. I sent the manuscript in 2015, but we agreed on a deal in 2018. So, I signed the book contract and got an advance fee. 

How much was it?

₦50k.The deal was that the publisher would hold the rights to my book for five years. If a contract renewal doesn’t happen, the rights return to me and I can take it elsewhere. But in those five years, I’m entitled to 10% of the net sales as my royalty. 

The deal was finalised in September 2018, and I had to go to a literary festival. My friend, who was now my boss, was not happy that I was going away for a week. When I came back, he started acting off. 

I didn’t care so much about that until he started changing the direction of the business every week. 

We could be working on a math textbook this week, and he would come in the following week and ask us to start working on a math comic book. It was a lot but I had just registered a company in an industry that isn’t very profitable. I stayed for as long as I did because I wanted to see how he made money from his business. 

When did you leave?

2019. I travelled for a book tour in August to promote my book. While I was away, my boss had a meeting with the staff. I don’t know what he said to those guys, but everyone turned in their resignation before I returned. When I heard the news, I knew I was done. I wasn’t even paid for that month. 

Omo. But what about the book deal? How’s that going?

In 2019, I got a royalty statement that stated that I made  ₦37k in royalties between October 2018 and November 2019. 2020? Nothing. When I asked for updates, the publisher was like, the people they were working with stole from them. So yeah, no money.

Ah!

I just started focusing on my own thing after that. I started operations at my publishing company in October 2019.  For my first gig, I ghost wrote four articles, and got ₦200,000 from it. An editing job, which paid ₦50,000 followed. The year had almost ended, so a lot didn’t happen in 2019.

2020?

I signed my first writer, and we published his first book in February. Right now, I’m working with 8-10 writers, and we have some new titles coming out. 

I’m curious, what’s the cost of publishing a book?

It costs between ₦400k and ₦600k  to get a small book out. The cheapest book we’ve done took about ₦200k, and it was a book of 40 pages. The author bears most of these costs, at least for now — I’m running a self-publishing company, so they bring the resources and I help them publish and market the books. 

I see. How do you earn from this?

I do editorial work on manuscripts and charge between ₦50k and ₦150k depending on how much work the manuscript needs. However, if the deal is to ghostwrite the book from scratch, I charge between ₦200k to ₦300k to get it done. Also, I get another 10% cut of the total publishing and printing cost. 

It’s dicey understanding how money works in this business. I mean, I made ₦500k in a month last year from a project — ghostwriting, editing and printing. But there was another month I incurred an ₦80k loss.

How much typically comes in every month now?

Between ₦100k and ₦150k. I’ve not pushed a book out this year, so the money has been coming from ghostwriting jobs. 

Let’s break down your monthly expenses:

Do you have an emergency fund?

I try to save as much as 70% of what I earn in a month, but I don’t always stick to it. However, at least 40% go into my savings, and that’s how I raise my ₦300k rent. I have about ₦1.3m in my savings account now. 

What’s the last thing you paid for that required serious planning?

My wedding. I got married recently, and by the time we were done, I’d taken about  ₦1.2m out of my savings to fund it. 

Ah, Congratulations. What do you imagine the next five years will look like?

I’ve realised that it’s easier for people to take advantage of you if you don’t have a big platform. I’m building that for myself now. I got a new publisher in the UK earlier this year, and while I’m not putting all my hopes on the deal, I know what it can do for me. I’ve taken my writing to the international space, and if it works out the way I hope it will, I’ll start getting capital publishing deals and publishers who will stick to their end of the bargain. 

For my publishing company, I pushed out about 6000 copies of books this year. I’m hoping to do 40,000 copies this year. In five years, I should be able to do 2 million copies in a year. It sounds ambitious, but it’s really not. About ₦6M passed the company in production costs last year alone, and I made more than ₦1M in profit.

You have quite the experience with publishers and employers, how has all of this shaped you?

Well, I know money must be made. Nigeria has terrible labour and contract laws, and I’ve not had the best experience with publishers or employers, but is that the reason I should fail? No! I’d rather learn from it and find new ways to make my money.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

4. The income is not steady yet. I want a system where I know when I’m getting paid and how much to expect. But as it is now, people are always owing me money. I can go to a 7 when I’m working at optimum capacity and making at least half a million every month. 

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

In 2016, this subject made a difficult but necessary decision to move to Nigeria from the UK where she was born and raised. How long did it take her to find her feet in the country? About four years? What made all the difference? Linkedin.

What’s your oldest memory of money?

That would be my pocket money when I was in primary school. It was about £2.5 every week. I was born and grew up in the UK. I don’t remember what I did with the money, but I knew to expect an allowance every week. 

What was it like growing up in the UK?

I was taught independence very early on. By law, I was allowed to get a job at 16. So I always kind of knew that I would start making my own money at that age. I was motivated to get a job because I wanted to be able to buy all the things I couldn’t ask my parents for. 

Haha. Do you remember your first job?

A weekend behind-the-counter job at an electronics store, and my pay was £4 per hour. At the end of each month, I was making around £400. That was good money for a 16-year-old. It also meant that I could make some of my own decisions and didn’t have to run everything by my parents. I did a couple of those kinds of jobs before I went to university.

What year was this?

2008. My parents wanted me to focus on my studies, and they put me on £250 per month. But I took a student loan from the government to pay my tuition.

Did you need to get it though?

I was trying to play it safe. My dad had just started a business and wasn’t working for a company at the time. His income wasn’t as regular. I didn’t want a situation where there was no money for tuition. A student loan promised stability. Interestingly, I don’t think my dad and I had that conversation. He’d relocated to Nigeria the previous year. 

Anyway, I was getting about £4000 in student loans per term. My dad was paying rent, which was £1000. I definitely mismanaged money. After paying tuition, the rest of the money went into living large. I remember a time when my friend and I were buying hair attachments directly from Cambodia and spending like £1000 on weaves. Ask me where all of that hair is now?

Lmao. I have an idea what the answer to this question is.

I was always almost broke by the end of each term. But I could ask my parents, and they would happily send me £50-£100.

So after uni?

I graduated in 2012. I studied a finance-related course, and my dad wanted me to work in the finance industry. But I knew very early that I didn’t want to do that. When I was working those part-time retail jobs, I always thought that there must be a backend to everything that’s happening on the store floor. I did some research and found out that there’s a lot of different roles in retail. I had some experience, and I was like, “Okay, I’m going to work in the retail industry.” 

I  started actively job hunting in the summer of 2012. I applied to the big retailers in the UK and got so many rejection emails. Someone advised me to submit my CV to a recruitment agency. I did that, and they got back to me and went: “Your CV looks great. Can you start next week as contract staff at this retail company?” It was one of the biggest retailers in the UK. They had at least 3000 stores across the country at the time. Of course, I said yes. I started the job in September 2012. 

What was your role and how much did it pay?

I was doing a lot of simple things — data entry and sending out orders to suppliers. £8.50 per hour and working for 36 hours a week. That was bringing in £1200 a month after tax. I liked the job and started asking questions about how to make it permanent. They had a graduate scheme for people who had left university. I applied for it, did the assessment, and I passed. By the end of that year, I’d moved from contract staff to permanent staff. 

Lit.

Now I was a demand planner and merchandiser. My job was basically managing the demand and supply process of products in my department. My salary increased to £23k per annum. I was taking £1500 home every month. Also, there were appraisals every six months, and if you did well, you got a raise. I got a few of those and my salary had increased to £24500 when I finally left in 2015.

Why did you leave?

I got pregnant. 

Whoa. 

I didn’t leave immediately. I went on maternity leave in August 2014, which was great because it was a paid one. For the first six months, my company paid me my full salary. After that, they stopped paying, but I was getting a maternity allowance of £700 from the government. It was half my normal salary, but it was something. My daughter was born in October 2014.

How did this change things?

In the beginning, I was living in my mum’s house and wasn’t spending money on rent and groceries. But she decided that she wanted to be with my dad and relocated to Nigeria. I moved out to find my own place to rent. That was when the expenses started coming in. My siblings and friends helped out when they could, so that made things easier. My daughter’s dad wasn’t giving me actual upkeep, but he contributed to buying her clothes, food and those kinds of things. 

After my maternity leave ended, I hadn’t yet figured out the daycare plans for my daughter. Then something happened — the company was dealing with some profit issues and offered everyone voluntary redundancy. I took it and got a £6000 – £7000 payout. This bought me some more time. 

When did you finally return to work?

2016. I moved to the outskirts of the city and found a job as a forecast analyst at a distribution company — it was similar to what I did at my previous job. This one paid £23k per year. I couldn’t afford daycare on that salary. I finally found a childcare service, which was much cheaper but safe. It was £250 every month. 

I returned to work, and it was a lot. I wasn’t spending time with my daughter as I’d have liked, and my salary was only enough to get us through each month. It was so exhausting. Earlier that year, my parents had advised me to move to Nigeria and find work here, so my daughter would always be around family and I would stop spending so much on rent. I discussed it with my daughter’s dad and he wasn’t a fan of the idea. I let it go. 

But it became more difficult. I always had little money left after paying my bills. And my daughter was unhappy because she was spending so much time at the childcare arrangement. She cried all the time. It just wasn’t working out.

Mahn. What did you do?

I started giving more thought to relocating to Nigeria. I never thought I would, but I now had a child and raising her in the UK was a struggle. By the end of 2016, I’d had enough. I discussed it with my daughter’s dad again and made him understand why I had to do it. I moved back here in December 2016.

Was there a plan?

First, I didn’t have much savings. I came with £1500. And did I have a job waiting for me? Nah. All I knew was that my family was in Nigeria. I was running on vibes. 

Aren’t we all.

But you know, I had retail experience and wanted to continue working in that industry. I started looking for supply chain, retail and consumer goods jobs. I got many rejection emails. One time, I got to the final stage at an e-commerce company but I wasn’t successful. 

I finally met this woman who had a clothing store. I performed well in the interview and she really liked me. She was talking about how she wanted me to be her right-hand and travel with her all over the world. Okay, sounds great. But what’s the salary?

Brace for impact. 

Lol. She said ₦50k. I was so confused. I had four years of retail experience. There was no way I was going to take that offer. 

My dad knew someone who had a distribution company and was trying to do business with the retail company I first worked with when I left uni, and he linked us up. The fact that I understood how the company worked drew him to me, and he hired me as a sourcing manager. My job was to source new products they could add to their portfolio and distribute across the city. I don’t remember what the actual offer was, but my salary at the end of each month was ₦165k. I started in February 2017.

Ah, nice.

I was there for a year and a half before I got bored. I wasn’t doing a lot, and the company wasn’t very structured. Before I left, I’d started NYSC and that affected my salary at my next job.

How?

It was a head-buyer role at a supermarket. Initially, they gave me an offer of ₦220k, but when they heard that I was serving, they were like, “We are going to give you ₦80k.” I refused, and they finally increased it to ₦130k gross. After all the deductions, I was getting ₦113k in my account. 

I’m curious, did they promise to increase it after your service year?

Scam! After POP, I took my certificate to HR and told her, “See, I’ve finished service, so I’m expecting my full salary.”  ₦113K entered my account at the end of that month and the following month. They kept promising to look at it, but I never got that money until I left. That was one of the reasons I decided to leave. I was like, “Since you don’t want to pay me, I’m just going to leave.”

Energy. When did you leave?

September 2019. I connected with a lady on Linkedin, and she told me that she had a friend who was looking for a demand planner at a pharmaceutical distribution company. I thought it might be interesting and gave it a try. I got the job, and their initial offer was ₦500k. I negotiated for a higher salary, and they increased it to ₦605k gross. But I was getting around ₦450k + ₦48k transport allowance.

Your first significant pay jump in Nigeria. 

Honestly, it was bittersweet. Yes, it was more money and everyone was telling me that it was a good salary by Nigerian standards. But for me, it still wasn’t enough. Don’t get me wrong, I was very grateful for it. But after a while, I just thought I could do better. 

I get that. 

Something happened a month after I started at the job. My parents travelled to the UK. They told me that they were going for routine tests, but then it turned out that my dad had cancer. 

Oh damn. I’m sorry. 

Oh, it’s fine. He’s a UK citizen, and he’s getting free treatment. He was working as a consultant for a Nigerian company before he left. But after he was in the UK for a while, they terminated his contract. I became responsible for more things at home — utility bills and things like that. Thank God I was earning more.

So… 2020?

I started working remotely because of the pandemic. The more I got used to it, the more I started thinking about getting a fully remote job. Two things really gingered me. 

What were those?

First, it was NairaLife. I’d read about people who talked about earning dollars or pounds while living in Nigeria. I remember thinking to myself, “These people don’t have two heads.”

Lmao. Am shy. What was the second reason?

The EndSars protests. At that point, I realised that Nigeria is not a serious place. We heard gunshots all the time, and I was thinking about how this isn’t a sane place for me to raise a child. I felt guilty for bringing her here. I wanted to move back to the UK, but I looked at my calculations and figured that I would need to be earning at least £60k per year to live comfortably with my daughter in the UK. The offers I was getting were between £35k and £45k. I decided to go all-in and look for a remote job and earn in pounds. In my mind, if I was going to stay here, there was no way I could be earning in naira in 2021.

Energy.

I went back to Linkedin and updated and fully optimised my page — good profile picture, highlighted key skills and achievements and recommendations from other people. 

I was sending at least 10 applications every day. Eventually, I was in talks with four companies, and each of them offered me different salaries.

It came down to one company, and I had a couple of interviews with them, then an Excel sheet assessment, and a final interview after that. I applied to be a demand planner, but they gave me an inventory manager role — that’s a level up and it’s a management position. I was ecstatic. I was going to be working from home in Nigeria and collecting pounds.

The Nigerian dream. 

Haha. I started the job in January 2021, and my new salary was £4000. That’s around ₦2.8m in total every month at the current exchange rate.

Man! Two significant bumps in less than two years, what does that do to someone?

I thought I deserved it. When people around me started saying things like, “Look how far you’ve come. Four years ago, you were offered ₦50k.”  I was like, “Yes, this is how it should be.” But when I took the time to sit back and look at the journey, I realised how amazing it is. I know that I pushed for these opportunities, but not everyone is that lucky. 

I also decided to be more serious with my financial planning. I’m in my 30s now and can’t vibe and inshallah my way out of everything. For the first time in forever, I sat down and created a budget. 

What does it currently look like?

Do you want to talk about the loan?

This goes way back. I wanted to start a clothing line and took a loan. But I had some issues with my suppliers in China and lost the money. The interest on the loan was really high, so I took a low-interest loan — about ₦2m— to offset the previous loan, and I’m paying it back now. 

Speaking of loans, what about your student loans?

Ah, that! They used to write to me a lot. I sent them proof of how much I was earning in Nigeria. They obviously converted it to pounds and realised that they can’t take money from me at that moment. That one is currently on hold.

Heh. What does your new salary mean for your savings plan?

My plan is to keep as much money as I can in my UK savings account. I’m allowing myself ₦1.2m every month and sending the rest into my UK savings account.

Investments?

I think I have £8k in my pension account in the UK and ₦1.8m in my pension account in Nigeria. I’ve been talking to a friend who works in an investment management company, and he advised me to get my personal investment account and build a bulk amount of money. So in the future when I’m ready to retire — let’s say around 55 — I can live off the interest. The plan now is to build that up to £1m. 

Also, I want to start investing £400 a month in stocks and all of that. No major naira investments. I might do a bit of those agricultural investments, but for the most part, everything is going to the UK.

Is there an annoying expense you wish you don’t have?

The loan. The ₦150k should be going into my savings. But it will be over in nine months. 

What’s something you spent money on recently that significantly improved the quality of your life?

My room renovations. I work from my room because my daughter controls the rest of the house. The cost of doing that was about ₦400k — the paint job, wallpaper, new wardrobe and furniture. It was so worth it.

How have all of these experiences shaped your perspective about money?

I used to be driven by impulse when I was younger. I didn’t think about saving for a rainy day. But now, I understand that there’s a time for everything. You don’t need to have everything straight away, and it’s okay to save up to buy something. I’ve learned the value of money, especially now that I’m a parent and there’s a lot of long-term planning involved. 

Last question…

How do I rate my financial happiness?

LMAO. Yup.

I’m currently at a 7. Yes, I’m earning good money, but I still can’t afford my dream car. But again, I know I’m in a comfortable position. That’s a win, and I’ll take it. 

What will get you to a 10?

They say that money can make you happy if you earn at least $75k every year. So that kind of money will get me to an 8 or a 9, maybe even a 10. But you know what? It’s only a matter of time. 

Find all the past Naira Life stories here.

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

This #NairaLife is a little strange. She earns enough to meet her needs. The only problem is, she’s dealing with some regrets, especially with her financial decisions in the past 10 years.

What’s your oldest memory of money?

In  1994, I got admitted to secondary school. My dad took me on a tour of the school, and I liked it so much my heart was set on the place. Then one of my dad’s friends came to our house and said something like, “If you send this one to this school, what school will her siblings go to?” I have four siblings, and the tuition was ₦10k at the time. My dad looked at the long term implications and decided that he couldn’t afford the fees. I went to a government school instead.

What was that like for you?

I was just like, “What the hell?” It didn’t help that I didn’t like my new school very much. I transferred to a different school after three years — another government secondary school.

The difference between both schools, however, were the kind of people who went there. My new school was filled with wealthy people and the military governor’s kids. It was insane the amount of wealth I saw there. They went on summer vacations abroad and all of that stuff. I felt so close to wealth, but I felt far away from it. When they started talking about going to uni abroad, I also went to tell my parents that I’d like to go to the US for school. My dad didn’t shut me down. He said, “Take the SATs and A-Levels, but also take JAMB.” I was like, “If I’m going to America, why do I need JAMB?”

LMAO. What did your parents do for a living?

My dad worked in the civil service and retired as a director. I don’t know how much money he had, but I don’t think he wasn’t earning a lot. He told me years later that he did a lot of side jobs, mostly consultancy gigs. My mum was a managerial staff in an insurance company. They both carried the financial load of the family.

So, did you leave Nigeria for uni?

Not for my first degree. JAMB won. I was offered Law at a university in the southwest in 2001. My dad didn’t want me cooking or working, so he put me on a couple of allowances. There was an allowance for food and another one for my upkeep. Everything was up to ₦10k per month. 

For the first three years, the money came on time. But sometime in my fourth year in 2006, there was a radical shift. The money started coming in late. Sometimes, I wouldn’t get anything for two months. I didn’t know what was happening. Thinking about it now, he must have been going through a rough patch. Also, he was close to retirement at the time, so maybe there were other priorities. 

That was a change from what you were used to. What did that mean for you?

It wasn’t that bad. My mum picked up some of the slack and supported me. Also, I picked up a catering side gig and started cooking for my friends’ birthdays and other small events. This didn’t bring a lot of money — maybe ₦1k or ₦2k every once in a while. Although money from my dad became irregular, I didn’t really feel the heat. 

After I finished uni, I went to law school. At the time, I was dating someone who worked in an oil and gas company. Whatever my parents couldn’t do, he did it. Money almost became an infinite resource to me. All it took was a phone call. 

Interesting. What happened after law school?

I went to serve in the north. After two months, I got a job at a law firm and returned home. During the interview, they asked me how much I wanted, and I said ₦30k. They looked at themselves, and one of them said, “We pay our corpers ₦120k per month.”

Omo.

This was November 2008; it was also when I realised that my dad’s day job didn’t pay him a lot. When he saw my offer letter, he was like, “This was my salary when I was an assistant director.” I was looking at him, wondering how he had been raising a family. 

Anyway, after my service year ended, the law firm increased my salary to ₦135k. I didn’t have a lot of expenses. I was living with my parents, so all I had to worry about was transportation and food. I still wanted to study in the US, and I started putting some money away for that. I was at the job from 2008 until August 2010 when I left for the US.

How did it happen?

I won the visa lottery. 

Whoa. Back it up now. 

I applied for it in 2009. I just filled out an application online, and that was it. A year and a half later, I got a notification that I’d been selected in the lottery. What followed was this massive paperwork and an interview. I got my immigrant visa in February 2010. But there was a problem.

What was that?

My dad didn’t want me to leave. He thought I was on a well-defined career trajectory in Nigeria and didn’t understand why I wanted to leave that to go and “wash plates in the US”. He believed everyone who migrated had to resort to menial jobs to survive. We had a huge fight. 

I knew the best way to convince him to let me go was to make it about going to school, not the lottery. So, I applied to 10 schools in the US. I think each application cost $75. Remember the boyfriend I talked about earlier? He paid for it. I got into three, and one of them was my dream school. The tuition was $50k, but I got a part scholarship and had to pay only $20k. In August 2010, I packed my bags and about $10k, which was my savings and the money my mum, my ex and my previous employers gave me. 

Lit. But how did you raise money for tuition?

My dad paid part of it even though he wasn’t speaking to me. But here was a problem — the money didn’t come on time. I had a green card and was qualified to take student loans. I started taking these loans to cover tuition, and I’d offset it whenever my dad sent money to me. But it never turned back to 0.

I picked up a job on campus for some time. It paid minimum wage: $7.25 an hour, and I could work 20 hours a week. I was making money but I wasn’t thinking of saving for the future. I was living bougie and above my means. 

Why?

I was like “Omo, I’m in school. Let me just enjoy it.” That thinking resulted in student loan debt I’m still paying today. Towards the end of graduate school, I got an unpaid internship. What I should have done was to get a job on the side, but I didn’t. My living expenses were sponsored by the US government courtesy of student loans. Terrible decision making.

Omo. When did you get your next paying job?

February 2012. It was a six-month internship at an international financial institution somewhere in the Middle East. It paid $750 per month, but only the first three months were paid. Company policy. I left the US and was away for six months. 

I was still living my large, baby girl life. It was easy to find cheap flights to Europe, and London was like three hours away, so I was always travelling.

After my internship ended, I returned to the US to look for a job. I didn’t find anything. After four months of looking, I got an email from someone at the institution I interned at. A contract position had opened up, and they wanted to know if I was interested. I applied and got it. I left the US again in January 2013. This time, my salary was $4,500. 

What was your relationship with money like during your second stint at the job?

Nothing had changed. I was saving a little, but it wasn’t a priority. It felt like the good times would always be there. I was at the job for 18 months before I had to return to the US. 

What happened?

I was about to lose my permanent residency status. I couldn’t stay outside of the US for more than six months at a time, so while I was at the job, I was always going to the US and back. But one time, an immigration officer pulled me aside and said the conclusion he drew from my travel history was that I didn’t live in the US. He advised that I should consider moving back or risk losing my green card.

Intense. 

I decided to focus on getting my citizenship and didn’t renew my contract with the institution. That’s how I returned to the US and started looking for a job oh. 

How did it go?

Ah, I cannot put what my eyes saw into words. I was going to interviews and getting to the last stages, but they would go with another person. Thankfully, I saved up some $10k when I was at my previous job. However, I was still living like I had a job. I was unemployed and having $200 dinners. 

After being unemployed for a few months, I realised that some of my friends had started to pull away from me. Then the family friends I was staying with kicked me out of their house. 

Ah, Why?

I’d been unemployed for six months. They were like, “We’ve tried for you, so we need you to move out in two weeks.” I knew I was fucked. 

What did you do?

I had about $1-2k left in my savings, and I used it to pay the deposit on the shared apartment I got. 

Omo. How did your job search end?

My friends advised me to get whatever job I could find. That was how I found myself in a retail pharmacy in January 2015. The woman who hired me was puzzled when she saw my resume. I remember her asking me, “What are you doing here?” She wanted to hire me as an assistant manager, but because I had no retail experience, I started as a shift supervisor and was earning $18 per hour. 

Must have been tough.

It was almost like I’d proven my dad right. Like I left a growing law career in Nigeria for this? I actually got into a corporate fellowship, but it was unpaid. I had no choice but to devote more time to the paying job because the bills kept piling. Omo, I was hustling. Working on the hour translated into real-life lessons for me. I needed to work a number of hours to make rent, another number of hours to afford food. One time, my health insurance provider charged me $90 for some service. I stayed on the phone with them for three hours to clear it up. It was that bad. 

Later in 2015, I got an interview with an oil company in Nigeria, but I couldn’t afford a plane ticket home. My father offered to pay for it but I refused. I was tempted to put it on my credit card, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to work in Nigeria, so I let it go. 

How long were you at the pharmacy?

More than a year. I eventually moved to assistant manager and my wages increased to $22 per hour. I left when I got another job at my previous company.

You have an interesting work history with this company. How did it happen this time?

I applied for a professional programme. They recruit young people and groom them to become the future leaders of the company. I applied in 2013, but they’d just relocated to Abidjan, and they suspended it for a while. When they reopened it again, I was selected. I got the job offer in December 2015. When I got the email and saw “Congratulations”, I screamed down the stairs.

I feel you. 

I’d applied for my US citizenship already, so I could leave. I came back to West Africa and resumed at the job in March 2016. The thing is, for the first few months, you have to do a bit of everything before they put you in a department.

How much were you put on?

$65k per annum. 

That’s a huge jump.

It was. But guess what? I went back to vibes and inshallah for a bit. I was with someone at the time, and I was the top earner in the relationship. I invested a lot of money into that relationship. I was travelling to the US at least four times a year. For perspective, ticket prices were $2,000 – $2,500. That’s $10k already. I was literally funding two lives — one in Abidjan and another one in the US. Whatever I managed to save always found its way to the US.

Why did you feel like you had to do that?

I thought I was in a solid partnership. It wouldn’t have mattered if that was it. But this person wasn’t pulling their weight. I’d arrive at the airport and ask them to pick me up, and they would be like, “Tell your friends to pick you up now.” It is what it is. 

Ah. How has your job and earnings evolved since 2016?

I started as legal counsel, but I’m a senior project manager now. My company is a multinational, and finances development projects across the continent. What I do is look at proposals and make recommendations on who we should give money to. There have been promotions and raises since 2016. My basic annual salary in 2019 was about $98k. When you add performance bonuses, I earned about $110k. I don’t know what my annual income was in 2020 because I’ve not gotten my bonuses yet. 

OMO. That’s over ₦42 million. 

I don’t think in naira anymore, but yeah, it should be around that. 

Flex. You were in a tough spot about three years ago. Has anything changed about how you move money in and out of your life?

After I got out of that relationship in 2018, I looked around and couldn’t point to any asset or investment I owned. Yet I’d been working since 2008. I thought about the kind of life I wanted to live after retirement, and I was nowhere close to it. Also, I started listening to this personal finance show and people would call in and talk about being 60 or 70 years old and in debt. These stories hit home. Like, this is what my life could potentially be like if I don’t get serious with my finances. 

I went back to the basics and started with a budget. I hold a budget meeting with myself every month now and plan around what I have coming in. I try to put money for utilities aside two months before they’re due.

The rest goes into things like food, transport, health, housekeeping and other fees. My day-to-day expenses are in West African Franc and stack up to CFA 1.5M per month. The major expense I currently have in naira is the ₦150k I send to my parents every month. 

I do another review at the end of the month and look at how much I spent the previous month, what I spent it on and how every purchase made me feel. 

Do you have some savings now?

Yes. But If you’d asked me this question two days ago, I would tell you that I have $15k. I looked at my debt profile and almost had a panic attack. I had $10k debt on my credit card only. I closed my eyes and paid it off. Now, I have $5k in my emergency fund. 

What other debt are you trying to pay off?

My student loans oh. I owe the US government $52k. I intend to clear it later this year. 

Oof. What about investments?

In 2018, I started putting $6k in a personal retirement account. I have $18k in it now. I also have a pension fund at work and my employer matches what I have in it. That’s currently $140k. I have some shares in some banks in Nigeria, but the dividends are not a lot, so I don’t think about it.

What I need to hack this year is other investment options. I have no idea how those things work. I’m speaking to a financial planner later to help me figure it out. 

Do you think about retirement a lot?

I do. That’s one of the reasons I’m talking to a financial planner. I’ve done vibes and inshallah for most of my adult life and need to step it up. I’m currently putting 10-15% of my annual salary into my retirement accounts, but how do I get it up to like 25%? How many more years do I need to work now to retire in the best possible position? Those are the questions I’m hoping to answer this year. 

How has your relationship with money over the years shaped your perspective about it now?

Money is a gift. If you have it, you’re only a steward and must use it properly. It’s also a finite resource. I’m afraid that I will wake up one day and all of it will be gone. Now, if you’re going to spend it, it should be to make yourself and the people around you happy and secure your future. I’m so big on the proper stewardship of money now. Every penny must count for something. 

What was the last thing you bought that required serious planning?

The house I grew up in came up for sale in 2019, and my mum really wanted it. It was on the market for ₦33m and I bought it for her. My entire savings and more went into it. It brings in ₦1.1m in rent every year now because there are tenants, but that goes to my parents. 

That’s lit. Is there an expense you wish you don’t have?

My student loans are a drag on my life. Imagine what I could do with $52k? I obsess about it a lot. I have to clear it out this year. 

Anything you bought recently that improved the quality of your life?

It has to be the house. I can’t imagine my mum moving out of that place. She’s built a community in it. So yeah, that definitely made me happy. I also bought a car recently. Moving around in Abidjan is a struggle, so the $21k was worth it. 

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

I’m at a four. I look at all the things I should have done earlier but didn’t do and wonder how my financial decisions in the past 10 years will impact my life. I’m almost 40 now, and I probably earn more than most people my age, but there’s also a lot of regrets about all the things I didn’t do right. 

Damn. That’s heavy. What would make this number higher?

Maybe when my investments hit about $500k. That will probably move me up to a 7. I obsess a lot about money these days. Also, I can’t wait to start thinking about my expenses in percentages. When all of this happens, I can now say that I’ve arrived.

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

At least 25 million Nigerians are living with a disability. This #NairaLife is about one of them. The subject survived polio when he was young, but that’s not the only significant life event he has had to deal with. This one is about resilience and hope.

What’s your oldest memory of money?

I don’t remember the year, but there was a time I went out to buy a bar of soap. The money was in my pocket when I left the house, but when I got to the store, it was no longer there. I was so stressed. A woman who lived in the neighbourhood came to the store before it got embarrassing and offered to pay. On my way back, I saw the missing money right by my house gate. 

Lmao. Don’t we all have this story? What was it like growing up?

When I was four years old, I was hit by polio. It turned out to be a significant life event. Although I survived, I lost the use of my legs and have been in a wheelchair since that time. 

Oh wow. I’m sorry. 

It’s fine. I don’t think it changed a lot. At least, my parents and the neighbours I grew up with it didn’t make it seem like such a big deal. I had a normal childhood. My parents brought me up with the same level of love, care and empathy they showed to my siblings. 

How did having polio affect your family’s finances?

When it happened, nobody thought it was polio. When the hospital didn’t work, they thought it was a spiritual attack and went for traditional treatment. Those things weren’t cheap. From what I heard, my dad spent a fortune. He even had to sell a couple of his properties to raise money. When they eventually discovered that it was polio, things slowly went back to normal. We weren’t super-rich, but we were comfortable. My mum was a businesswoman — she sold clothes, but she also did this cocoa business on the side, and my dad was a cleric. The family was stable. 

Did you have open conversations about money?

I don’t think this ever happened. They didn’t tell us anything about personal finances or talked about the importance of knowing how to make money. They were happy to provide. 

Ah, so you didn’t feel the need to earn money?

You could say that. I mean, I made money for the first time when I was 17. This was 2005 or thereabout, but it wasn’t out of a need to earn. I was just doing something for the fun of it and it brought in money. This is the story: I couldn’t walk, but I loved sports, especially football and table tennis. So I founded a U-13 grassroots football club. I managed its operations and led the team to local tournaments, and when we won, we got up to ₦5,000 in prize money. This money, I shared with members of the team and kept the rest. 

Interesting. How long did you do this for?

About three years. I moved to a new city after secondary school in 2008. The football club didn’t have any structure,  so it crumbled once I left. I took a break for two years from school, and during that time, I learned a computer course at a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities. In 2010, I got admitted to the university, and that began some of the toughest years of my life.

Why, What happened?

My dad died when I was in 100 level. He was sick for some time. Unfortunately, it was one of those health issues that drain money. By the time he passed, my family had spent so much taking care of him, we had run out of money. 

I’m sorry about your dad.

It was that time I first understood what disappointment meant. Uncles and aunts promised to take over and sponsor my education. But when the time came to do that, they all disappeared. 

That sounds tough. How did you navigate the period?

My mum did her best to take care of school, but there was only so much she could do. My grandmother and a few family members were the angels God sent: she chipped in and ensured that I didn’t have to drop out of school. It wasn’t the best — my monthly allowance was always late, and it was never enough. ₦25,000 was what I needed to live comfortably in a month, and I always got less than that. On top of that, I had to spend so much on transportation. 

But the only other option was to drop out of school and start begging. I’d promised myself not to be that person who begged to survive. 

Why did you have to spend so much on tfare?

The cab drivers at my school always charged me more than they did the other passengers. I paid ₦500 where others paid ₦200. Also, when I chartered a vehicle, they would ask me to pay more because I was in a wheelchair. They just didn’t care and that made things tougher for me. Most of what I had was spent on transportation.

That’s disturbing. 

Point is, there was hardly enough to cater for all the things I needed. I once sold my computer to raise money for tuition. It was the first time I realised I was poor.

But I needed to get through university. I started writing to organisations I felt could help me. Writing these letters was one of the hardest things I’d done in my life. I understood that anyone could use my disability against me. People see me and assume that I’m there to beg for something, so I find it difficult to ask for help.

 In my final year, I wrote to a professor at my school, and thankfully, he and one of his friends funded my project.  I graduated from university in 2017.

Phew. What came after uni?

Most of my friends were going for their masters,  but I couldn’t. The next best thing was to look for a job, which  was hell. I was so broke that I struggled to feed myself each day. I had to do something I hated again — depend on people. My siblings, mum and family members were sending me money. The problem with this arrangement is that, when people send you money consecutively for three months, they get tired, and you will notice it even if they try to hide it. I was also tired of asking people to send me money.

That’s tough. So what did you do?

I started volunteering for NGOs working with people with disabilities. They didn’t pay a salary though — just a stipend every now and then. The amount of work I did in a month was a factor to what I got paid. Usually, it was between ₦10,000 and ₦20,000.

I started making money on the side too. I’d learned how to make shoes a few years before, but I left it to focus on school. I was making between ₦30,000 and ₦50,000 each month. Sometimes, it was more. Sometimes, it was less. 

Interesting. What has happened between 2017 and now?

I’m a problem solver. Working with other people with disabilities has always prompted me to look for what I could do to add value to their lives. A lot of these NGOs I work with are big on skills, but mostly technical skills and not creative skills. Me, I love entertainment, and I love talented people. So, I thought: “Why don’t you start something where you can find and promote these talents?” I started working on starting an entertainment company.

Nice.

I registered the company, and it became operational in 2019. Right now, what I do is to organise events where talented people living with disabilities can show off the creative thing they know how to do best. 

That’s interesting. How much did it cost you to set this up?

About ₦500,000. That was the limited resources I had. Also, I didn’t put all the money in at once. It was bits by bits. ₦50,000 here. Another ₦30,000. Buy a few  things. Hire one or two staff. At the time of the launch, what I spent had run into ₦500,000. 

Ah, I see. 

After launch, we got down to organising events. It was a lot of paperwork. Making budgets and writing proposals. For one of our earliest events, I had only 10% of the ₦1.5m budget. So, we had to partner with other organisations. Unfortunately, everything was in place when Covid happened, and we had to postpone the event. 

Damn Covid. 

But after I saw how the world moved to virtual events, I tried to do something like that too. I decided to do a virtual workshop. The strategy had to change because no company wanted to sponsor a virtual event. Our events had been free, but for this one, we sold tickets, which brought in ₦150,000. 

Did you turn in a profit?

Not exactly, no. Most of the money we got went into paying artists we invited and persons with disabilities that performed at the event. I didn’t mind. It was the first time I did something on that scale. 

Lit. 

Another interesting thing happened in 2020. You know how people say they did something that changed their lives forever? For me, it was applying to the MTN Revv Programme for SMES. I’m not even sure how I got in, but it was such a rewarding experience. Listening to experts talk about how to be better managers and entrepreneurs helped. It couldn’t have happened at a better time because the effect on Covid on my company was enormous. It’s harder to get sponsorships or even organise virtual events. But now, I think I have more clarity on how I intend to scale. 

Another thing I learnt was how to navigate personal finance, especially savings. Now, If I don’t need something, I don’t buy it. It’s a life-saving tip. 

Lmao. You said that the pandemic slowed things down for you. How do you make money these days?

Ah, I’m into so many things to survive. I still make and sell shoes. I work with real estate agents and market properties. That gets me a commission. On the side, I consult for NGOs and get a token from some of them. On a good month, I make between ₦80,000 and ₦100,000. 

Interesting. Can we break down your monthly expenses?

What about your savings?

Until recently, when I started learning more about personal finance, I wasn’t big on saving. I have a bank account I rarely use or linked to an ATM card. After settling my monthly expenses, I transfer the “change” that remains to this account. For the most part, this goes to rent and other emergencies. 

How much do you have in your savings account now?

I’m not going to lie, I have less than ₦20k in that account. I just moved to a new apartment and had to do a couple of things to make the place comfortable for me. Everything took about ₦450,000. There’s no other way to say it: I’m currently broke. I’m just hoping that things will pick up again in the next couple of months, and I can start saving again. 

Realistically, how much do you think you need to be earning to stop worrying about money?

At the moment, ₦200,000 will do. This will definitely solve most of my troubles. But since it’s not happening, I can only plan for the future. In five years, I want to see myself earning more than ₦1m every month.

Is there a plan to do this?

People pay for value, and I know I have a lot to offer. Accessibility and mobility is a problem for people like me who are in a wheelchair, so I’m in the middle of setting up a new business installing ramps in offices and public places. I’ve been working with a team and submitting proposals to organisations. However, it’s capital intensive, so I haven’t done so much on it yet. But I’m really excited about it. Fingers crossed. 

I’m rooting for you. How would you say your experiences have shaped your perspective about money?

It’s important to have money. If I had the best financial support when I needed it the most, maybe I’d be in a position to do more and touch more lives. It’s unfair how only a few people have access to all the money they need. But that’s the way it is, so it’s necessary to strive. I wasn’t born into wealth, but maybe I can become rich and start something better for my own family. 

Is there anything you want right now but you can’t afford?

A lot. Mobility is a huge problem for me. If I have a car, moving around will be so much easier. I can also help other people I work with get around easily, especially when we have events. 

When Covid hit, I couldn’t continue paying the people I hired. I’m currently sourcing for funds to make sure we return to work and continue planning all the things I have in mind. That would be great too.

I feel you. What was the last thing you bought that significantly improved the quality of your life?

I bought a laptop recently for ₦195,000, and it was money well-spent. It’s been helping me market my services better and do a whole lot of other things. 

That’s great. Where does your financial happiness rank on a scale of 1-10?

Maybe a four. It’s not even so much about my personal finances now. I manage just fine with what I have. It’s more about the people I work with. I see the smile on these kids faces at the events, and I wish I could do more. I need money to do that. The more I can do for them and other people like me who live with a disability, the higher this number will be.

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

This subject of this week’s #NairaLife is an investment manager. He is in the business of helping people make money, and he has learned how to do the same thing for himself. What is most interesting about him? His motivations.

What’s your oldest memory of money?

Growing up, my dad did this thing where he would give me money and say:” Put this money in an envelope and keep it. I’ll ask for it later.” It may be weeks before he’d ask, but he usually did to confirm I still had it. Then he would give it back to me and ask me to keep it again. The lesson was, you don’t touch the money that’s not yours. After he died a few years ago, my mum found an envelope labelled “Daddy’s money” in a drawer at home. It’d been there for years. 

I’m sorry about your dad. It must have been a profound moment when your mum told you about that envelope.

It was. My parents taught me how to respect money at an early age. When I got money gifts, they made sure I spent half and saved half. I grew up interested in how money works.

What was the first thing you did for money then?

After I graduated from university in 2001, I offered to work at a stockbroking firm for free. I studied psychology and had no major prior experience in the financial markets. However, the firm I worked at didn’t have much business to do at the time. After three or four days, I quit. A friend of a friend had a forex exchange company in the same building as the stockbroking firm, and he offered me a job at his. 

What was the job about?

He sourced forex and sold to his clients, who were mostly merchants. He was like the average Bureau De Change guy, but he did more volume. When I started working for him, I was earning ₦5,000. I was his runner, doing administrative work and helping him facilitate transactions. He increased it to ₦8,000 during my service year. In the two years I worked for him, he gave me a few raises. When I left in 2003, I was earning ₦30,000.

Where did this interest to have a job in the financial markets come from?

It was something that built up over the years. My parents were big on saving, and I got a sense that investing was a thing too. I spent a lot of my mornings watching Lou Dobb’s “MoneyLine” show on CNN, and everything I saw looked interesting. Also, my mum worked in a bank, so I appreciated financial services. After uni, I decided to go for it.

Interesting. 

While I was working for the forex guy, I enrolled in a part time postgraduate diploma management course at a university in the south-west. My parents paid for it. I’m not sure how much it cost anymore, but it was less than ₦100,000. I got my first well-paying job towards the end of the programme.

Where?

A telecommunications company. I worked in the customer service department. My salary was ₦80,000, which I thought was fair at the time. But looking back now, it could have been better.

How?

It was the first time I realised that bonuses and other benefits can make a difference. I had a friend who worked in another telecom company and was earning half my salary. However, when I added up his bonuses and other allowances, he was earning more than I was. 

After about three years at the company, I quit and travelled to the UK for my Master’s Degree in Financial Management. This was 2006. 

How much did it cost?

About £10,000 pounds. At the time, a pound was, maybe, ₦250. My parents sold some of the shares they had to raise the money. 

Interesting. How did it go in the UK?

My parents were only interested in taking care of the tuition. They expected me to figure out the rest. While I was in school, I got a customer service job. It paid minimum wage — £5 pounds per hour. I also picked some extra minimum wage jobs. At the end of each week, I was making over £200. A lot of it went into buying clothes. 

Haha. Why?

The thing is, when I was in Nigeria, it was difficult to get shirts my size. But in the UK, I saw shirts that fit, so I just started buying as many as I could in preparation for my return to Nigeria. Four shirts cost £100.

That makes sense. How long did you spend in the UK?

I finished my programme in 2007 and graduated in 2008. But I stayed back a while because I was trying to find a job in their financial markets. 

I moved to another town in the UK and lived with a friend. I did some manual labour at a hospital for about two weeks before I got a stable job. Again, it was in customer service, and they offered me a 10-month contract. It paid well above minimum wage. I was going home with over £1,200 every month. 

Lit. 

In 2009, I was close to getting my dream job at an international investment company in the UK. They had given me papers to sign and everything. But a financial crisis hit the UK and the markets crashed. I lost out on the job. 

Damn. 

I moved back to Nigeria in the same year and did a few interviews that led nowhere. In 2010, I got a job with the state government’s Internal Revenue Service as a tax administrator, with an offer of about ₦100,000 per month. 

At the time, was the plan to build a career in the civil service?

I actually wanted to give this a try, but after some time on the job, I realised that it wasn’t for me. I wasn’t bad at it. It wasn’t just what I wanted to do. I spent less than two years before I resigned. I did a bit of consulting after that, helping small businesses set up PAYE systems, file their taxes, and other related stuff. 

How long did you do this for?

Not long. I finally got a job in the financial services sector in 2012. It was a core investment firm, and I’ve been there since that time. 

You’ve been there for more than 8 years. How has your role evolved over time?

The company works with pension funds. This is how it works: a lot of employers deduct a portion of their employee’s salaries, match it and put it in a pension savings account. What we do is to invest that money on their behalf. 

When I started, I was in the research department. My job was to look into the companies we wanted to invest in and analyse their finances and market trends before making recommendations. I’m not sure what my starting salary was anymore, but it was about ₦300,000.

What happened after that?

I moved from being a stock broker to an investment manager. In 2014, I was promoted to a junior portfolio manager role, and it changed my life. I had to specialise in something, and I chose the bonds market rather than the stock market. My job now was to look into the businesses we lent money to and confirm that they were credit-worthy.

Ah, I see. 

As I grew in the business, I got more responsibilities. I’m a Portfolio Manager now. I take care of different funds and portfolios and come up with strategies to help the investors grow their money. For the most part, this is dependent on their preferences and how much risk they can take. My salary has also grown over the years. Right now, my monthly pay is about ₦500,000, minus bonuses. 

I want to know how your job has helped you with your finances.

My job is basically helping people to pick the best investment opportunities and growing it. If I can do that for people, why won’t I do it for myself? When I do research for work, I’m also doing it for myself. If I see an opportunity and I have enough capital, I put money in it. I may not do the same volume as an institution will, but it’s working and I’m building my own wealth too.

Haha. Fair enough. What do your current expenses look like?

My monthly expenses are calculated in percentages.

I don’t pay rent anymore. My dad left me a house. 

Flex. Speaking of your investments, what do you invest in?

I invest a lot in shares, mutual funds, and treasury bills. Have I lost money? Yes. But I try to stay in the middle of high risk and low risk. I’m not trying to make all the money I can make at once. Wealth creation is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. 

How do you try to avoid losses?

There’s a strategy in the market called averaging down. For example, you buy a unit of shares at ₦50 and the value drops to ₦40. That’s a ₦10 loss already. Some people may decide to sell it immediately to minimise the loss. But I would buy another unit at ₦40. Now, the average price of my investment is ₦45. This way, I’ve managed to keep my loss to ₦5. If the price goes back up, then I can make my profit.

What happens if the price continues to drop?

If I have the money, I hold my position and put more money in it. I continue buying at lower prices. When the trend changes, I start posting a profit, then I sell. I just exited one of such positions I held since last year. I made about 12% profit on that. 

That’s intense. So, how much do you have in investments right now?

I’m not sure about the exact amount right now, but it’s over ₦10m, and that’s a conservative number. I don’t like talking about these things. 

Phew. I’m curious about something. A lot of your earliest memories about finances were influenced by your parents. What does this now mean for you?

That I have to do the same for my kids. I have two, and they are both below 10. They are still young, but I’m teaching them about these things. My parents taught me how to save. I learned how to invest. The idea now is to pass all the knowledge to my kids. I’m trying to build generational wealth here. 

Tell me more about this. 

A character in Billions, a show I watch, said something in the lines of “A generation builds wealth, a generation grows it, a generation spends it.” At the moment, I’m building on what my parents gave to me. It will be their job to teach their kids too even if they don’t work in financial services. The way I see it, they need to understand how to put money away and the processes involved in growing it. 

That makes sense. 

I opened a stock brokerage account for them the moment they were born. If someone gives them a cash gift, I match it and pay it into their accounts. I’m building a small portfolio for them already. When they’re old enough, they will be trained on how to manage it. 

Hook it in my veins. Let’s go back to you. What do you think your finances will look like in, say, five years?

I have no idea, but I definitely want more. And it’s not from a place of greed — I’m just testing myself and growing what I have. I’m used to a certain lifestyle, and I want to be able to afford it for as long as I’m here. So, I’m in this for as long as I can do it. At the same time, the long term plan is not totally tied to income but the feeling of  self-actualisation, which will be decided by just how much of all this I can teach my kids. 

Lit. Now I’d like to know how your experiences have shaped your perspective about money.

Money is a by-product. If I have it, then it means I’ve worked to earn it. And I’m not afraid to earn and put money away. But I’ve also realised that putting it away somewhere is not enough. It needs to grow consistently. Like my dad used to say, work for money when you’re younger so it works for you when you’re older.

I also think that money is an end in itself. Everything is valued in a currency, so it’s really important to have it and hold it. I’m not saying you shouldn’t spend on yourself or have a decent quality of life, but it will be unwise to go overboard. 

Speaking of quality of life, what’s the last thing you bought that improved yours?

I installed an internet broadband service at home. Everything took about ₦30,000, but it’s cut my monthly internet costs and made it easier to work from home.

Also, I turned 40 last year and I thought of buying myself a meaningful gift. I decided on a wristwatch I’d wanted to buy for a while. I’m not going to tell you how much I bought it, but I had to save for a few months. Every time I look at it, I see something I strived for, and it’s so fulfilling. 

Got it. On a scale of 0-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

I’ll give it a 7. I’m comfortable, but I’d love to amass more wealth. If it was just about me, I’d probably be okay with where I’m at now. But I’m building this for my kids too, so they have a legacy to stand on when they’re older and can make their own decisions. My parents did their best to do that for me. It’s only natural that I do the same thing for them. 

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

This #NairaLife is the story of a medical student stuck in a loop that is the Nigerian education system. One day, he got some information that changed his life forever, and he went from being a dependent to a provider. This is how it all happened.

Let’s start with the first time you worked for money.

2009. I used to help my cousin out at her tutorial centre which she’d just built into a school. I was 16 at the time and still in senior secondary school, so I only had time during the long vacations. She paid me ₦4,000 every month for my troubles.

Do you remember what you did with your earnings?

The memory is faint now, but some of the money must have gone into buying stuff I needed for school. There were also the times my mum would ask me to loan her money. Of course, she never returned it.

Don’t we all have that story. What did you do next?

University. I was admitted to study biochemistry in 2011 though I wanted medicine and surgery.  I lived in the same town as my parents, so they didn’t put me on a big allowance. They sent me to school with foodstuff and sent ₦2,000 occasionally. I could come home whenever I wanted, and they knew this. 

I still wanted to study medicine, so I tried again in 2012. Another no. When I tried again in 2013, I changed my institution of choice to Kogi State University. There I was offered a course I didn’t want, and I rejected it. 

I decided to let medicine go, until an uncle asked me why I wasn’t studying it. He convinced me to give it another try and even paid for my JAMB exam. I got it this time. I was already in 300 level, but I transferred to the college of medicine and started again at 100 level.

Omo. What did your parents think about this?

They were fine with it. The only problem was that things were rough at home at the time. My tuition was ₦80,000, and my father couldn’t raise the money. The loan he applied for at his cooperative was not approved. For a minute, it felt like I was going to lose my admission. But my dad got the money and it worked out.

The real problem was that the college of medicine had their own issues too.

What issues?

The college was struggling with accreditation. There were people who had been in school for six years but were still stuck in 300 level.  The thing about medicine is that if a class writes a professional exam this year, the next class must wait till the following year before they can write the same exam. But we weren’t writing these exams, so nothing was moving. 

 The provost of the college called my class and candidly told us that we had a long way to go. We were supposed to write our first professional exam in 2017, but he said the earliest that could happen was 2019. That was two automatic extra years.

Nigeria.

Sometime in 2016, some senior students protested against the recurring accreditation issues or increase in school fees — I’m not sure anymore. The college didn’t take kindly to that. Apparently, “Medical students don’t protest”. They sent all of us home indefinitely. 

Mad oh. What was it like being stuck at home?

Omo. I was almost 23 years, and school had no end in sight. My dad took it the hardest. He was so terrified because he was close to retirement, and he worried that he wouldn’t be able to afford my tuition, which had increased to over ₦200,000. I felt like I had made a mistake. My classmates in biochemistry graduated that year. That could have been me

Sorry, man. Must have been tough. 

It was. I knew I had to figure out a way to start earning. I remembered a guy I met on NairaLand in 2013 when I was considering Kogi State University. We became friends and remained in touch, although I didn’t get into the university. There was a time he showed me his earnings during a conversation, and my immediate reaction was, “Ah, Yahoo Boy”. He explained that he made his money from freelancing and tried to sell it to me. But I was like, “If you’re earning in dollars, you’re a Yahoo Boy.” 

LOL.

Sha, I reached out to him to take him up on his offer, and he sent a few links to get me started. I did a bit of research and opened an account on Fiverr. This was September 2016. 

When did you get your first job?

Not long after I opened the account. It was a video script gig, and the client’s budget was $5. I had never written a script before, but I took it. I messed up the job. Understandably, the client was upset and left a bad review. 2/5 stars. 

Ouch.

I went back to the internet and dug up everything I could find about scriptwriting. I got another job — another chance to learn. It wasn’t as bad as the first one, but there were some disputes about the quality of the work. I had a dry spell that lasted a few weeks until an animator contacted me to write a script for a project his client was working on. He also offered to pay $5. This was the first job that went smoothly, and I got my first 5-star review.

Lit.

I was interested in scriptwriting now, and I spent hours learning all the basics while applying for jobs to test my new knowledge. Every time I saw something interesting that I didn’t know how to do, I would apply for the job. If I got it, I would do it, make my mistakes, get bad reviews sometimes. But I was learning a great deal from all of them. 

What was the review that hurt the most?

I can’t remember oh. There were quite a number of them. White people don’t have joy, I swear. I didn’t worry too much about them. I knew they wouldn’t matter in the long run. Within three months, I had gotten considerably better at scriptwriting. 

In December 2016, I made a little over $600 from a series of gigs. A video script here, an ad copy there. This was about ₦200,000 at the time. I thought I wouldn’t make more than ₦30,000 a month when I started three months earlier. On many levels, that was my big break.

My heart is full. When did they ask you to return to school?

Oh, that. They asked us back in February 2017. They actually took their time and wasted ours because they knew if we returned to school, they would have to start dealing with their accreditation issues again. About four months later, the school told us that there was still no accreditation and that there was a backlog of classes who hadn’t written their professional exams, so we should go home again. They called it a holiday, 

Ah.

There was no return date this time either. I was like, “I can’t lose on both sides.” I returned home and continued writing scripts. It was during that period I learned how to write movie scripts. That did numbers for my monthly earnings, It grew to at least $1,000 a month. 

What was the average amount you made per job?

I’m not sure. It was a mix of small and big jobs. I was still taking the small $5 jobs because they improved the bottom line as well. But as I got more 5-star reviews, I increased my gig prices. From $5, I moved to $10, then $20. Now, a project’s budget must be at least $50 before I consider the job. 

Nice.

I saved my first million before my 24th birthday in 2017. It was huge for me, man. At this time, I was already helping out at home. Oh, this reminds me of a story.

Tell me about it. 

My dad needed some money  — I don’t remember how much — and I gave it to him. I wasn’t ready for what came after. This man was so choked by emotion, he started to cry. He was like, he wasn’t sure things were going to change, and now, I was making it happen. It was a sweet experience.

Aww. I get what you mean.

Besides, I could afford anything I wanted. I didn’t live an extravagant life, but I knew I wasn’t in dire need of money. There’s a relief that comes with that sort of realisation.

I feel you. Did your school ever call you back?

Oh yeah. We spent the rest of 2017 at home. We returned in January 2018. 

I’m curious about what this erratic calendar did to you.

It didn’t matter how I felt; I had to stick with it. My parents would be so disappointed if I dropped out. I toyed with the idea of transferring to the Philippines to continue school, but I feared what would happen if I stopped making money and couldn’t sponsor myself anymore. This might be one of my biggest regrets. 

And oh, they sent us home again. It was an internal ASUU strike this time. School has been on and off since that time. 

Bruh! Back to your hustle: how has your approach to getting jobs between 2016 and now?

I sent a lot of proposals when I started, but I stopped applying for jobs in 2017. These days, I let clients come to me to tell me about their projects. Then I create a custom offer for them. Marketing is key when you’re a freelancer.

Word. How do you know the kind of jobs to accept?

I don’t accept jobs I know I can’t do. I get tempted to accept them and outsource, but I don’t because I know whoever I give it to might fuck it up and mess up my review. Yes, I take those things seriously now. 

Lmao. What do your earnings look like these days?

I didn’t pay a lot of attention to this until recently. I did a review of my monthly earnings, and I found out that I make at least $2,000 every month. While that seems impressive, I feel like I could do better. I’m one of the little earners in my circle — others make between $5,000 to $10,000.

$2,000 is about ₦900,000. Let’s break down your expenses.

Tell me about your miscellaneous expenses.

I don’t pay tithe, so I donate some money to people who I think might need it. I find a lot of donation links on Twitter. My parents don’t know about this because I tell them I pay my tithe to another church.

Speaking of your parents, what do they think about the income jump?

Haha. When I got my first job and told my mother about it, I didn’t leave out the part about the client being a white person. She heard that and went, “Eh, white man. Are you sure you’re not doing Yahoo Yahoo, this boy?” My father heard about it and forbade me from doing anything on the internet. 

My church people too started talking and asking my parents if they knew what I was doing. It was hard to explain, but they’ve come around. My parents pray for me now. 

Hallelujah. Let’s talk about your savings.

I’ve not been saving a lot since last year because I started to invest in properties. I did save ₦4.5 million last year. It’s sitting pretty in my Piggyvest account. 

Lit. Tell me about your investments.

Here’s how it started: in 2018, my dad wanted to build a mini-flat so he could have something to bring in money when he retired. My mum roped me into the project. I spent about ₦2.5 million on that and didn’t get it back. In 2019, my dad told me about a land a cousin wanted to sell. He thought it was a good opportunity and asked that I buy it. A plot was ₦250k, and I wanted to buy one. But he talked me into buying four. That took ₦1 million.

That’s really interesting. 

I took land investments seriously last year. My cousin pitched the idea of buying lands in a state in the South West. We got on it and bought a plot of land for ₦1.2 million. I’ve spent an additional ₦5 million developing it. 

Do you have any plans for it?

I don’t know at the moment. I’m leaning towards renting the apartment out, but my cousin wants me to live there. I wasn’t even ready to start building anything on it, but they said they could snatch the land away from me if there were no signs of it being developed. Omo, the first thing I did was to build a fence around it. 

Lmao. Apart from these investments, what’s the biggest thing you’ve spent money on that required planning?

In 2019, I went to Dubai on vacation after I wrote my first professional medical exam. The total package was about  ₦500,000. I clocked that I liked travelling and decided to do it more often. I’ve been to Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, Rwanda and Ethiopia between then and now.

Where do you see all of this in five years?

I’ll be out of Nigeria, hopefully. But if I’m still here, I hope to have grown my business into $20,000 per month. I’m not sure I will be a practising doctor. The way doctors are treated in this country doesn’t sit well with me.

Is there anything you want but can’t get right now? 

I’d like to buy a car but I’m scared of the police. Also, my parents are worried about people thinking I make my money from cybercrime. Ah, they also believe that witches would kill me too.

I’m not even going to touch that. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

7. I’ll be honest; I don’t worry about money these days, but earning more would be great. Sometimes, I wish I could be more spontaneous, like taking my friends out on vacation and paying for all of it. 

I feel you. How’s school going, by the way?

I’m about to start my fourth year now. I wrote my first professional exam in 2019. I’ve spent more time out of school than in school between the time I became a medical student and now. But you see that ₦4.5 million savings I have in PiggyVest? That’s my japa money when all of this is over.

Hi there! we’re thinking about how much more value we can add to #NairaLife. But we need your help to do this. If you find this series useful and would like to help us improve it, we’d love to hear from you. 

Click this link to start.

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

The subject of this NairaLife is a medical sales rep who works at a job where everything can go wrong and derail the trajectory of her life. But you see how to make money and build wealth? She kinda has it on lock.

What was your first memory of money?

When I was eight years old, I decided that I didn’t want to share a sponge and soap with my siblings anymore. So I saved up to buy my own from my ₦50 allowance. I don’t remember how much it cost but I saved for a week before I could afford it.

Haha. Do you remember anything else from that time?

I grew up in a three-bedroom apartment with my parents, five siblings, and three aunts. I remember thinking that we were rich until I transferred schools and went from paying ₦6,000 to ₦24,000. My parents made it work, but it was clear I was one of the poorest students in that school. Most of my classmates had drivers. 

And you felt left out. 

My parents actually got me a driver to bridge the gap, but it was still there. There was a day someone’s money went missing in class and my classmates assumed I took it because I’d bought something I didn’t always buy earlier that day. Rich people are mean!

That’s messed up. When was the first time you made a money move?

I always saved a lot from whatever I got. At 16, I wanted a bank account, but I didn’t want a kiddies account because I needed my parents for it. I increased my age by two years and got a cybercafe to issue me an employee ID with a false date of birth. I had ₦12k when the account was ready and put everything in it. 

Not long after, my sister, who just had a baby, needed to return to her job, so she asked me to babysit him while she was at work. I did that for two months and she paid me ₦15K for it. I know she’s my sister, but I don’t do free labour. 

Hook it in my veins.

The ₦15K also went into my account. Then right before I went to uni in 2010, I took this INEC job to register people who wanted a Permanent Voters’ Card. 

How does a 16-year-old get that kind of job?

I covered for a relative who had to go back to school to get her documents. I thought I could do it, and the lady in charge agreed. They paid ₦15k per week and I did it for three weeks. But I made more than ₦45k.

How?

Tips from people. Also there was a time we had to stop printing registration slips because we ran out of ink. Someone volunteered to pay for the ink, which sold for ₦20K. Before we got back to the office, they’d supplied us with a fresh batch of ink. We didn’t return the money.

At the end of the job, I made about ₦60k in total. Again, everything went into my account. 

So, what came after?

I got into university in 2011 with ₦111k in my bank account. I could pay my school fees if I wanted to, but why would I do that?

Dead.

The only thing on my mind was how to manage my money. I wasn’t on an allowance — my parents sent money when I called. But everything couldn’t be more than ₦7k per month. Thankfully, the cost of living in the town wasn’t high. I cut back on a lot of things. I mean, I stopped eating fish and meat except on Sundays.

This is boarding school energy.

It felt like a waste of money. I even brought my roommate into that life.

Huhuhu. 

In my second year, I started going for ushering jobs on weekends. The standard price was ₦5k per job. Sometimes, I covered for people who got a job but couldn’t do it, and we would split the money. 

The highest I made from a job was ₦25k. 

Interesting.

In my third year, I opened my first fixed deposit account with ₦100k and the bank assigned an account manager to me. In my final year, I increased it to ₦150k.

Lit. You stuck with ushering until you left uni?

Yes, pretty much. In my final year, I did a brand projector job — it’s like ushering, but the pay was better. You know those girls you see at the mall trying to get you to sample a product? That kind of job. I got ₦40k every month, and I did it for two months. It wasn’t hard; I only had to work four hours a day.

I really want to know how much you had in your account when you were leaving uni.

About ₦300k.  I had no plans for it. It was just sitting there.

Mad oh. NYSC next?

Yes, in 2015. My dad gave me the ₦20k I took to camp, but I didn’t spend a lot there. It wasn’t until after camp ended that I blew the money and what the federal government paid us on fast food. But I didn’t have a choice. I was staying with a friend of my sister and wasn’t cooking. I think I spent about ₦37k in three weeks on food. I was so sad. 

Lmao. How did you move money in and out during NYSC?

I was going to redeploy until I heard that the state government paid corps members ₦18k, which I never got. I wasn’t working either, so I didn’t make a lot. The constant money was the ₦19,800 allawee, which I wasn’t spending. I was living on the money I had saved up before service year. 

One day, my sister called me and asked if I was interested in a piece of land going for ₦300k. It was a good deal, and I could pay in installments. I had ₦150k left in my savings, and I sent it to her. 

It didn’t take long before I finished paying. I made sure I paid before I finished service. I’m not even sure how it happened. Sha, at the end of NYSC, I returned home with ₦49k and a piece of land. 

Energy.

I stayed home for the following six months because I couldn’t get a job. During that time, I helped my sister sell a few properties and made ₦300k in commission, which I put in my fixed deposit account. I finally got a job as a medical sales rep at a pharmaceutical company in June 2017.My starting salary was  ₦62k. I also got an additional ₦34k as “float” — my running expenses. I’ve been at this job since 2017. 

By the way, I raised ₦700k and bought another land during my first year on the job. The ₦300k commission I made from land sales, an additional ₦200k I saved from my salary, and some money I borrowed from a friend paid for it.

Flex. How has your job evolved over the years?

It hasn’t, really. My salary was increased to ₦100k after my first year and I got a car from them, and that was the last time I got a promotion or a raise. Yet the job got significantly harder. 2018 was a tough year for me. 

Why?

Monthly targets. I had to sell ₦5.5M worth of drugs every month. But I was averaging between ₦2 – ₦3m. So I was giving them my salary to keep the job. It made me feel better. 

Sorry? 

I was also entitled to 2% commission of whatever I sold every 3 months. But I didn’t get that — they used that to offset whatever I owed them. I was pretty much rolling in debt. I was always borrowing money from my sister to pay into the company’s account every week, because my clients didn’t always pay on time. 

You were working but weren’t earning a salary. What was that like?

I was living with my parents and had a car, and these made things easier. The ₦34k I got monthly as my running expenses was all I was living on. I was at a really low point in 2018. I had no liquid cash, and whatever I had was the company’s money.

It wasn’t until the end of 2018 I started to hack this sales thing. 

How did that happen?

Price markup. We’re allowed to set the price of products we supply to the clients. Sales people add whatever they think is fair to the units of products they get from the company. However, it’s an open market, and there are competitors within and outside the company. So, nobody can increase the markup by a lot. 

Ah, I see. 

By 2019, I had more clients, and they were paying. That meant I stopped giving the company my salary. I was doing between ₦4m and ₦4.5m. In fact, I think I did ₦5m in a month. 

What about commission?

I was getting about ₦215k in commissions every three months. But I was also making more money from the markup. The company knows about this — it’s why they pay as low as they do. At the beginning of 2020, I had ₦1.5m in my account. With the lands and other investments, my net worth was about ₦4.5m. Then I set a ₦10m target. 

Bruh! So about 2020?

The pandemic was the major highlight, and it actually worked out well for me. During lockdown, the demand for drugs and other pharmaceutical products increased. Clients were calling me to deliver products to them and paying immediately. Also, the products were scarce, so they had to buy at whatever price I gave them. 

I should mention this: my company had stopped distribution, but some of us still had some stock with us. This is what I did: I took ₦500k out of my money and brought the products I didn’t have from some of my colleagues. Now, I wasn’t selling them for the company but for myself. 

Because people wanted to buy and hoard the products, clients who usually ordered for 100 units upped their orders to 1000 units. Now, adding ₦500 or ₦1000 to the markup price of each unit made all the difference. 

This happened for two months, and at the end of it, I made close to ₦2 million. It was really good business. 

You made 20x your salary in two months. The way you make money on the job is really interesting.

When you work as a salesperson in pharmaceuticals, you can’t work with your salary. Thinking about how much they pay me is actually depressing. I don’t even have an alert for my salary account, I just know they pay something there at the end of the month. 

You handle a lot of money and most of it isn’t yours. What does this mean for you?

It’s very easy to run into debt. I have a colleague who had a deficit of ₦5m and couldn’t account for it. He had to pay them back out of his pocket. Another colleague was remanded in prison for losing ₦40m. It’s pretty dicey. Everyday is a struggle to ensure that I have their money and can track where their products are and which client is owing me money. 

Let’s talk about job satisfaction.

It’s close to 0. I took the job because I was home for 6 months. The only exciting thing about the job is how I’ve been able to save and invest what I’ve earned in the last two years. 

Bruh! So how much do you typically make in a month asides your salary?

My salary is ₦100,000. On average, I make ₦300k extra from commissions and markup. 

Let’s break down your monthly expenses.

What about your savings and investments?

Remember I said I had a target of ₦10M at the beginning of 2020? I hit that in October. 

And to think you started with ₦12k some 10 years ago.

See, I like money. And I like having a lot of it. Also, I don’t spend more than I earn. One interesting thing I always do if I want to buy something for myself is that I take money out of my savings and use it for something that will fetch me the money I need.  Let’s say I’d like to own a new phone, and it costs ₦500k. I’ll take ₦2M out of my savings and invest in something. 

And although, I may get the amount I need the first time, I’ll hold off on it for a while and reinvest everything two or three additional times. Now, I can take out the ₦500k I need and put the rest back in my savings. 

How do you decide what to invest in?

My investment manager handles that for the most part. But I do some myself too. For example, every time I see an investment opportunity on Piggyvest, I go in. 

Very interesting. What’s your 5-year financial plan?

I’m not sure at the moment. But I’ll be out of this country. I’m actually leaving this year . This job is too risky. It’s always one thing or the other. I’m always on the road and I carry a lot of cash around, and that’s very dangerous. I could also run into debt and go to prison. I’m going back to school for my master’s. Ask me what made me decide to leave. 

I’m listening. 

One day, I went to a client’s place to collect the money he owed me. This man made me wait for him for hours, and when he eventually decided to see me, he asked his security guys to throw me out. It wasn’t the first time a client embarrassed me, but that one hit deeply. I got to my car and broke down in tears, thinking about everything I’ve faced on the job. There is no chance that they will promote me or increase my salary. So, I’m not even growing in my career. Like how many more years can I actually give them? I made up my mind to go back to school that afternoon.

I’m so sorry. How much do you need to do this?

£22,800 for a start. That’s more than ₦10,000,000, which I’m paying myself. I don’t even have it all yet, but I’ll get it. So, all my savings is going into this. I’m starting afresh. It’s a huge risk, but it is what it is. I’m going to restart there like I did in uni here — spend the minimum, save and invest. 

What’s something you wish you could have done better?

I wish I’d worked harder this past three years. I would definitely have made more money. I didn’t realise it until I started going out with men who had money — that was when I understood how to make money. 

What’s something you want right now but can’t afford?

I don’t think there’s anything I want that I can’t — oh wait, maybe a vacation. I’ve never been out of the country. I was supposed to do that in 2020, but Covid happened. I have two tickets I didn’t use. 

The last thing you bought that significantly improved the quality of your life?

I gave my room a new look. Bought a new bed and frame, and installed a wine bar. And plants. I’m a plant mum now. I parted with ₦215k but it was totally worth it. 

Haha. On a scale of 1-10, how financially happy are you?

8. I can afford most of the things I want, and I’m in a better place than I was 2 years ago. But I still feel like I didn’t make enough. 

Editor’s note: This conversation was had in November 2020. I checked in on the subject over the weekend and she confirmed that she will be leaving the country later this month. 

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

First, an important announcement:

In case you missed it: Fu’ad wrote and published his last Naira Life story last week. My name is Toheeb, and I’ll be taking over from him.

Also, I had an interesting conversation with him where he talked about the origin of Naira Life and his experiences writing the first 100 episodes. You can read it here. It will give you an idea of what we’ve been trying to do with this series.

Anyway, this is cheers to change and new beginnings.

Now let’s get this party started.

Talent and promotion are two different beasts in the music business. The subject of this week’s story, an up-and-coming artist knows this better than most people. So, how does he earn money in an industry where nothing is guaranteed, and what does his #NairaLife look like?

Tell me about your first memory of money.

I grew up in a house crawling with kids in Benue State, and money was the prize for good behaviour. Every time I got good grades, my dad rewarded me with money. Also, If I was on the good side of any of my father’s wives and they thought I behaved well, they tipped me.

How many wives did your dad have?

Four wives. My mum was the first and had seven kids for him. I’m the sixth. My parents got divorced when I was four and my dad got custody of the kids. My mum checked in on us when she could, but she was always on the road because of her business. 

What was it like growing up though?

When you live in a home filled with children, you learn how to compete for resources. You have to be strong. Living that reality — even though it wasn’t always ideal —  showed me where hustle ranked in the grand scheme of things.

Do you remember the first thing you ever did for money? 

When I was about to get into secondary school in 2005, my dad wasn’t ready to take care of the fees. So at 10 years old, I started going into the bush to fetch firewood and sell to people. I raised the fees and enrolled myself in school.

I sold a bundle for ₦30 or ₦50, depending on who the buyer was. On a very good day, I got up to ₦100 on a bundle. 

Wait, how much was your school fees?

₦150 per term. 

Omo.

I don’t hold it against my dad actually. He had a lot of responsibilities. For four years, I stuck with the firewood thing, and my mum and older siblings chipped in when they could. 

And then?

I left the village. I had a sister who lived in Abuja, and she thought it was best if I came to live with her. In 2009 and at 13, I moved to Abuja. Coming out of the village was a dream, but it was also a lot. I had to adjust to having smart people around me all the time — no shade to my classmates in the village. When I got the hang of the city and my new school, I realised that I had been handed a lifeline. My sister took care of my education and pretty much everything else, and my mum also contributed. Not much happened in the remaining years I spent at secondary school.

I guess university came next.

Yes. In 2012, I was admitted to study at a university in the south-west. My mum had passed away at this point. She died when I was in SS3. 

I’m so sorry. 

It’s fine. My sister continued paying my tuition. Every now and then, she sent me an allowance. ₦10,000 this month, ₦15,000 the next month. On my part, I went to uni with a mindset that I was becoming my own person. I started looking for things I could do to make extra money.

What did you decide to do to make this happen?

Modelling. I had the physical appearance for it. I started going for auditions in my first year.

How much did you get from a gig?

On average, I got ₦5,000 per gig. This was in 100 level and didn’t have a lot to worry about, so I was living fine. 

What was the highest amount you got from a gig while in school?

₦50,000 from a fashion show I went to in 2015. However, only ₦30,000 came to me. The guy  who helped me secure the job got ₦20,000.

Anyway, when the money from modelling became more frequent, I decided that it was time to turn to something I had always wanted to do.

What was that?

Music. 

When did you know you wanted to do music?

I’d always known I could sing. But I wasn’t sure that I wanted to do it professionally. I just wanted to put something out. I did that in my second year at uni when I recorded and released my first song. 

Do you remember how much you spent putting the song out?

I spent ₦5,000 on the studio session. The cover art took ₦3,000. I didn’t know as much as I do now about music promotion, so I didn’t do a lot of that. I paid ₦1,500 to host it on a blog in school. One of my lecturers heard the song and liked it so much that he offered to pay for the video. It cost ₦30,000.

I was like, “Omo, I go run this thing.” I got a manager and started doing it professionally.

Did you make anything off the song?

Not from streaming, no. But I was invited to perform at dinner parties and other events in school because of that song. I don’t remember how much I made from each performance or how many of those things I went to, but it was between ₦3,000 and ₦5,000. 

The best thing about that time was the platform. Brands used to organise events, and although they brought their artists with them, they also needed local acts, preferably student artists. I was one of those chosen for this, and it brought in extra cash. 

What happened after?

I leveraged the relationships I had with people to build a structure around my brand. People offered to manage me. Someone volunteered to be my road manager when I went on shows. Producers wanted to produce songs for free. I put out two more songs before I left uni. For NYSC, I was posted to a state in the north, but I relocated to the south-west. Before NYSC ended, I got another manager, and we agreed he would take 30% of whatever I made. In 2018, he got me my first major gig post-uni.

What was the gig about?

Performing at a lounge in Port Harcourt. I worked on wednesday and saturday nights and got ₦60,000 per month. I also got tips.  On nights when their guests felt generous and thought I was doing a good job, they came on-stage to spray me money. 

I started getting invited to a couple of other shows. ₦50k here. ₦60k there. While I was doing all this, I put out another song.  It was the first time I pushed a song with a plan. I got it to play on the radio and made a video. The video alone took about ₦150,000. 

I also clocked something that year. 

What was that?

It’s almost impossible to convince people to pay money or even give an artist on the come up a chance. The mechanics of demand and supply can be harsh. There was this time I was supposed to perform at a show. My name was on the performance list but nobody called me to perform. When I tried to make an issue of it, they told me that they only brought out artists people wanted to see. That opened my eyes.

Ouch. 

It was pretty dampening. But everyone has their story and we can’t all make it overnight. I just took it as one of those things that comes with the struggle and kept pushing. I still am pushing. 

How were you financing your moves as an independent artist?

My manager was a little buoyant, and he believed so much in my craft. We didn’t have a written agreement, but he was willing to put in resources to get me out there. It was a bit of everything coming together to make it work. Also, I discovered songwriting and how it’s a hidden gold mine. 

What do you mean?

It happened like this: I went to a studio in 2019 to record a song. A popular artist was there, vibed with the song and asked that I give him the song for a fee. He paid me ₦150,000 for it. I wrote one or two more songs for him and he introduced me to a few more people, and it picked up from there. I charge between ₦100,000 and ₦300,000 to write songs for people now. 

Lit.

Before then, I didn’t think the Nigerian music industry embraced the idea of songwriters. 

2019 was also the year I met  2face and his team.

Flex. 

You know, I’ve always been a die-hard 2face fan. He’s from my village, and we idolise him there. I’d been participating in his competitions and tagging him on my posts, hoping to meet him one day. That year, he organised another competition because he was looking for three young talents for a project he was working on. I reluctantly entered and I was picked. That was it. 

Did this give you some boost or something?

I got more attention from the mainstream. A couple of record labels reached out. But the thing about signing a record label contract is that you have to be very aware. Even when I decided to go with a label, there was a lot of back and forth reviewing the clauses. It took about four months before I penned down the deal. I signed with them in November  2019.

What were the terms?

I can’t talk about the details, but they were going to give me freedom to express myself and back me financially. Talent is like 60%, money is 40%. The contract was supposed to be a relief. It was me trusting them to make me grow in ways I couldn’t do as an independent artist. 

How’s it working out?

There’s been ups and down. A couple of things have happened in the past months, so it’s currently on hold. That’s the simplest way I can put it.  

So, how have you been making sure money comes in?

This music business get as e be. No matter how big you are, you can’t tell how busy you will be in a week or a month. 2020 was chaos. I literally didn’t have any public performance. I made the bulk of my income from songwriting.

Do you track how much you make in a month?

I make about ₦200,000 – ₦300,000 every month. But it’s not set in stone. I’ve made ₦100,000 in a month. I’ve made ₦500,000 in another month. It depends on how the market moves. 

Can you break down your monthly expenses?

This definitely goes up on the month I have to pay rent. Rent is #520k

Do you have a savings plan?

I used to be about that life, but I’ve found that it’s better to invest. I put ₦400,000 in an agriculture business recently. It isn’t a lot, but it looks promising. I have other running investments too.

How much do you currently have in investments?

I don’t know. They’re everywhere. I’m not good at tracking them.

What aspect of your finances do you think you could be better at?

Bringing my investments together. At the moment, they are all over the place. I’m struggling with getting a grip and knowing where my money is and what it is currently doing. 

What do you want right now but can’t afford?

Omo, I can’t afford the kind of promotion I want for my music. On average, promotion costs on one song can run into ₦10,000,000. 

 Also, if you want social media influencers to talk about your song and sometimes get you on the trend tables, you have to distribute reasonable sums to them. 

Record labels budget between ₦10,000,000 and ₦15,000,000 on a single. Some go as high as ₦20,000,000 if they want to disturb everywhere.

Bruh!

A lot of work goes into making a song. Some of us aren’t as big as we probably deserve though we have songs that can compete with the best. But promotion is a different beast. It’s sad, but it is what it is. 

And this is where record labels come in. They have money and they are risk takers. But in some cases, they also have the power to rip you off when you blow. The industry is a lot. Talent isn’t enough — that’s for sure. 

What’s something you bought recently that improved the quality of your life?

I spent ₦300,000 on a couple of production equipment. It’s not always easy to go to the studio to record, and not all producers get the picture of what you’re trying to do. It helps if you can do some of these things yourself. They weren’t cheap but were totally worth it.

Would you say you’ve gotten your big break yet?

Lmao. I’ve not even gotten a small break. 

Lmao. On a scale of 1-10, how will you rate your financial happiness?

2. Not that I’m not content, but I always feel like there’s something more out there for me. I’m hoping my investments in agribusiness pick up the way I want. When that happens, I can move up to 5. 

On February 4, 2019, the first Naira Life went up. What had driven the creation of the series was simple — get Nigerians to open up about how they move the naira in and out of their lives, and the complexities that come with money or the lack of it. 

Since the first story went up, 99 others have followed, offering new perspectives and starting conversations. These subjects and their stories have taken you, the reader, on a journey to learning, and sometimes, unlearning things about the various intersections where living in Nigeria and the naira meet.

Now, as Naira Life hits its 100th episode, we thought this might be a good time to talk to Fu’ad Lawal, who as you know, created the series and wrote these stories you’ve come to look forward to every Monday. He talks about the origin of Naira Life, his experiences with writing the series and the lessons that came with it. 

When did you know you wanted to write about Nigerians’ relationship with money?

My moment came in 2016. The government had just “floated” the naira, and I had no clue what it meant. I remember asking my brother who works in finance, “Can you explain this to me like I’m 5 years old?” He did, and I wrote the explainer like I was talking to five-year-olds. 

The real epiphany was realising that most of us don’t understand the jargon. Since then, I’ve been obsessed about figuring out ways to navigate money without the jargon.

What were the steps you took after this realisation?

The first thing, of course, was to find every resource that remotely explained money and was jargon-free. And the first thing is you realise that there were next to no local examples. I wrote a few articles, but nothing significant as a body of work. Until 2019.

When you started writing Naira Life. How did you figure out the structure the series would take?

I’m a shameless copycat. I knew I wanted to write about money and people, so I studied every money confessional I could find, looking for patterns. Two stood out for me: Refinery29’s Money Diaries and an Esquire interview I’d read in 2017. I liked the Esquire interview for the structure and the Money Diaries for the visual language. The structure of Naira Life evolved as I wrote and got feedback weekly.

I have a thing for firsts. Tell me about how the first Naira Life story happened.

We were toying with the idea of flagships — something that would stick out and people could look forward to. I wasn’t supposed to write it, but I got tired of waiting for it, and one Friday, I told the team I was going to send in a story on Sunday. I ran into a friend over the weekend, and we were talking about money. I was like, “Guy I want to write a story about this. Do you mind?” And he was like, “Sure.” 

Cool. How did you identify subjects after then? Something you looked out for, maybe?

Even that evolved. Then, I tried to explore a perspective or income bracket I hadn’t explored before. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I failed. What I knew was that a story had to hit the internet every Monday at 9 a.m.

How did this affect your process? The fact that a story had to be up every Monday?

I think it’s called work.

Dead. What was your biggest challenge about writing Naira Life?

The trap of the low hanging fruit. It was easier to write about someone in my network than to go speak to a soldier at Jaji in Kaduna. Or to convince a waiter on his day off to leave his home and come have lunch with me.

The most difficult thing to navigate was trust, and it’s easier to gain trust when a person is looking at you from the other end of the table.

Trust is a delicate thing, so I’m curious to know how you navigated it. Did you go into each conversation knowing that you would gain the subject’s trust or hoping you would?

Hoping. I once spoke to an executive at a Fortune 500 company who, after an hour, told me that they couldn’t disclose how much they earned. On a very late night in the Northeast, I spoke to an evangelist who told me the hack to growing the congregation was a marketing game, not a spiritual game. He suddenly lost all sense of hearing when it was time to talk about income. I have at least a dozen of those.

Do you think these experiences are a testament to the theory that Nigerians believe that having conversations about money is “immoral”?

Framing it around morality is oversimplifying it. It’s less about morality and more about consequence, especially since we live in a tribal society. For example, when some Naira Life subjects have discussed income with their families, there was a higher tendency for their family to come and inform them when fuel finishes in the gen. 

Quite often, people expect that your privilege comes with responsibilities. Many people I’d spoken to had friends that had no clue how much they earned. I find that friends in the same income bracket have no trouble discussing their income compared to financial outliers.

Speaking of income brackets, there’s a misconception that Naira Life is for rich people, how did you ensure balance in stories?

People have a bias for people with plenty of money. More people are actually struggling than balling ridiculously in Naira Life. 

What are the patterns consistent with every Naira Life story?

Beyond competence, privilege and how you leverage it is the single biggest determinant of how much you earn. Part of privilege here is the background. A person whose first computer was at a cybercafe with a one hour cap is not the same as a person whose first computer was the one their parents bought them when they were kids. 

 Quite often, the difference between a person earning X vs another person earning 5X is the quality of information they have access to. People tend to demand more when they know people who earn more. This happens in the workplace or even amongst friends. It’s like money rituals in movies. You don’t see a ritualist going to the market to announce that he knows how to turn blood to money. They initiate a desperate friend. So, it’s quite common even in jobs where bloodletting is not involved that people start to earn more because of a friend. Sometimes, when one person earns significantly more than their friends, it’s not uncommon that they change friends.

Do you think Nigerians have anxiety about money?

Yes. It appears every single person I’ve spoken to has anxiety about money. When people have a significant income jump, they tend to blow their first big cheque on lau lau. People who have a deserter parent tend to be obsessed about providing for the people they care about, sometimes at their detriment. People who have experienced poverty tend to flee from it in every aspect of their lives. Sometimes, that even means detesting anyone and anything that threatens to take them back. Others suffer significantly from class anxiety in spaces that they know their parents will probably never enter. It’s wild in these streets.

Sometimes, these anxieties are gendered.

How?

This is not empirical, but women, more than men, tend to think about money as a tool for safety and security. It’s not uncommon to hear a woman say, “I just want to look at my bank account and smile.” Men have a greater tendency to want to “rough it”. 

Also, men have more money than women, but women have a wider range of buying decisions. Men have deeper pockets while women have wider tastes. This is common knowledge.

Word. I’m curious, what’s your favourite Naira Life story?

This is hard. I’m not sure I have a favourite. I have themes that I look forward to exploring. I like stories that show people a world they didn’t previously have access to, especially when the people in these stories are the ones that they might have encountered, like service people, traders etc.

I also like stories that show other people how to make money. Because the single most important human pursuit is to increase people’s quality of life. More often than not, people’s quality of life and choices improve when they have more money.

That oil and gas engineer story was huge though. And it’s the most popular NairaLife story ever. How did writing that feel?

I knew it was going to bang — he’s rich but not doing a lot of rich people things. The things he prioritised, the things he didn’t were fascinating. I enjoyed talking to him, and navigating the complexities, said and unsaid. 

What’s the future of Naira Life like?

I’d like to see more themes. More income brackets, more complexities. I believe that what Naira Life is doing is making a collage of the Nigerian financial experience. 100 episodes in, and it doesn’t even cover 10%. I want to see more perspective across age brackets, geography, faith, disciplines. 

I’d also like to see more Naira Life of things. What is the cost of X? We’ve seen the Naira Life of people. I want to see the Naira Life of companies. You know, I was obsessed about doing the Naira Life of Nigeria itself, but I guess you’ll just have to wait for that. 

When people want to understand how money moved in Nigeria two decades from now, you want them to come to Naira Life to understand it.

What question should I have asked but didn’t?

Haha. I’ve seen this question before. Ask me about the weight of Naira Life in my personal life.

Let’s hear it.

It’s the weight that comes with people sharing things with you that they haven’t yet shared with anyone in their own lives. And because they’ve let you in on this aspect of their lives, there’s a tendency for them to share major life updates and changes. The handyman from last year has told me about two job changes. I ran into a subject with a saving addiction a few weeks ago, and we spent about 20 minutes talking about how much has changed since the last Naira Life. 

The greatest privilege of writing Naira Life is not the things that made it into the final edit but the things that didn’t. 

I also enjoy hearing the occasional, “I feel better talking about this, thank you.” Glad I could help.

On a scale of 1-10, how much did you enjoy writing Naira Life?

Hahaha. 14. The range of my perspective expanded beyond measure and changed my life forever. I don tear the scale mehn!

Lmao. This one is for the people. What’s your oldest memory of money?

This story is gross. It was a rainy school day in Primary 3. I always showed up to school ridiculously early or ridiculously late. It’s what happens when you live in Ikorodu and go to school in Surulere. My parents had just dropped me off at school early in the morning, but the journey from the car to my class was enough to get me wet. I also needed to take a quick shit, so I ran straight to the class toilet. 

For some reason, I thought the paper in my pocket was tissue. I was as absent-minded then as I am now, and hearing the paper rip apart was when I looked down at my hands. I saw the disappointed face of Murtala looking up at me. My ₦20 spending money was destroyed. 

That money could buy me five pieces of coconut candy, one toy soldier and enough change for the beggar at my school junction.

Eww. Thank you, Fu’ad. This was fun.

Lmao. Thank you.

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

Do you remember how much your first job paid you?

Ah yes. My first job was at the Federal Palace Hotel in 1988. This job came after I finished catering school. My salary was ₦125; I also got an allowance that took my money up to ₦165. Back then, taking a taxi to work cost about ₦10. 

Ah, interesting. 

Yes. I started as a waitress working at the restaurant. Then, we used to entertain all these company executives and government officials. In those days, whenever there was an event at the banquet hall, I was usually picked to attend to them. 

Do you remember how much you earned when you were leaving? 

I can’t. I had all the documents, but everything was lost when my father’s house got burned in 1996. I think it was around ₦1,000 when I left in 1993. My older brother took me to a newly opened Ecobank branch to sell food to the staff. 

Hmm. How much did you sell food at the time?

I can’t remember the actual amount, but I remember that the staff I was catering to used to buy my fried rice and plantain. I left there in 1995 — I had to go and give birth to my second child. Then my third child came some years later. 

You already gave birth to a first child? 

Yes, I did. I had my first child in 1991. In fact, I was working at the Federal Palace restaurant throughout my pregnancy. It was an easy pregnancy, so I could work. But when my second child was born, I was always sick, so I  was at home a lot. After the birth, I started selling moin-moin and akara. 

Do you remember how much your moin-moin was when you started? 

Yes! It was ₦10 for plain moin-moin. Then later, I started putting eggs. Half an egg made the moin-moin ₦30. Moin-moin with a full egg was ₦50.

I have sold moin-moin since then. In fact, in the area where I used to live, they used to call me moin-moin special. 

Moin-moin special!

I’ve been doing it for about twenty-four years now. Although, now I sell rice at my stand too. I’ve also been doing catering work for events. Remember, I’m a professional caterer. 

Well done ma! What’s the most memorable job you’ve done since you started catering? 

The Sports Festival in 2012. I was one of the people selected to cater to athletes and officials during the festival. My job was to cater to 100 people, thrice a day.

The festival lasted for 13 days. That’s up to 3900 meals.

The thing is I was even preparing food for more than the required every day.

The government paid ₦2.3 million before we started and paid another ₦2 million at the end of the tournament. A lot of that money went into buying things like freezers and equipment for cooking. 

I imagine that you had some money after you’d settled all your bills. 

Yes. I put it into a fixed deposit and spent from it till it got to ₦200k. There’s always something to spend on. That period, my last child was entering secondary school, so I bought him all the things he needed for school. 

Another business I’ve done is cater to schools. 

Tell me more about that

One of my friends was having a conversation with someone, and the person mentioned that they needed a caterer at their school. My friend introduced me to that person, and that’s how I began. I’d package the food and get people working for me to distribute it. At the height of it, I was selling food to four schools. 

But I had to pause. 

Why?

We moved to where we now live in 2018, which is very far from where the schools are. So when we moved here, I applied to another school here and started from there.  

I’d like to understand how you think about the money you earn. 

When you’re running a small business, the only thing you’re thinking of is your daily contribution. When I first moved to the area where I now live, I started ajo at ₦500 per day. But they can also run away with your money. 

Ah. 

Yes. One woman ran away with my ₦10k a few years ago. Another person has run away with my money too. 

Do you trust them?  

The thing is, you can’t do without them. They always come to you. Even when I did it with one bank, they sent someone every day. They said that instead of Alajo, they’ll help us keep the money, and we’ll collect it at the ATM.

There was one man that used to come here. He’d collect my money, and I won’t see alert. I found out later that they sacked him because he was stealing people’s money. 

Wow. About your business. Since you’re thinking daily about earnings, how do you plan market runs? 

Before, I used to buy in bulk, but now, the price of everything is high. A bag of rice is too expensive. Over the years, I’ve watched a bag of foreign rice go from ₦6,500 to ₦30k. The gains we used to make have reduced. 

But in the end, we cook every day so we can get the money to pay for what we bought first, and ajo next. My current ajo is ₦7,500 per week. Currently, all the money I have deposited is ₦82k.

How do you manage to support your family and pay bills? 

You know this life is not balanced. Sometimes, you’ll make the money. Sometimes, you won’t. One time, I had to pay school fees for my last born, and then I couldn’t afford to pay rent after. It was my other two children that are now working that helped me pay for it. 

Do you have a sense of what your monthly budget is? 

I can’t even say right now because you’ll be thinking of A and B will come up. For instance, I gathered some money to use for something, then a tap in the house went bad. Then the fan. Before I knew it, I’d already spent ₦6k. That wasn’t in my budget. The money from my ajo that I wanted to use to buy something I needed, I couldn’t. 

Do you understand? 

Yes, I do. 

I also have to worry about paying my staff. I used to have four people working for me, but when business wasn’t moving, I reduced it to two. One collects ₦1k per day while the other collects ₦500 per day. 

What’s a good day like money wise for your business? 

It’s not been much, especially this year. In fact, when we were in lockdown, we had to live on our ajo contributions. 

What’s something you want right now but can’t afford?

Moving affected me, and COVID-19 too. I need a better place to stay, like a shop (instead of selling from this small shed). If I can rent a shop, I’ll be able to buy freezers and stock up. 

Talking about retirement, when do you think you’ll be able to retire or reduce the stress? 

In this business, it’s your staff that will determine how much rest you get. Unless I get a food place that’s not small where people can now know you, it’s hard to retire. When you have a bigger place, you’ll get more customers so more staff. You’ll also be able to pay them well. One of my staff wants to leave in December. 

Another thing that will help is if I start getting parties to cater for regularly. 

Do you have any plans for emergencies? What do you do when you get sick? 

No, I don’t have any plans. Last year, I was treating malaria, but I think it was stress. My children have told me to stop coming here, that they’ll give me money. But I tell them no, I’m not an old woman yet. The only thing is, I wish I had a shop where I can sit down comfortably. 

Do you have any financial regrets? 

One time, I wanted to buy a piece of land for about ₦80k, then one of my friends told me, “Ah, have you told your husband about it?” I told my husband, and he discouraged me, so I spent the money. I immediately regretted it. 

How would you score your financial happiness, on a scale of 1-10?

I can’t even score it. I’m not happy about my business. This is not how I expected it. I’m just doing it because I have to. My day starts at about six in the morning and ends around eleven at night sometimes.

You know, there are some things that give you joy at the time you’re expecting it, but the joy is not here at all. I’m not really getting what I expected. There’s so much I want to pay for that I can’t. Yesterday’s own is not cleared, today’s is still here too. 

The thing that will make everything better is when I can start catering again. A shop would reduce my stress. I’ll score it when I feel like my business is better.