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.

What’s your earliest memory of money?

I became conscious of money around the age of 15. I noticed my family wasn’t buoyant, so whenever money entered my hands — mostly gifts from family members — I held onto it like treasure because it didn’t come often.

Tell me more about your family’s financial situation

Things were much better when I was a child. Then I lost my dad in 2009, and my mum, a civil servant, had to single-handedly provide for five children on her little salary. 

My dad was a prominent figure, but he had six wives, and after he passed away, everyone just faced their lives. Sometimes I think that things would have turned out differently if my dad hadn’t married many wives. His reason was that he was his family’s only child, and he didn’t want his own children to be alone. 

I remember once, after my dad’s death, my mum asked one of his friends to help with my school fees. The friend put three mint ₦100 notes in my hands. Of course, that wasn’t enough for anything, and I sat at home that term. My dad died when I was in primary 6, and I couldn’t go to school for two terms because of school fees. My mum eventually sold most of her jewellery and wrappers to get me back to school. 

That was one of several situations that pushed me to notice our financial situation and start seeing money as something to hold onto. The minute I finished secondary school in 2015, I took up the first opportunity I found to make money.

What opportunity was that?

I got a job helping my dad’s friend sell goods at his provision store. I worked 12 hours every day, and he paid me ₦8000/month. Most times, I didn’t get the full amount because customers owed me. I don’t really know how to confront people, and when customers defaulted on payment, I had to take the loss. 

I worked for this man for about a year. He also had a son who was my age mate, and had gotten into a college of education. His son introduced me to gambling in 2016.

How did that happen?

He came to the shop one day, and I overheard him and his dad talking about how they had staked ₦200 on a bet and won ₦6000. It sounded like big money to me. I mean, they’d just made more than half of my salary in a day. The idea captured my mind, and I thought about it all day. 

The following weekend, I went to a betting shop and observed the virtual games. I stood there for like 30 minutes, and every result I forecasted in my head came true. I felt like I was already a hero and decided to play. I didn’t have any money, so I asked someone there for money, promising to refund him when I won. The person was like, “That’s now how they do here.” 

But I was confident I would win, so I ran home, took ₦3000 of my boss’s money, and ran back to the betting shop to play. I played and played until I lost all the money. 

I should have stopped after I made the first couple of losses, but I kept thinking I could win it all back. I sha lost everything, and that’s how my journey with gambling started. 

Phew. Did your boss find out about the money you lost?

He didn’t immediately realise the loss, so I took more of his money back to the betting shop a couple of times to try to win back what I originally lost. When my boss eventually noticed, he sent me to his second store, where he sold alcohol, to work for a few months to repay him. 

This didn’t stop me from gambling. I was returning home late every night from work and still finding time to gamble. But I was somewhat in control of the urge.

However, the habit worsened when I entered the polytechnic later that year. My mum gave me ₦1500 to take to school and manage. It was too small to do anything, so I turned to the betting shops again with the hope of making more money. Still, it was loss upon loss. 

One time, I was returning from the betting shop and got into a car accident. Thankfully, I didn’t get injured. I managed to pause gambling until I finished my national diploma programme in 2018.

What did you do next?

I returned home for a while and searched for admission to do my HND programme. Unfortunately, things were very bad at home. My younger brother was in secondary school, and my eldest sister was in school for her HND programme. In my house, the girls’ allowances were prioritised to prevent them from doing what they weren’t supposed to do in search of money. 

That meant there was no money for me. When I eventually got admission, my mum managed to raise only ₦30k out of the ₦45k fee. She told me to hold on or go to school and manage while she tried to raise more money for me. I couldn’t wait, and I went fully back to betting. 

I gambled away the entire ₦30k. I was too ashamed to tell my mum I’d lost the money, so I turned to loan apps to borrow money. I gambled away most of that too. When I was left with only ₦6k, I told my mum I was travelling to school to resume. 

You weren’t, I guess?

Not really. I just wanted to see if I could work for a while and raise the money back. On the bus to Kaduna (where the school was located), I lied to the driver that I was an orphan and had no money or anywhere to stay. Honestly, I really had nothing. I didn’t even have a mobile phone because I’d sold it and gambled with the money.

The driver connected me to someone who helped me find work at a popular junction in Kaduna. You know those guys who load buses and control vehicles on the road? That was what I did. During the day, I worked at the park, and at night, I slept in a classroom on the school campus. 

What was the pay like for loading vehicles?

I made ₦20 – ₦50 per car I loaded. Sometimes I made more by carrying passengers’ bags and escorting them to the roadside where they’d find buses. The roadside buses were cheaper than those in the park. So, when I found a bus, I’d negotiate with the driver and get a cut out of whatever fare they settled on with the passenger. My share was usually ₦500. 

I earned ₦600 – ₦1000 per day. I managed to save enough to get a small phone after a few weeks, and my income typically went to food and data. On days when I was extra broke, I’d sneak people’s SIMs (mostly the people I stayed with in school) to borrow data for my phone. 

Were you still gambling during this period?

I was. I’d even moved to gambling on my phone. It wasn’t as bad as when I was in school, though. I was consciously trying to save for my HND. 

However, after months of hustling and enduring terrible living conditions, I managed to save only ₦18k. I still had to use that to get a better phone. Ultimately, I decided to just return home and find a better job. 

I deferred my admission and lied to my mum that I couldn’t complete the registration because we hadn’t completed the fees yet, and it was late. I convinced her that the school held the money she gave me and that I only needed to complete it later to resume school. In reality, I hadn’t even paid anything. 

While at home, someone helped me get a SIM registration gig. There was no salary; the telecoms company just gave me the registration kit and free SIMs. Whatever money I got from selling the SIMs was mine to keep; I just needed to make sure I sold them so my boss would get his commission from the company. I made ₦15k from the gig and stopped when it stopped moving.

Next, I worked as a “boy boy” for someone who sold tiles. My job was to load tiles for his customers. I worked there for a month, and he paid me ₦15k. My thinking was that I’d gather all the money and return to school. Unfortunately, I loaned ₦15k to a family friend, but he didn’t pay it back. I was back to square zero. This was now 2020.

You couldn’t return to school

I barely had money to survive. So again, I returned to gambling. I won some money here and there, but instead of stopping, I’d think, “Let me just try and make more.” Eventually, I’d lose everything I won.

Feeding was so difficult. I mostly depended on my brother to feed me. Sometimes, he’d give me ₦1k for two days. Other times, I’d starve all day, then eat bread and soft drinks at night. I did multiple random jobs for money, but all my income still went back to gambling.

One day, hunger made me remember I had some SIMs I hadn’t yet sold. So, I talked to another guy who was also into the SIM registration gig, and he offered me ₦800 for them. When I took the SIMs to him, I met him sitting in front of his shop, with his phone beside him. When he went inside to bring the money, he left his phone outside, and I quickly pocketed it, intending to sell it to buy food. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t realise the phone was playing music through a Bluetooth speaker. So, when I quickly walked away, thinking I’d successfully stolen the phone, the speaker disconnected and the music stopped playing. The guy immediately knew it was me. 

Hmmm

A crowd quickly gathered, beat me for hours, and then locked me in a public toilet. Fortunately, they didn’t go the jungle justice route; they handed me over to the police instead. I slept in jail that night. My mum and brother settled the police with money before they released me the next day.

After that, I took a job with a lotto shop, basically helping the owners oversee the shop for ₦10k/month.

Was that the best decision, considering the gambling problem?

I actually didn’t play the lotto; I preferred football betting and virtual games on online betting platforms. Ironically, one of these platforms had a shop just beside where I worked. 

So, I began going there every day; sometimes, I even played without money. They knew I worked close by, and they waited for me to sell before settling them. I also started using my boss’s money to gamble and constantly owed him. After plenty of quarrels and demands from my boss to refund his money, he eventually got me arrested — my second time in jail. Again, I called my brother to bail me out.

At this point, my whole family was worried. They were like, “What is happening to you? You’re the cool type.” They didn’t understand why gambling had such a hold on me. I didn’t understand either.  

That wasn’t the last time I was arrested.

It happened again?

Yes. While I was working at the lotto shop, I had stolen another phone and sold it for ₦30k to repay a debt to my boss. After the jail issue, I returned to the area where the person I sold the phone to lived. I was there to sell some more SIMs. That’s how his neighbour saw me and asked me to wait, saying he wanted to tell me something. I didn’t know he was going to bring the police. 

Apparently, the phone’s owner had tracked it, and the person who bought it from me had gotten into trouble. This time, I went to an actual prison. I met multiple people in the cell, and the “boss” beat me and ate my food. 

Phew. Did your family intervene this time around?

My brother initially refused to come, saying he was tired of me. It was my mum who did the running around. I spent a week in that prison. 

The phone’s owner lied, saying I broke into their house to steal the phone and some gold. They claimed the value of everything I stole was ₦600k. I knew I stole just the phone, but I also lied that I didn’t actually steal anything. In fact, when I sold the phone, I’d created a fake receipt online and claimed my girlfriend had sent it to me. To this day, my mum still believes I didn’t steal it.

After plenty of back-and-forth, they agreed we should pay ₦300k. My mum liquidated her rice business and borrowed money to raise ₦150k before I could leave prison. We were supposed to pay the balance in ₦40k instalments, but my mum paid the first instalment and stopped paying. Thankfully, they didn’t disturb us.

In 2021, I secured another admission to a polytechnic for my HND programme. 

What was the plan to fund it?

I didn’t have money, so I involved my mum. She was reluctant to raise money for me because of all the trouble I’d gotten into in one year. It took a lot of pleading and assurances that I would avoid trouble before she paid my school fees and let me go.

Since I could only afford tuition, I had to squat with someone in school. I lived on this person’s grace. At first, things went well. He was a praying type who loved reading, and I also started reading. However, he started complaining about the living expenses, since he handled most of them. I was ashamed.

During that period, my mum sent me ₦4k to help cover food expenses. I felt somehow about only contributing that amount. I needed to do something. I needed to earn money. So you know what I did?

You gambled it away?

Yes. I lost everything. I even borrowed ₦10k more from the bet shop owner to play more, believing I would win. Our agreement was that I’d pay him ₦15k back. 

I still lost, and now, I was in debt. The guy seized my phone, and I told him I could sell it so I’d pay him back. Then I offered my roommate’s laptop as collateral. I didn’t tell my roommate.

I sold the phone for ₦12k. Yes, I gambled away the money I made from the sale.

Ah

See. I forced myself to stop after I only had ₦5k left. I had to lie to my roommate that I had forgotten his laptop at school — thankfully, it was the weekend — while I searched for ways to repay the bet shop owner before Monday. I was unsuccessful.

My roommate eventually found out and got the school security involved. Those ones held me until my mum came to pay the money. This time, it was ₦20k. She was saving the money to pay for my sister’s ND admission. This delayed my sister’s school plans.

My roommate sent me out of his room. I had to sleep in the streets and bathe in a friend’s house for a couple of weeks. 

That’s tough

I can’t even go into all the things I went through. My remaining time in school was a cycle of gambling and doing random things for money. One of them included washing cars, for which I was paid ₦300 per car.

Around the time I graduated in 2023, I started making some money from Facebook giveaways. Here’s how it worked: I followed popular pages on the platform, and a lot of them offered giveaways to super fans who shared their content and engaged with their posts. Sometimes, I got gigs to share giveaways on behalf of these pages with other fans. I was making ₦40k – ₦60k monthly. 

I stopped gambling at this point because I was making regular money. I even had a girlfriend. Then one day, my girlfriend learnt that my younger sister’s boyfriend had bought her an iPhone. My girlfriend got jealous and implied I wasn’t doing things for her. I was triggered. Me too, I wanted to do something for my girlfriend and even upgrade my own phone. So, I returned to gambling.

Omo

I had ₦150k in my account and lost everything in the twinkle of an eye. I started begging to feed again. See, it was a terrible time. I don’t think I’ve recovered from that loss. Now, I don’t even make money from Facebook anymore because Mark keeps restricting accounts.

I got a teaching job in March 2025 that pays me ₦60k/month. In fact, when I joined, my salary was ₦45k; they just increased it to ₦60k in February 2026. I know how much this gambling addiction has taken from me. Since I graduated in 2023, I haven’t gone for my NYSC because I can’t afford ₦45k to travel to school, sort out my JAMB regularisation, and clear my results.

I’m constantly in debt. I took an advance loan from my February salary before it even entered, and I only collected ₦25k as salary. I’ve done fake transfers a few times because of hunger. I really don’t want to bring shame to my family again, but it’s so hard. 

All my problems started because I wanted to win ₦6000 with ₦200. The people who inspired me to gamble have stopped and are doing better with their lives, while I’ve been trapped for 10 years. I must’ve lost over ₦2m to this problem.

I’m sorry you’re going through all this. What do you think makes it difficult to stop gambling?

I don’t know. Whenever I have money, something just keeps telling me, “Go and gamble.” It’s difficult to ignore that urge, especially when I’m lonely. 

I don’t have friends or anyone to talk to, mostly because I stopped trusting people after experiencing how my dad’s friends treated us. The only problem is that the loneliness encourages my addiction. I haven’t told anyone the extent of my gambling problem. My family has an idea, but they don’t know it’s this bad. 

I know it might be hard to leave it totally, but I believe if I can stop for three months straight and focus on my other talents, I’ll be free.

Tell me more about these talents

I believe I have what it takes to make money from social media. I also have some musical talent. I recently won a competition a musician hosted on Twitter, but he didn’t pay me. Maybe he got busy. I know I can become someone in life; I just need someone to groom me on the right path. 

Fingers crossed. What kind of life does your current income afford you now?

My salary allows me to afford food, and also support my siblings once in a while. At 28, I should be doing more for myself and for my family. My mates are married, but I can’t even think of that. Right now, I’m owing ₦70k. It’s a struggle.

How much do you think would make you comfortable?

₦100k/month would be great. In fact, the ₦60k I earn now is not bad if I manage it well. I plan to arrange it so my mum receives my salary, and I just collect money from her when I have a genuine need until I’m able to stop gambling.

Let’s break down your typical monthly expenses

My salary was just increased to ₦60k, so this is how I hope to spend it monthly:

I live with a colleague in a room at the school, so that cuts out rent and transportation costs. This savings plan is with the hope that I can stop gambling and stick to saving with my mum. 

Is there anything you want right now but can’t afford?

Honestly, right now, it’s just fruits. I’m fasting, and as I speak to you, I don’t know what the plan for tomorrow’s fast is. I just head to the mosque daily to break my fast and collect the fruits they share.

I hope things get easier. How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?

2. I can barely afford my needs, and I can’t even tell people because they’ll say, “But you’re working. Where’s your salary?” Where do I want to start explaining from? Anyway, I’m good sha. I’m used to the hard life. I just pray things get better soon.

Find all the past Naira Life stories here.