After years of showing up for everyone, paying black tax and putting herself last, Motun* (30) decided to do something radical for her 30th birthday: choose herself.
In this story, she shares how she spent her entire savings over a weekend, and why she has no regrets.
This is Motun’s story, as told to Boluwatife
On the morning after my birthday weekend, I woke up in a fluffy white robe, body sore from dancing. The first thing I did was turn on my phone.
The screen lit up, and my eye caught a debit alert from my bank. I’d gotten similar alerts all weekend and deliberately ignored them. But I couldn’t run away from reality anymore.
My account balance read ₦18,710. I was aggressively broke.
My heart sank. My body wanted to go into panic mode. But then I took a deep breath. I knew why I’d done it. I chose it, and I’d do it again.
People say money can’t buy happiness, but I decided to buy my own happiness this year. I turned 30, and was sure I didn’t want to stick to my tradition of doing things lowkey.
Usually, the most I do for my birthday is buy a cake and take pictures with my family and friends. If I wanted to do more, I’d buy a pair of shoes I’d been eyeing for months. I always told myself I didn’t need to spend money to have a good time. There were more important things to spend on.
This year, I didn’t want “affordable” joy; I wanted the full experience, and that’s what I did during my birthday weekend. At the end, I spent just over ₦2 million. And no, I’m not rich; not even close. I’m just a brand manager earning ₦450k/month. But for once, I made myself the priority.
Why? I was tired of performing survival and prioritising everyone except myself.
I’m the first child of four, born and raised in a household where the idea of luxury was eating Mr Biggs’ meatpie and ice cream on birthdays. I started contributing to the family income right after NYSC in 2018.
While some people were building savings or buying new clothes to treat themselves, I was paying rent for my retired parents, covering hospital bills for my sister, who lives with sickle cell, and scraping every naira to survive.
Every debit alert had a purpose. Once my salary hit, I had to sort out my family first before thinking of anything else. It wasn’t always easy, but I have to say I wasn’t obligated to play this role; it just felt like love. It didn’t make sense that my family should struggle when I was in a position to help.
I wasn’t carrying all the burdens alone. My immediate younger brother also pitched in when he could. If the economy had been better and my sister had been healthier, the financial burden wouldn’t have been that much. Perhaps I’d have been able to still have a life while assisting my family. Unfortunately, that’s what life threw at us.
That said, I don’t regret any of it. Again, it’s my family, and I couldn’t abandon them. But somewhere along the line, I forgot what it meant to do something for myself. Not just keeping a ₦20k shoe or dress in my wishlist for months and using my birthday as the only reasonable excuse to buy it, but something radically joyful that didn’t serve anyone but me.
One day in 2023, it really hit me that I needed to pay more attention to my needs. I spent weeks agonising over whether to drop ₦12k on photochromic glasses.
The constant headaches I got from working on my laptop were enough proof to buy them, but I still hesitated.
Around the same period, a family need came up and I sent ₦20k without thinking twice. I remember thinking, “I have to learn how to choose myself.”
So, when I hit 30, it wasn’t just a birthday. It was a quiet rebellion.
I saved for almost two years. When I intentionally started saving in 2023, the goal wasn’t to spend it all on my birthday. I just wanted to put something aside to call my own. So, even when the black tax requests piled in, I ensured they didn’t affect my ₦20k – ₦30k monthly savings.
The idea to spend it all on my 30th birthday materialised early this year. By then, I had just about ₦500k in savings, but I unexpectedly got two freelance projects back-to-back that brought me about ₦1.5m.
I considered locking up the money somewhere in case of any family emergency, but someone posted their birthday celebration on Instagram, and the idea came to me: What better way to shake off the shackles of responsibility and force myself to live for me than doing something extremely crazy?
So, I started planning. I didn’t tell anyone about my windfall to avoid the temptation of dipping into it to help them if they returned with a request.
I booked a photographer whose work I’d admired for the longest time. Dropping ₦350k for a birthday shoot caused me actual chest pain, but there was no going back. That same day, I bought a wig and closed my eyes as I pressed “send” on the ₦600k transaction.
My birthday was still a few months away, but I worried I’d talk myself into not spending the money if I let it sit in my account. So, I went all out. I got a new dress, had my makeup done and got the most stunning pictures I’ve ever seen in my life. I still look at those pictures occasionally to remind myself I’m a gorgeous babe.
When my birthday actually came, I booked a beachfront apartment for the weekend and hung out with my best friend. We got food, took pictures and videos, explored activities, curated a Spotify playlist and danced like we had no worries.
The final bill, including the pre-birthday shoot and expenses, was just over ₦2m. It would have been more, but my best friend shared some of the weekend getaway expenses (mostly the food). The whole affair seriously depleted my savings, but I regret nothing.
Okay, maybe I regretted it for about five minutes when I saw my account balance. But I enjoyed the experience. I wanted to spend money without doing mental maths or worrying about having enough left to survive or provide for my family.
I gave to myself with the same intensity and intentionality I’ve given to everyone else for years.
Somehow, I survived the remaining few days of that month with the ₦18,710 in my account before my salary came. Sure, I drank garri more than a few times, but I didn’t die.
Was the birthday splurge selfish or even foolish? Maybe. But I think I deserve to be selfish and foolish a few times in this adult life. I’ve always made sensible decisions and shown up for other people. It was the first time I showed up for myself.
Would I do it again? Maybe not any time soon. My bank account deserves a sabbatical. For now, I’ll focus on getting more freelance projects and growing my account to the point where ₦2m no longer feels like big money.
However, I can say I’m no longer waiting for permission to live beautifully. After everything I’ve given to others, I deserve softness, too — not as a reward for hard work, but as my baseline.
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The topic of how young Nigerians navigate romantic relationships with their earnings is a minefield of hot takes. In Love Currency, we get into what relationships across income brackets look like in different cities.
Interested in talking about how money moves in your relationship? If yes, click here.
How long have you been with your partner?
Ben and I met in 2017 and got married the following year. We’ve been together for eight years.
How did you meet?
Our parents are family friends. One day, my mum said, “Do you remember Mummy Ben? She’s looking for a wife for her son, and I think you should meet him. He’s a good boy.”
At 28, it wasn’t the first or fifteenth time my mum had tried to set me up with someone. I always found a way to ignore her matchmaking attempts. But this time, I was just tired. I’d just left a relationship after discovering my “boyfriend” was actually somebody’s husband. I was at the point where I didn’t even want to do love again.
If I were going to get married, someone would have to literally carry and put me inside the marriage because I didn’t have strength for boyfriend-girlfriend again. So, when my mum brought up Ben’s matter, I was just like, “Oya. Bring him.”
We met up, and surprisingly, I found him attractive and funny, so we just continued. I don’t think we ever actually said, “We’re dating now.” We just found ourselves in the relationship.
Do you have any idea why Ben was open to being matchmade?
I later found out that he was planning to leave the country to join his brother, and his family wanted him to marry first so he wouldn’t bring a white girl home.
We started dating towards the end of 2017 and got married seven months later in 2018. Ben relocated a week after our wedding. I knew we’d have a long-distance marriage from the start, but I thought it’d be for a few months or at least a year until he settled my papers. But it’s 2025, and we still live in different countries.
Why’s that?
It’s due to a couple of issues, but the summary I can share is that Ben hasn’t been able to sort out his papers, so he can’t legally bring me over.
Interesting. How do you both navigate a long-distance marriage?
Ben visits once or twice a year and stays for a week or two. Then, we do a lot of texts and video calls. The calls involve careful planning because there’s a six-hour time difference, and finding a time that works for both of us is difficult. But we make sure to do video calls every Sunday and at least two other times during the week so the kids can see him — we have three now.
I sometimes struggle with this communication arrangement, though. There are times when I just want to gist with my husband or rant about my day, but I have to wait until midnight or the next day to talk to him because he’s at work. Also, my body is not firewood. Sometimes I wish he were close by. But what can I do? I just have to stay patient and pray that things will work out for our good soon.
How about finances? How do you both make it work?
Ben pays the children’s school fees and our house rent. He also sends us foodstuff in bulk through his mum (she’s a major supplier for most food items) every two months. Then sometimes, if I whine him enough, he sends me $50 or $100 to get myself things. But that only comes once in three or four months.
I also try not to bill him too much because of his responsibilities. He still has to pay rent and other bills over there, including travel expenses when he comes around and the fees incurred from trying to sort my papers.
I handle the other bills that come up, like electricity, fuel, children’s clothes, medicine, and any unexpected expenses from my salary. Sometimes I still have to buy food, because my children eat like no tomorrow, and the foodstuff my husband sends barely lasts two months. I also own a tailor shop in front of my house that brings me extra money. As soon as I finish work at school, I resume at my shop. I have an assistant, and she helps with some of the sewing.
What kind of money conversations do you and your husband have?
Not much. In fact, besides communication, money might be another issue we have. Ben is very guarded about money. Like, he doesn’t trust me with it. I’m not asking him to tell me how much he earns or send me money every day, but at least I should have more access to his finances.
I’ve complained about how he prefers to send money to his mum to buy us foodstuff. Why not just send me the money? I also know the road to the market. If the issue is that he wants me to patronise his mum, all he needs to do is say so when he sends the money. I tell him that his decision to give his mum money makes me feel that he doesn’t trust me with money, but he thinks I overreact.
He also argues that he’s already started the habit of sending me foodstuff through his mum, and if he stops now, she might think it’s because of me. I see his point, so I try not to complain too much, but I’m not comfortable with it.
Hmmm
It’s quite frustrating. I already know there’s no hope of getting a monthly allowance or something like that. I think the fact that he hasn’t lived in Nigeria for so long might also play a part in this. He believes I should be fine as long as there’s food and the rent is paid. But those other “small” expenses add up and finish your money. I’m almost always broke before my salary enters.
This money issue is a big reason I don’t want another child. I know Ben wants four children, and he’s already hinting at a lastborn, but me, I’ve closed shop. He doesn’t know I’m actively avoiding pregnancy. I’m already struggling to care for the ones I have. I can’t add another one, especially since he might not provide sufficient financial support. He’s trying o, but I can’t handle a fourth child if he continues like this.
Right. How do his annual visits usually go? Do you get to do things together or plan for dates?
He usually packs a lot into his schedule whenever he visits. It’s the only time he also gets to visit family and friends. So, we don’t go out like that, except when we go out with the kids to eateries and recreational centres.
Curious. Is there a potential timeline for you and the kids to join him abroad?
The plan right now is for me to join him while the kids stay with my in-laws. We can’t afford to move three children at once. I hope we’ll have my papers sorted within the next two years, but it can even be much earlier. There’s nothing God cannot do.
What’s your ideal financial future as a couple?
I think it’s pretty clear: For us to afford to move our family to the same country.
Interested in talking about how money moves in your relationship? If yes, click here.
*Names have been changed for the sake of anonymity.
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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.
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What’s your earliest memory of money?
Money was a big part of my childhood. My mum’s a hairdresser, and growing up, my siblings and I spent our extra time at her shop. At the end of the day, we’d organise my mum’s money from the smallest to the highest denomination.
My mum also sold hair products and drinks at her shop. She always told us how much she bought and resold each item, so I understood how money worked pretty early. I knew I had to add a particular percentage to items before reselling to make a profit, and to only calculate the profit as the money I made.
I applied that same knowledge to my first money-making attempt, when I sold beads at 10 years old.
10 years old?
My dad made sure his kids learned multiple skills early. He’s a well-to-do data engineer, but it was never a “My dad has money, so I’m okay” situation. He’d always tell us, “My money is my money. Learn skills so you can make your own money.”
I remember one time I sold a lot of red bracelets during Valentine’s season in school. Then I needed to buy a textbook, so I asked my dad for money. He was like, “Aren’t you making money? Use your money.” It didn’t make sense to me. In my head, my parents’ money should attend to my needs, while my money should go into my savings. But my dad thought differently. That’s the kind of person he is.
Hmmm
Anyway, back to my skills. I learnt a bunch of them. At 10, I learnt how to work with beads, which I made into bracelets and sold to my classmates. I can’t even remember how much I sold them. In JSS 2, I upgraded my skills to include wirework jewellery.
Then, in uni, I attended a two-month goldsmith training course. I’ve always loved jewellery, so I guess I followed the natural order and acquired skills related to it.
Did you try to make money from jewellery in uni?
Interestingly, I didn’t actively try to sell jewellery in uni. I may have made a few pieces, but I focused on and made a lot more from fitness.
Let me break it down. In 2019, I was in 200 level and very broke. My ₦20k monthly allowance barely covered my food, data and textbooks, so I felt like a poor church rat.
It was so bad that I literally counted how many pure water sachets would take me till the end of the month and planned around the number. Whenever my best friend came to my hostel and drank water, I’d get destabilised because it’d throw my entire ration off and trigger my anxiety.
For context, I’ve been diagnosed with anxiety and depression for years. I had my first mental breakdown after secondary school because I had to wait seven months at home. I graduated at 15, a year younger than the minimum age requirement for uni, so I had to wait and then get into a diploma program before I could get into uni.
So, when I started feeling the same way again, I saw a doctor, and at the first appointment, he said, “I know you suffer from anxiety and depression, but your biggest problem now is your finances. If you can earn more now, half your problems would go away.” He told me to think of something I could teach people to make money, and I picked fitness.
Were you already a fitness enthusiast at the time?
I’d picked it up after my mental breakdown. The doctor advised me to get into something, and I decided to try exercise. Plus, it was a way to lose weight. After a while, I tried a fitness trainer but wasn’t satisfied with the process.
It didn’t make sense to me why a trainer would tell me to squat, and when I asked why they added squats to my routine, they’d be like, “Why are you asking? I’m the professional here.” I’m someone who likes to know why I’m asked to do stuff, so I ditched the trainer and became best friends with Google.
I did my own research and learnt everything I needed about building muscles, training people, and even exercises to avoid when you have injuries or how to modify exercises based on different medical conditions.
So when the time came to pick a skill I could monetise, fitness was the easiest option. I already had a pretty good idea of what I was doing.
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How did monetisation work?
I started with one person. One thing I’ve learned from business is, you see extroverts? Hold them tight. My first client was an extrovert, and I charged her ₦5k for a month. My uni had a gym, so we’d both go there, and I’d show her exercises to do.
When my client’s friends started seeing results, they asked her, and she told them I was her trainer. That’s how I got more clients. I charged between ₦5k and ₦7k for a month, then I’d make the clients register at the gym I used so we could both attend and train. Some clients preferred morning sessions, while others preferred evening. I only had to be there whenever they were at the gym.
I had about seven regular clients, and it was my major source of income until I got to 400 level and added hairdressing and locs to my hustle.
Tell me about that
I started hairdressing by chance. I knew how to do it because that’s my mum’s job, but I grew up in an area where my mum would do hair for six hours and make ₦1500 or ₦2k. She was even one of the most expensive hairdressers. It felt like a lot of work for little money, so I never planned to do it.
Then, one day, a friend randomly posted a hairstyle on her WhatsApp status, asking for people who could do it. I told her I could, and she became my first client. It was a very complicated, niche hairstyle, and I think she paid me ₦17k or ₦20k.
Remember what I said about extroverts? This friend was an extrovert, and she brought me three more clients. And those ones also brought more people. That’s how I kept getting customers. At one point, I did my best friend’s hair, and it went viral on TikTok. That hairstyle brought me so many customers.
I also started getting requests from people who wanted to install locs. In my final year, I comfortably made between ₦50k and ₦100k/month from hairdressing and fitness training.
Did you have to learn how to install locs?
Yes and no. There are about three installation methods for locs; I already knew two and learnt the third one on YouTube.
Some context: I wanted to install my locs in 2022, but locticians charged ₦50k. That was big money for me, so I learnt how to do it, taught my mum, then had her install my locs for me.
I respect the dedication to not paying a dime. Did you continue both hustles after uni?
Yes, I did. Instead of returning home after graduating in 2023, I rented a ₦20k/month hostel around school and continued my work. Managing both gigs was pretty seamless. I could do hair in the morning and then go to the gym in the evening. I just made the appointments work around my schedule. Plus, I didn’t always have clients every day.
My rates for fitness training remained in the ₦5k – ₦7k range because I had the same set of clients.
But I made more money from hair and installing locs. My rates for locs were a flat ₦20k for installation and ₦7k for retie. I typically got at least one new client monthly. I also got the occasional food and allowance from home. My dad slashed the latter to ₦10k as punishment for refusing to return home.
I’m curious, was there a reason why you didn’t want to return?
All I can say is, that neighbourhood isn’t a place for young adults who want a lot from life. It’s full of Yahoo boys and their girlfriends, whose goal in life is to own a frontal hair and an iPhone XR. It’s a shitty way to live, and I can’t go back there.
In September 2023, I dropped the fitness training gig because I got a 9-5 job and couldn’t handle everything together.
What was the job?
A telemarketing, commission-based role at a fintech. My income was typically between ₦50k and ₦80k monthly. The job was hybrid, so I’d work two days onsite, three days remotely, and then take on hair clients during the weekend.
In January 2024, I moved from telemarketing to a growth intern within the same company. My salary became a fixed ₦76,500/month. The plan was to become a full-time staff member, and they said the easiest way was to go through an internship.
However, office politics entered the matter, and even after my internship ended in October 2024, they said something something “hiring freeze”. Meanwhile, they made another intern a full staff member. Then they moved me to another team and made promises. It was a lot.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when they added multiple new KPIs to my responsibilities in February 2025. One of them was a monthly revenue target of ₦5m.
For someone who wasn’t even earning ₦100k?
See. My job title was still intern, and I was managing 25 people in POS operations. I complained to my line manager, who promised to see what he could do, but I’d already checked out.
At this point, I was earning about ₦150k – ₦200k monthly as a loctician. I honestly should’ve left the 9-5 much earlier, but anxiety is a terrible thing. I’m very risk-averse, so I hesitated. It was like a “the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know” situation.
One day, I gathered strength and resigned.
My manager tried to get me to stay and promised I’d become a full-time staff member in the same month, but I was tired of hoping. Plus, my salary would’ve only increased to ₦200k, which I was already getting from making hair. I’d also started taking some clients during the days I worked from home, and a full-time role would mean cutting down on the hours I could manage.
I considered all that and decided I’d rather focus on increasing my efforts as a loctician and making more money.
What’s your income like these days?
I currently make at least ₦550k/month from doing hair and locs. Since I left the 9-5, my clients have noticed that my work has become faster. Maybe it’s because I no longer have to worry about my line manager calling or feeling guilty that I’m neglecting my 9-5 duties. I’m at peace. There is no stress.
That said, I have an insatiable need to earn more. Once I notice I’m earning in the same range for three months in a row, I start brainstorming how to increase my income in the coming month. This especially applies to my business. I’m always thinking about what I can do to improve my earnings. I use social media extensively; I even walk into the DMs of people who have locs and pitch my services to them.
My income has been around ₦550k for about three months, and my next move is to look out for events targeted at creatives, attend and start conversations with as many people as possible. I also plan to run social media ads as the year ends, especially as the IJGBs will soon begin planning their return.
Sounds like a plan. Are your charges still within the ₦20k range?
Ah. God forbid. Installation rates now range between ₦50k – ₦200k depending on the loc style, size and hair length.
Dying at “God forbid”. You mentioned living with anxiety. How does it impact your work?
Therapy and medication help me a great deal. I used to have really bad anxiety and depressive episodes. I like to describe it as having a random person in your head who’s always trying to gaslight you. So, I had to learn a lot of coping mechanisms.
In school, I practised complimenting people to overcome my anxiety. Now, I find it easy to strike up conversations with people, and I get a ton of clients that way. I’ll live with anxiety and depression forever, so I just learn to manage them.
How would you describe your relationship with money?
It’s pretty good. I live within my means. I’m an introvert who doesn’t go anywhere. So, 50% – 60% of my income typically goes to savings, and then I use the rest for my upkeep.
I can also ascribe my financial habits to anxiety. I grew up with a dad who could wake up one day and be like, “My prayer in life was to do better than what my father did. My father stopped paying my school fees in secondary school. Now you’re in 200 level. I’ve definitely done more than what my father did. You should start paying your school fees yourself.”
I never knew when he’d wake up and actually decide he wasn’t financially responsible for me anymore. I never want to live with that kind of anxiety due to being dependent on another person again, so I guess that’s why I save so much.
Let’s break down what your typical month in expenses looks like
This is an estimate because I don’t receive my income all at once at the end of the month. So, what I typically do when a client pays me is to save 50% and use the remaining 50% to cover living expenses, transportation and anything that comes up.
I have about ₦1.2m in my savings and $35 in stocks via an investment platform. I’m just starting to build my stock portfolio, though. I still don’t really have an idea what I’m doing, but I have financial analyst friends who help answer the questions I have. I’m hoping, from next month, I can put at least ₦50k in stocks monthly and see where that takes me. I hope to have at least $1k in stocks by the end of next year.
You’re a full-time loctician now. Do you think you’ll stay that way for much longer?
I don’t know really. Anxiety is a goddamn bitch. My doctor still asked me the same question recently.
I know my heart is more at peace right now that I don’t have a 9-5. But the economy isn’t smiling, so I don’t know. I know I need more than one income source to survive in this country, but I’m not sure what to do right now.
There’s also the fact that I’m an Oliver Twist who just always wants more. I’m not suffering, but I still want more. I was talking about this with a friend, and when she asked why I wanted more, I said, “I just want to be looking at it in my account.”
Is there an ideal amount you’d like to earn monthly?
At least ₦700k – ₦800k/month, and I’ll see where I can go from there.
Is there anything you want right now but can’t afford?
A better apartment. I currently share a ₦300k/year room with someone. I want a room and a parlour or a mini flat — I could work out of my parlour and live in the room. But the rent prices these days? It’s like the government wants us to work just to pay rent.
Phew. I can relate. Is there anything you’d like to be better at financially?
Investments. I hate being risk-averse so much, and I’m actively trying to be better at taking risks.
Rooting for you. How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?
6.5. I’m happy, but I’d like to save more. My rating will increase when I earn more and have more in investments.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
This article is part of Had I Known, Zikoko’s theme for September 2025, where we explore Nigerian stories of regret and the lessons learnt. Read more Had I Known stories here.
No one wants to look like they’re struggling, even when their account balance is crying for help. The pressure to perform success and show people you’ve “arrived” is very real, and it manifests in multiple ways, whether it’s borrowing money for aso-ebi, planning an Instagram-worthy vacation you can’t afford, or throwing a wedding just to compete with your cousin’s.
We spoke to six Nigerians who learned (the hard way) that keeping up appearances can cost more than just money; it can cost your peace, your savings, and sometimes your sanity.
“I moved into a neighbourhood I couldn’t afford because I wanted to live like my coworkers” — Kunle*, 40
When I got a promotion at work in 2018, I decided I needed to move neighbourhoods. My office was in Lekki, and I’d lived in Bariga for the three years I’d spent at the job. I thought it was time for an upgrade.
My house in Bariga was comfortable. In fact, I spent almost nothing on transportation because my office provided a staff bus that took me to work and brought me back home.
However, Bariga no longer felt worthy of my “status”. I’d been promoted to senior manager, and most of the other managers lived on the Island. How would I open my mouth to tell people I lived in “Bariga”? I didn’t stop to consider that these other managers were single, and some even lived with friends, with whom they likely shared rent expenses.
The promotion increased my salary from ₦400k to ₦650k, and I thought I was a big man. That’s how I carried my wife and child and left our ₦800k/year two-bedroom apartment in Bariga for a ₦1.8m three-bedroom apartment in Ajah. To me, it was a reasonable move. I could pay rent with three months’ salary, and most importantly, I’d be able to network with other upwardly mobile professionals on the Island. The move felt like the next reasonable step for success.
Then the bills came. In addition to my rent, I had to pay a ₦500k annual service charge plus other estate dues and security. My electricity bill also doubled, and the worst of all, school fees. I can’t remember the exact amount, but my child’s school fees must’ve increased by at least five times. Food on the Island was also terribly expensive. My wife still worked on the mainland, so we spent a fortune fueling her car every week. I also strongly believe the Ajah traffic cut short our life expectancy by about five years. I used to think the third mainland bridge traffic was crazy in the mornings, but Ajah traffic was worse.
Within a year, I started to regret my decision, but somehow, the desire for the prestige that came with saying, “I live around Lekki-Ajah”, kept me in that hell for five more years. My wife eventually talked sense into me, and we moved to Surulere in 2023.
I regret not leaving sooner. If I’d saved my money instead of chasing status, I’d probably have my own property today.
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“My wedding budget broke me” — Niyi*, 36
I work in entertainment, and everyone expects you to show up and show out. All the weddings around me were grand: multiple photoshoots, outfit changes, a dedicated social media content creation team, an A-list photography and videography team, big food spreads, after parties, and the whole drama.
When it was time for my own wedding in 2023, I told myself I had to come correct. Plus, I’m Yoruba, and we have a reputation for throwing the biggest parties. I had to come correct.
Our wedding planner gave my wife and me a ₦16m budget, but we only had about ₦5m between us. We figured we’d get cash gifts from friends as the wedding date approached, so we went all in. I booked an expensive hall and spent a fortune on decor, outfits, and photoshoots. I think we even went over the budget.
Unfortunately, money didn’t come in as much as I hoped, and I eventually had to borrow about ₦6m to make up the expenses. It took me a year to finish paying that debt, and I had to adjust my living standard to survive that period. It’s been almost two years, and I don’t think my finances have fully recovered.
That wedding broke me, and I regret spending so much money on it. I would’ve definitely still had a memorable wedding without breaking the bank trying to trend and impress people.
“I spent over ₦2m on a vacation for the gram” — Amaka*, 26
I used to be chronically online, and whenever I saw ladies posting their travel pictures on Instagram, I felt like I needed that too. It felt like the baddie rite of passage.
So, I started actively planning for a vacation. I don’t even like to travel like that; I just wanted to take really cool pictures and get the bragging rights associated with leaving Nigeria.
I saved about ₦700k and borrowed ₦600k from a friend to meet up with the time frame for a package group tour I saw on Instagram.
The destination was two African countries, and it wasn’t the most comfortable group tour. The photos looked good, but the hotel was terrible. I still paid for extra tourist activities, WiFi, and food because the package didn’t cover many things. I must’ve spent over ₦2m in total on that trip.
I returned home with fire pictures but with debt on my neck. I wish I’d just used my money to buy a phone. At least I’d still be using the phone today.
“I lent money I couldn’t lose because being a ‘respected figure’ meant spending big” — Safiya*, 34
When I started working and earning money, I believed generosity equalled love and respect. I’m the firstborn child and grandchild to both grandparents, and I thought I always had to give money to “defend” my status as olori-ebi.
So, I was there if someone needed something — for a party, gift, loan, or wedding. I gave big gifts and paid the biggest share in family events.
One time, my cousin asked for a ₦500k loan for a professional exam, and I felt good that she came to me. I loaned her the money, but she never paid it back. I also couldn’t ask because I was “olori-ebi”. That money was a huge chunk of my savings, and losing it affected my finances for a while. Coincidentally, my phone developed issues at the same time, and I couldn’t fix it because I had no money. I think that’s when it dawned on me that I was doing too much. No one sent me to become a Mother Theresa and fix everybody’s problems.
Now, I’m learning to form healthy boundaries and avoid giving the impression that they can always come to me for support. I’m also looking for support.
“I looked fashionable on the outside, but was soaking garri almost every day” — Chika*, 28
My first corporate job was at an oil and gas company, and when I first started, I allowed the pressure of wanting to look good to get to my head.
I was comparing myself with people who’d worked there for years and hardly repeated clothes. I wanted to look good and feel among. Plus, I felt like people around me should be able to tell I worked in oil and gas. People equate “oil and gas” with money, so I had to look the part.
So, I’d spend almost 60% of my ₦700k monthly salary on clothes and shoes. People always complimented my dressing, and I loved it. A year later, an issue at work delayed my salary for a week.
That incident opened my eyes to the fact that I was living from hand to mouth. I constantly spent all my money before the end of the month and relied entirely on salary day. When there was a small shift in the schedule, I found myself completely broke. I soaked garri every day until my salary entered that month. It was so crazy. I was looking fashionable outside but soaking garri inside.
I won’t say I made a complete 180 and started making better financial decisions immediately, but I’ve made some progress. I realised I was just overspending to look the part, so now I try to question the purpose of an item before I purchase it.
“I let the Lagos lifestyle syndrome get to me” — Anita*, 27
I made some questionable friendship choices when I first moved to Lagos in 2021. I’d moved for work and wanted to blend in quickly, so I attended events and made friends with the most outgoing people I could find. I thought the more I went out with them, the better my social life would be.
There was somewhere to go every weekend: rooftop bars, clubs, and new restaurants. I always wanted to say yes. Sometimes I couldn’t afford it, but I’d dip into my savings or borrow, so I wouldn’t seem “boring” or “poor.”
There were times I couldn’t afford to save, postponed repairs in my house, ate once or twice a day, but popped up on WhatsApp status with cocktails. It caught up: burnout, anxiety, little sleep, and massive financial stress.
One time, I fell sick for two weeks, and none of my so-called friends reached out to me. I realised I wasn’t building the connection I wanted. I was just turning up, and it was taking too much out of me. So, I slowly cut off those friends and the urge to live a certain “Lagos lifestyle”. My life is more boring now, but I’m not pushing myself trying to keep up with anyone.
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.
Put your money to work with as little as ₦5,000. Invest Naija’s SEC-registered Money Market Fund delivers quarterly income, liquidity, capital preservation, and returns that beat savings and fixed deposits. Start here.
What’s your earliest memory of money?
My dad’s a pastor, and from when I was 5 or 6, I’d join the ushers to put the offering baskets together and arrange everything. The church was my earliest memory of seeing so much cash in one place.
Are the rumours of pastors’ kids growing up poor true?
We weren’t rich, but we were okay. I didn’t miss out on anything. My mum was a teacher, and I attended good schools. I’d say we were a pretty average family.
When was the first time you did something to earn money?
2015. I was in 100 level, and my roommate said he knew a shipping platform where we could import shoes to Nigeria. There were about four students in our room, and he convinced us to put money together to buy a batch, sell it, and split the profit.
I contributed about ₦10k or ₦20k, but didn’t see any profit. We had about 8-10 shoes in our first (and only) batch, and managed to sell only one. We eventually shared the shoes among ourselves. Unfortunately, we didn’t buy my size, so I didn’t even get anything.
TBH, that would pain me more than not making a profit
Right? That part was painful. The money, not so much. I just attributed it to loose cash. To be fair, I regularly got pocket money from home, so I always had something in my account.
I could get ₦30k today, another ₦20k in the middle of the month, and then ₦30k again in a few weeks. I never even had to ask for money in 100 level. Pocket money in subsequent years wasn’t so random, but I was still comfortable.
Must be nice. Did you try another business after the shoe fail?
I tried to run one or two showbiz events in school and make money from ticketing, but most of them didn’t pass the idea stage. The one I managed to host ended up in a loss because students preferred free events or wouldn’t come at all. After this happened, I just left the events idea alone.
I also played the keyboard and occasionally made some money playing it in church. The pastor could just say, “Oh. You’ve done well today. Take this envelope,” and I’d find ₦10k or ₦15k inside. But this money only came once in a while, so I lived on pocket money throughout my time in school.
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What did you do after school?
So, my set finished in 2021, but I had an extra year, which meant I had some business in school until I officially left in 2023.
During the wait, I paid ₦30k for a three-month community management and paid advertising course, which came with a post-training internship. I did the three-month internship at a digital marketing/advisory startup and got paid ₦15k/month.
They retained me after the internship ended and increased my salary to ₦40k. At this point, I lived with a family friend because the job had taken me to a different state. I didn’t have a lot of expenses, but my salary was barely enough. However, I feel like the job gave my career a solid foundation. The skills I acquired helped me land my next job and still help me today.
Tell me about that next job
I was hired as a sales development representative at a health tech company in 2023 for ₦120k/month.
The job was like a career pivot; I previously worked in community management and paid ads. However, my previous role had also introduced me to sales — mainly because of the paid ads — so I wasn’t exactly a newbie.
I worked there from 2023 to mid-2025. In that time, I switched to sales operations and received a few salary bumps. By the time I left the job in May 2025, my salary had grown to ₦224k/month.
I moved on to my current job — sales development rep at a tech company, where I earn ₦700k/month.
That’s a nice jump. How did that feel?
It felt good initially, but I now want more. I think it’s a case of me now realising the value of the work I do. Also, I had to relocate to Lagos because of the job and now live alone, so my expenses have increased as I’m now financially responsible for myself.
That said, the income growth has given me some leverage. I wouldn’t say I’m comfortable, but at least I can plan towards the things I want and get them for myself.
Speaking of relocation, what were the moving costs like?
Fortunately, I had savings from a three-month cold-calling gig I did earlier in the year for a foreign company, which paid €250/month (around ₦450k after conversion).
So, when it was time to move, I had over ₦1m and used it to get my ₦800k/year self-contained apartment. Of course, I still had to pay about ₦500k more for the agent and all the other extra fees.
Also, I had to make some heavy purchases in the months following the move because I made the foolish decision of moving to Lagos with only my clothes. I wanted to come and start a “new life” in Lagos, forgetting I needed things like curtains and a mattress. Omo.
Let me guess, you discovered they were expensive?
Very expensive. I must’ve spent ₦2m – ₦3m on basic furniture, cooking utensils and a workstation. I don’t even want to calculate each of them because the figures will just annoy me. I still need things like an inverter, sound bar and air conditioner, but those will come later. They aren’t really pressing needs right now.
How has your income growth impacted your lifestyle?
There hasn’t been much change. I’m a very calm person. I don’t do too much, and I’m careful about spending my money.
Once my salary comes in, I remove my tithe and internet cost, then divide the rest into three parts of ₦200k each: The first ₦200k goes to my savings, the second ₦200k is what I spend as living expenses, and I keep the rest as a cushion in case an emergency need comes up within the month.
I often spend out of this emergency fund before my next salary comes in, but I try to keep it as much as possible.
Let’s break that down for a typical month
I save on a savings app, and whenever I get my monthly interest, I use it to buy dollars on the app. I’m not sure if it’s a good strategy; I just do it. I currently have about ₦1.5m in my savings portfolio.
I’m curious. Do you have a goal for your savings?
I’m beginning to shift towards japa. I forgot to mention I spent about ₦1.2m on a postgraduate diploma (PGD) program I started at the beginning of the year. I should be done with that in a few months, and the current plan is to finish and try to go abroad for a full-blown MBA.
I’m not entirely sure how I’ll go about that yet, so there’s not a lot of clarity right now. I don’t want to think too much about it until I finish the PGD. I actually got admitted into a program abroad before I started the PGD, but I didn’t have enough money to provide proof of funds to get a visa, and it didn’t work out. So, I’ll just pray and figure out the steps one at a time. Who knows? Maybe God will shock me.
Maybe He will. How would you describe your relationship with money?
I live within my means, which is probably tied to my personality because I have colleagues in the same income bracket who are like social butterflies. They’re always out spending money.
In their defence, they’ve been in Lagos longer. I’m still very wary of the city. I feel like one wrong move can wreck me.
How so?
The city is crazy, and it’s a new location for me. If I lose my job or something happens to me, I don’t have enough funds to keep me for the next three months. I have limited support here, so I don’t have much cushion for me to do stupid things or spend anyhow.
Hmm. Makes sense. What’s an ideal amount you think you should be earning right now?
₦5m/month won’t be bad, and I think I’ll get there soon. A senior colleague at work just left the company, so a potential promotion might be in the works. Also, my friend wants to start a company and we’re working together on it. It’s still bootstrapped now, but things will look up soon.
What was the last thing you bought that made you happy?
My 32-inch TV. I like watching shows after a long day of work, and now I can do that without killing my eyes trying to watch on my laptop. I got the TV for ₦120k last month. It’s that cheap because someone linked me up with a factory.
Is there anything you’d like to be better at financially?
I need to earn more to explore stock investments and get to the point where money begins to work for me.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?
5. I don’t feel so bad about my finances, but I don’t feel so good either. It’s just there.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
Nigeria’s economic realities often demand creativity and resilience to survive. For many, this means turning to side hustles to supplement their income. For some, these side gigs have become more lucrative than their primary jobs.
We spoke with Nigerians who are earning more from their side hustles, and the numbers are more than impressive. From freelancing and e-commerce to fashion design, these individuals revealed how they turned their side hustles into major income streams, and how you can do it too.
Samson*, 33
Occupation: Federal Government Civil Servant
Side Hustle: Meta Ads Media Buyer and Creative Strategist
Monthly Income: ₦161k (from 9-5) + ₦2.5m (from side hustles)
How do you make money from your side hustles? My side hustles bring me at least ₦2.5m monthly. This is from my e-commerce hustle and a digital marketing agency in the US where I work as a Meta Ads media buyer and creative strategist. I also build websites for brands around the world using Shopify. I typically get these clients from LinkedIn. A Nigerian company also pays me ₦50k/month to manage their website.
How did you start? Months after I started my civil service job in 2019, a friend introduced me to Shopify websites. He’d built one for a client, and when he showed me his invoice, I wanted to learn too. I can’t even remember how much he charged. I just wanted to experience the joy of earning dollars while working from home.
With his help, I began watching YouTube tutorials and learning how to build websites via Shopify. He also introduced me to Fiverr, and I was lucky to get my first client after two weeks on the platform. I charged her $20 for the website, but also managed to upsell her to make a few more dollars by telling her things I could do to improve her website. This was in January 2020.
The Shopify tutorial videos also led me to dropshipping videos, which made me interested in e-commerce. My idea was to import items from China and sell them using Meta Ads, so I started learning how to run the ads. I also worked with some marketing agencies on Fiverr to improve my skills.
Between 2020 and 2023, I made an average of ₦300k – ₦400k monthly freelancing on Fiverr, Upwork and LinkedIn.
I started making good money from my side hustles, specifically e-commerce, in 2024. I initially tried to sell to only Americans because I didn’t think Nigerians would buy, but my efforts weren’t successful. Then I visited my mum and noticed she had a big massage machine and a sitting massager. When I asked where she bought them, she said, “Facebook.” I thought, “If my mum can buy something worth over ₦200k via Facebook Ads, there must be many other Nigerians ready to buy too.”
So, I switched my strategy to selling physical products to Nigerians and only services to my US audience. It worked.
Now, I make at least ₦1m/month from e-commerce alone.
For anyone willing to start, I recommend taking a course on how to run Meta Ads and stack up on skills like copywriting, marketing, designing, and building websites — these skills complement each other.
How do you juggle your side hustles with your 9-5? I’m not married, so I have all the time to work. I’m also considering leaving my civil service job soon. I don’t like the job, and it doesn’t let me actively use my brain as my side hustles do.
Also, I don’t fear going broke without a salary. I know all I need to make money is to get a product people want and sell it to them by creating great offers and pushing them with paid ads.
Jane*, 19
Occupation: Social Media Manager
Side Hustle: YouTube Script Writer
Monthly Income: ₦70k (from 9-5) + ₦300k average (from side hustle)
How do you make money from your side hustle? I search for as many script-writing gigs as I can find. Currently, I make ₦15/word writing YouTube scripts.
How did you start? I found scriptwriting by chance in December 2024. A friend called for YouTube script writers to work with someone she knew, and I said I could do it. I’d actually never done it before, but I learned on the job.
My employer paid me ₦5/word, and I made ₦300k in the first month because of the volume of scripts I worked on. I worked with him for a few months until he started moving funny and lying about things to reduce my pay. So, I found another client around July.
That one initially paid ₦6/word but then cut it to ₦2.5 after claiming that the channel owner cut down on what they were willing to pay. It was stressful work because I still had to find YouTube clips and pictures to insert into the script, but at least I made the urgent ₦15k or ₦12k per script. I was also still taking gigs from my first employer occasionally.
Then, while scrolling on Twitter in August 2025, I saw another script-writing job opening. I applied and got the job through the actual owner of the YouTube channel, not the exploitative middlemen I’d worked with previously. This job pays ₦15/word, and I can make between ₦300k – ₦450k/month depending on the number of scripts I write.
I’ve not done script-writing for so long, but I’d advise anyone who wants to do it to just search for gigs. As long as you’re actively searching, you’ll definitely find something. Search first and learn on the job. At least that’s what I did.
How do you juggle your side hustle with your 9-5? My job is a hybrid role, so I only need to be on site a few days a week. I think I’ll stick with both jobs for a while. I don’t exactly enjoy social media management; the pay isn’t so great. But I figure I’m just gaining expertise and experience for the future.
Monthly Income: ₦250k (from 9-5) + ₦500k average (from side hustle)
How do you make money from your side hustle? I get clients through word-of-mouth, social media, and my outfits. I work in an insurance company, meaning I wear corporate dresses day in and day out. People always ask me where I get my dresses from, and I plug in my hustle.
I make at least ₦500k monthly from ready-to-wear corporate dresses and a few custom orders. I’d easily make far more if I didn’t have to divide my time between my office job and my side hustle.
How did you start? I’ve always known how to make clothes. My mum is a tailor, and tailoring was the first skill my siblings and I learnt growing up. I knew how to make my own aso-ebi dresses and the occasional Sunday outfit.
In 2020, I got my first office job and realised I couldn’t keep up with buying cute corporate dresses on my ₦100k salary. So, I started watching YouTube tutorials to learn how to make corporate dresses. I also experimented a lot and taught myself how to design. I decided to monetise my skills in 2021 because people saw my outfits and wanted me to also make dresses for them.
At first, I took custom orders, but those took more time. So, I switched to making one design at a time and selling them as ready-to-wear — I only had to make size adjustments where necessary. My dresses usually cost between ₦30k and ₦35k. I make the occasional custom order, but those are usually for aso-ebi dresses and cost at least ₦100k.
How do you juggle your side hustle with your 9-5? It’s hell. I live in Lagos, and traffic usually means I don’t get home until at least 8 p.m. Then I sew from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. before I sleep and wake up by 5 a.m. to begin the grind again.
I’m still holding on because I actually love my 9-5 job. I like going to an office and wearing my dresses. I also really like fashion design. The goal is to get a job that pays me at least ₦600k so I can get a tailor to sew for me while I just give them the designs.
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Wisdom*, 29
Occupation: HR Personnel
Side Hustle: Academic Writer
Monthly Income: ₦400k (from 9-5) + ₦700k average (from side hustle)
How do you make money from your side hustle? I write statements of purpose, essays and research papers for people who are either trying to relocate for studies or are already there. Most of these clients come from my social media push — I’m pretty active on Twitter and Instagram. I also rewrite CVs and write cover letters occasionally.
How did you start? I’m honestly just an efiko. There was a period between 2019 and 2022 when I was actively trying to get into a postgraduate program abroad. I always got the admissions, but funding and visas were the problem. The few times I got partial funding, I didn’t get a visa. So, I just gave up and took an HR job.
In 2023, a friend asked me to help write his statement of purpose for a scholarship. I didn’t charge for it; he just gave me ₦10k to appreciate my help. After he landed the scholarship, his circle of friends asked to see his statement of purpose. He shared it and plugged my services, and that’s how I got my first set of clients.
I made about ₦120k writing statements and essays for his friends and decided to make it a full-on side hustle. So, I started making noise about my services on social media, and the clients kept coming.
Besides knowing how to write, learning how to sell your skill is very important. In fact, anyone can learn how to write if they practice enough. But you also need to ensure people know what you do.
A portfolio helps when applying to jobs. Academic writing can be a bit tricky because I can’t always share people’s personal essays as evidence of work, even though I wrote them. But I work around that by blurring out personal details where applicable. Fortunately, most of my clients come to me, so I don’t have to struggle to show workings.
How do you juggle your side hustle with your 9-5? It’s not too much to juggle. I just have the mindset that I’m in my hustle era. Plus, my jobs afford me the ability to picture my japa dreams coming true in the near future. I’m aggressively saving my income and have started an Express Entry japa route. I hope to leave this country by the end of 2026.
Monthly Income: ₦200k (from 9-5) + ₦300k average (from side hustle)
How do you make money from your side hustle? I’m already in the construction industry and get design gigs through referrals and word-of-mouth. Whenever people ask me about landed properties, I make sure to chip in that I can design their buildings too. I also have some architect friends who I whine to give me work from time to time.
How did you start? I’ve been designing since uni. I learnt a bit of architectural design as part of my building degree in school, and over the years, I’ve improved my skills by practising 2D and 3D designs with different software like AutoCAD, SketchUp and Revit.
My income from the designs became more regular after joining my current workplace in 2023. Before, I’d make ₦50k – ₦100k every other month from 2D designs. But now, I’m sure of at least ₦300k, and that’s if I only make one 3D design for a client. Most times, I get at least two gigs a month.
How do you juggle your side hustle with your 9-5? Fortunately for me, my side hustle closely ties into my day-to-day job, so it’s pretty seamless. There are the usual late nights to meet deadlines, but it’s not difficult to handle. It’s the price I have to pay to provide a fairly comfortable life for my wife and kids.
*Names have been changed for the sake of anonymity.
Gordon’s is hosting a “Face Your Fears” task for the BB Naija 10/10 housemates, but let’s see if you have a chance at winning too. We’ll ask you some questions to see how you’d react in certain situations, and your answers will determine your bravery levels.
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The topic of how young Nigerians navigate romantic relationships with their earnings is a minefield of hot takes. In Love Currency, we get into what relationships across income brackets look like in different cities.
Interested in talking about how money moves in your relationship? If yes, click here.
How long have you been with your partner?
It’s been almost a year. Precious and I started dating in December last year.
How did you meet?
Precious is friends with my cousin, and I first saw her picture on my cousin’s WhatsApp status. It was my cousin’s caption that drew my attention. She’d posted Precious to wish her a happy birthday and wrote so much about how kind, generous, caring and loving Precious had been to her.
I remember thinking, “See fine girl with all the character traits I want in a wife. Complete package.” So, I asked my cousin to get her account number so I could send something small for data.
Account number, not phone number?
I knew “account number” was the fastest way to get her attention. I doubt women still pay attention to all those “My uncle asked for your number” levels.
My cousin sent the account number, and I sent ₦20k. I didn’t expect Precious to actually call to thank me. I thought she’d reach out on WhatsApp to say thank you. At worst, she’d ignore the alert because ₦20k is small for big babes these days. Now that I think about it, I might have sent the money as a test to confirm her kind of person.
I was pleasantly surprised when she called. We started talking regularly from that day. Her birthday was in November, and we started dating a few weeks later in December. Left to me, we’d have started dating immediately, but she didn’t want to rush. She said we should be friends first. In my mind, I was like, “Friends, as how? When I’ve already planned the number of our children.”
Skrim
I knew she was the one, so I didn’t give her breathing space. I made sure to call every day and send her all those romantic text messages women like. I also paid to change her phone screen and charger because they were giving her issues. I think both cost me close to ₦70k.
Anyway, she eventually said yes when she saw how seriously I was on her case.
A finished man
Abi. At the start, our relationship was mostly long-distance because Precious was in her final year and her university was in Osun. However, she travelled down to Lagos to see her parents once or twice every two months, so we used that opportunity to see each other.
How did these visits usually go?
We’d hang out at my place or go on dates whenever she was around. She likes restaurants a lot, and each date typically cost me nothing less than ₦30k.
In the first few months of our relationship, Precious was a full-time student, so she didn’t have any income. This automatically meant I had to pay for everything when we went out. I’d also send her money occasionally for data or just to buy something for herself in school, usually ₦20k – ₦30k.
She graduated early this year, so we now see each other more regularly. The disadvantage is that relationship expenses have also increased because we go out more, and I always pay. I actually thought the expenses would reduce after she got a ₦80k/month virtual assistant job around July to have some money as she prepares for NYSC. Instead, I’m seeing another side of her.
What side?
Precious doesn’t know how to manage money. She also tends to spend impulsively. She can receive her salary today, and by next week, she’s complaining about how fast her money disappeared.
When I try to trace what she spent on, it’s usually food. She’s the type of person who wants to order expensive food on salary day to spoil herself for no reason. She works from home and has no bills because she lives with her parents. I pay for data, and we use the same Netflix. I sell beauty products, so I supply her with everything she might need. There’s no reason she should finish ₦80k in less than two weeks.
I’m worried because I plan for us to get married by the end of this year. She ticks all my boxes, but that money part is a concern for me. I’m a businessman, and there will be times when business won’t go well. I need a wife who can manage resources well.
Hmm. Have you discussed this with her?
I’ve told her a few times that she needs to plan her finances better, but her excuse is that ₦80k is too small to manage. I’d have agreed with that if she had responsibilities. ₦80k is chicken change in this economy, truly, but she should be able to do better.
I still plan to give her the benefit of the doubt, though. I’ve considered putting her on a monthly allowance to see how she spends, but Instagram banned one of my major pages two months ago, and business has been slow. My beauty products business used to bring me ₦700k in a bad month. Now, I average ₦300k – ₦500k. I don’t have the freedom for extra expenses.
Right now, it looks like I’ll have to push the wedding forward to keep observing her attitude with money. She didn’t know I was considering a wedding this year before, so nothing spoil.
What if, after more “observation,” you don’t see a positive change?
Hmm. I might have to end the relationship or seek advice from senior friends. I’m only considering seeking advice because of how much I love her. I ordinarily wouldn’t consider letting go of such a major issue. I’ve seen and heard a lot about marriage, and I know that the worst thing a man can do is marry a woman who doesn’t know how to manage or understand.
I’m not saying she has to deliberately marry a poor man to prove she can manage. No woman wants to suffer. But anything can happen in this life. I’m comfortable now, but if I’m broke in the future, I shouldn’t be scared that my wife will make my life a living hell.
I guess that’s fair. You mentioned your relationship expenses have doubled. What does that budget look like these days?
We visit restaurants at least once a month, usually costing ₦50k – ₦80k. I pay ₦18k monthly for her data.
Then there’s the random money here and there for hair or something she likes. I don’t have a budget for that one because it can be as little as ₦30k or as high as ₦200k. It just depends on what she asks for and whether I have the money to attend to the need at that time.
Do you have a financial safety net?
I don’t save money in the bank. Everything goes back to my business. I can get spending money, but I don’t keep money in my account to save it. It pays me to put it in the business and make my profit.
See, this is why I want a woman who can manage. At least, as I’m giving her money here and there, she’s secretly saving some as emergency funds. So, if I come and say, “Babe. E don red o,” she’ll just bring out money to save me. Even if it’s to borrow me.
What’s your ideal financial future as a couple?
It’s still the same as what I said. Let me go out and hustle and risk my money for profit, while having the peace of mind that my wife is making better financial decisions.
Interested in talking about how money moves in your relationship? If yes, click here.
*Names have been changed for the sake of anonymity.
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What’s your earliest memory of money?
When I was around 8 or 10, I stole Christmas lights. Scratch that, I “took” them from my mum’s shop. This was around Christmas, and my school wanted us to bring random stuff. So, I thought, “Let me just take this thing.”
My mum’s salesgirl told her, and when my mum asked me if I’d paid, I said I did. Well, she already knew I didn’t, and the lie pissed her off. She beat me silly.
Yikes. Do you remember how much the lights cost?
They were about ₦400 or ₦500. I remember thinking that the money wasn’t big enough for that level of beating.
It wasn’t like we were struggling or anything. My dad worked with one of the foremost NGOs in the country, and my mum worked with the state government. My dad’s job took him to different states and countries, and I sometimes went on these trips with him.
One of the fondest things I remember from my childhood was breakfast time. You know how a family typically shares a can of sardines? For us, each person had a can of sardines. I didn’t taste NASCO cornflakes until I became an adult. It was always Kellogg’s. Now, I consider these things a luxury, but they felt pretty standard then.
When was the first time you worked to earn money?
2013. I was fresh out of university, interning at a broadcasting company, when I decided to try my hand at business.
My business idea was to buy earrings and fashion accessories from Jumia and resell them for a profit. My mum loaned me ₦20k to buy a few items to start, but I don’t think I made one naira profit from that business. In hindsight, it was either a stupid business idea or I was just a bad business person.
I sold some items, didn’t get paid for some, dashed some to people and wore the rest. The business was dead on arrival. My mum dragged me for her money for years because I never repaid her. Any small thing, “You’re not creditworthy.”
I’m honestly not sure why I thought to try a business; I’d been terrible with money at uni. I had at least one big money-related issue almost every year.
Now you have to do a story time
My money “scandals” were usually about me using money that wasn’t mine, giving it out, or getting scammed. One time, I used people’s money to pay some children’s JAMB fees.
The JAMB fee wahala happened when I held my department’s money. We were contributing money for something, and I used the money to help a group of kids sort out JAMB registration. The department money was about ₦70k, and I figured I’d gather my ₦10k weekly pocket money to repay them when needed.
However, I couldn’t save the money back because one expense or another kept coming up, and by the time they needed it, I didn’t have anything. I had to start running up and down to look for money. It was a whole thing.
Another time in 200 level, someone gave me some earrings to sell for her. When it became time for her to collect her money, I didn’t have her money or the goods. She later brought the police to arrest me.
You say?
See, I don’t even know how it happened. The thing was, I just kept dashing people the earrings. Someone would come and say, “I love these earrings,” and I’d go, “Oh, you can have one. I’ll pay for it.” That’s how everything finished, and I didn’t see money to pay back. When she arrested me, they called my dad, and he paid the money and bailed me out. My dad was so mad. I think he beat me sef.
Besides my money issues. I lived above my means a lot in school. ₦10k/week wasn’t measly for a student in 2008 – 2013, but after I spent money on food and gave the rest out, I’d be broke before Friday. My mum always said I had my dad’s spending habits. My dad is a terrible spender, while my mum is the house’s “manager”. When my dad has money, the whole world knows. He just spends. So, I guess I got that through genetics.
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Back to the internship. Was it paid?
It wasn’t. I got it through an uncle, and it was more like, “Go to this place, ask for this person, and they’ll put you somewhere.”
I started by running errands, and then I moved on to reading the news on the radio and TV. I worked there without a salary for about two years. Then, in 2015, I attended a three-month training with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria — my parents paid the ₦120k-ish fee.
After I completed it, I returned to work and asked them to start paying me a salary or I’d leave. They agreed, but rather than a proper salary, they paid me a ₦17,500/month production fee for the programs I produced on the radio.
Around this period, I also got random voiceover gigs for a presidential candidate’s campaign. It was election season, so the gigs came a few times. Payment wasn’t a specific amount, though. Sometimes, they’d pay ₦100k. Other times ₦200k or ₦500k.
Nice. What did you do with this windfall?
For the first time in my life, I saved everything I made. It grew to ₦3.5m, and then I got scammed. Maybe I shouldn’t say scammed because it was an adult situation that I walked into. I wanted to buy a radio station license, and my uncle told me he could help. That’s how I gave him the money, and it disappeared.
Wait. Disappeared how?
Let me explain. I was living with this uncle/family friend at the time. He was one of the people who started the broadcast organisation I worked with, and he’d got me in. He knew about the industry, and I had a lifelong dream of running a radio station for girls.
I didn’t have plans for how to get a building or other things. I just had that money and thought, “Let me start with the license first.” My uncle promised to help with it, so I gave him the money. I never saw the money again, and didn’t get the license either.
I don’t think he ever intended to get me a license because I later discovered the real cost was about ₦15m. He probably needed the money and just came up with an excuse to get it.
But did you ask him for your money?
I asked about the license after some weeks when I didn’t get any update, and he just looked at me like, “License ko, license ni.” Like, “What is this one saying?” The situation was like, since I was living with him and he was providing for me, what else did I need?
I told my parents about the situation, but everyone kept quiet. No one addressed the situation, as if we all just pretended it didn’t happen. By this time, I was around 22 and already dreamed of becoming Nigeria’s youngest radio station owner.
I really felt cheated. This was money I’d made and kept for a particular reason, but I couldn’t even ask about it. He’s still a very close friend of my family to this day.
That’s wild
After this, I went for NYSC and served in the military. This was still 2015. I worked in the public relations department, and they paid ₦5k every other month in addition to the ₦19800 allawee from NYSC. I say “every other month” because there were some months the military didn’t pay us.
Service year was a struggle. I went from earning north of ₦100k from voiceovers to managing ₦24800 monthly. Thankfully, the military provided accommodation, but I had to juggle my income around transportation, food and other expenses.
After NYSC, I worked at an FMCG company for one year. My job was to go around offering discounts to people and getting them to sign up as vendors with the company. My salary was ₦40k/month, and I left in 2017 after they fired everybody.
Fired everybody?
See, it’s a long story. The place was very problematic; people came to physical blows one day. So, they fired everyone and asked people who wanted to continue working to reapply. I didn’t reapply.
At this point, I’d gone back to live with my uncle, and he put me in another TV station. There, I produced shows and presented programs for a stipend at the end of the month. Sometimes, ₦20k. Other times, ₦25k.
I didn’t really take the job seriously because of the no-salary situation. I was processing my admission for a master’s degree in a different state, so I was always travelling.
I was also job-hunting, and a few months into the TV station job, I got a job with a politician. I was on his public relations team, and he paid me ₦70k/month, then increased it to ₦80k after three months. I worked with him for six months and stopped when I had to relocate for my master’s program in 2018.
How were you funding your studies?
My parents paid the fees and my house rent, plus a ₦20k monthly allowance. I also started writing news stories for an online platform for ₦40k/month. I worked there for two years until COVID hit, and my employer said they didn’t have money to pay me anymore.
I was still doing my master’s program then — I didn’t finish that program until 2022/2023 because of the pandemic and numerous strikes, but that’s another story. Anyway, when my writing job turned out the way it did, I decided to sell perfume oils because I needed money.
Was this business better than your first attempt at selling stuff?
It was. The lockdown wasn’t too serious in my area, so I could move around and sell to people. A friend also introduced me to a China import group, so I bought the goods from there at a better price.
I can’t remember exactly how much I was making from the business. However, I also joined a ₦20k/month ajo group, and my monthly profits usually covered my contribution, and I had enough left to survive for the month. I did that business for about a year.
During this period, I did a number of random things for money. I managed a coworking space for ₦40k/month for three months, and I did some ghostwriting and editing here and there for the occasional ₦10k – ₦20k.
In 2021, I applied to an energy company and got hired as the southwest manager. Essentially, I manage the business in the southwest region of the country. My salary was ₦200k/month, and it felt like an answered prayer. I mean, I was coming from ₦40k.
A very welcome income boost
A much-needed one at that. My parents had stopped paying my rent and allowance since 2020, so I was fending for myself. ₦200k was a lot of money. For context, rent was ₦220k/year, and my living expenses weren’t so high because where I lived was relatively affordable.
I had a lot more disposable income and could afford food, clothes and anything else I wanted. I sort of returned to my 2013 self, where I was giving out and spending money just because I had it.
I still work at the same company, and my salary has grown to at least ₦550k/month. I usually get more than that from logistics allowances and random bonuses, sometimes close to ₦1m, but my basic salary is ₦550k.
How has your income growth over the years impacted how you think about money?
It hasn’t really made my financial planning or habits better. I just know there’s money in the world, and you’ll be fine if you increase your earnings. But that financial planning part? I haven’t gotten the hang of it. Every month, I try to stick to a budget, but I rarely succeed.
I don’t think I live above my means, though. Maybe I’ve overstretched my means. I don’t eat out daily anymore, and I try to be conscious of my spending. That said, my guilty pleasure is travel. I just want to be out of the country every time.
I’d describe myself as a broke babe living rich. I’m always in one country or the other, but it’s not like I have money. People see my travel posts on WhatsApp and automatically assume I’m rich. Meanwhile, I’m scraping money together to fund my trips.
How often do you travel?
I travel every month. Most of these trips are to Nigerian states, and then I can do some in neighbouring African countries. I make sure to do at least one big trip yearly, usually to London.
I budget for my London trips, but I don’t budget for the rest. I just go whenever the money I have is enough to go somewhere. Even my London budget sometimes comes together erratically. I can throw ₦150k in my savings app this month and ₦200k when next I have money.
Sometimes when I want to travel and the money isn’t enough, I can pull out whatever I’ve saved for house rent and use it to travel. That sounds horrible, but I believe in using my money to do what I want to do.
Interesting. I was going to ask about your relationship with money, but you might have answered already
Haha. My relationship with money is horrible. It’s a “I make money, I see money, I use it” situation. I’m not a savings person, but I’m trying to become better at savings and investments.
I’ve tried to save money every month this year. So, I can say I’m getting better. It was much worse before. If I wasn’t spending money, I was giving it out or lending it to people. I just believe money shouldn’t be lying around. If I or someone else needs it, I should be able to let it go.
I currently have about ₦7m in bad debt, and I don’t think I’ll get my money back. In fact, I’m servicing a ₦1.2m loan I took on behalf of someone who doesn’t have the money to pay back. So, the bank removes ₦118k from my account monthly. I’ve decided I’ll no longer lend anyone money I can’t let go of.
Let’s break down your typical monthly expenses
I use an investment platform, and the ₦20k monthly usually goes into dollars and stocks. Sometimes, if I have extra money, I also put it there. I currently have $300 in my dollar account and ₦130k in Nigerian stocks. Everyone’s talking about planning for retirement, so this is my way of gradually building something I can fall back on in the future.
I have about $500 in loose cash around my house; I like to keep it because of my frequent travels. Then I have about ₦165k in a savings app. I don’t have much of a savings portfolio because I always use it to travel. Also, my rent is now ₦800k/year, but I really don’t actively save monthly for it. I just handle rent based on vibes and Inshallah.
Black tax isn’t in my budget because there’s no specific amount. I send my parents about ₦20k or ₦30k every other month. They have money; they don’t need mine. However, I have a constant battle with my mum over her insistence that I pay them a monthly salary. We fight every month, but I don’t plan to yield.
Is there a reason why you don’t want to?
They earn way more than I do. My dad earns over ₦5m, and my mum probably makes at least ₦200k daily from her supermarket. They also have a pig farm that brings them money. They don’t need my ₦30k monthly for anything. My dad has no problem with it; it’s just my mum. She nags every month, and we don’t talk for a few days or weeks, then we move on and resume again the next month.
Skrim. Is there an ideal amount you think you should be earning right now?
My income is relatively fair for my industry, but an ideal monthly income would be ₦5m. I could easily make that if I took my voiceovers seriously. I still get gigs like once in three months, and I charge at least $300 for them. If I put in more work, I could make as much as $1k monthly from voiceovers.
How about something you want right now but can’t afford?
I’d like to change my car, but the one I want — a 2024 Toyota Camry — costs about ₦22m when I priced it last year.
What’s one thing you’d wish to be better at, concerning your finances?
I want to be better at making money. Then, I want to be better at putting away money monthly. Not like ₦10k or ₦20k, but to comfortably set aside ₦500k towards my future.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?
5. I don’t struggle to meet my basic needs, but I know I can do better.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
This article is part of Had I Known, Zikoko’s theme for September 2025, where we explore Nigerian stories of regret and the lessons learnt. Read more Had I Known stories here.
Harry* (25) isn’t who you’d call a crypto enthusiast. Before 2025, he’d only had one stint trading crypto. But after a friend claimed to have inside info on meme coins and encouraged him to invest his money, he went all in.
In this story, he talks about starting his trading journey with £1k, building his portfolio to $5k in three months, and then losing it all overnight.
As Told To Boluwatife
It started like a typical day. That morning in March 2025 when I realised I’d lost $5000 in one fell swoop.
Nothing pointed to that morning being any different from the usual. The day was bright; birds might have even been cheering in the background. I picked up my phone the moment I opened my eyes and launched Telegram.
I’d been in a few crypto group chats on Telegram since my friend, Don*, introduced me to meme coin trading in January, and every morning, I’d check the groups before I did anything else. It was my morning routine.
The groups were usually a flurry of activities, people sharing screenshots and chatting excitedly about how a coin they traded had done five or ten times the initial amount. However, the groups were awfully quiet that morning.
I went on Twitter and scrolled through the timeline. Trump had done one crazy shit again. I think he said something about electric vehicles. He was always in the news for some reason, and I didn’t really pay attention to whatever was happening.
After some minutes of lazy scrolling, I left the app to check my meme coin wallet. What I saw there made me doubt whether my eyes were working: WOLF token had tanked and lost over 80% of its value. My units worth $5000 had dropped to about $200 overnight. What was going on?
I texted Don, and he called me two minutes later.
Don: “Bro”
Me: “Bro!”
Don: “Brooooo”
Me: “Fuck!”
We didn’t need to say anything more. It was obvious: the money was gone.
The funny thing is, we might have had a chance to withdraw our money a few weeks before this event. A mutual friend had shared a YouTube video of a pastor prophesying about the crypto world taking a huge loss, but we didn’t give the video a second thought.
We’d been trading meme coins since January, and there was no indication of trouble. We just had to hold out until April, make big money and dump the project. No one expected things to play out the way they did.
Maybe it wouldn’t have been a great loss if we had started taking out our profit right from the start. I probably wouldn’t have even tried meme coin trading if Don hadn’t convinced me to.
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Back in December 2024, my aunt, who lives abroad, gifted me the equivalent of £1000 in USDT. I complained that she didn’t give me anything for Christmas, so she sent me the money. I didn’t expect that much, so I didn’t know what to do. I left the money in my wallet for a few weeks. Then, in January, I told Don about my windfall, and he introduced me to the meme coins.
I knew little about crypto, but I wasn’t a newbie. In 2023, I had a trading stint when my blockchain writer cousin introduced me to Harmony Coin, and I flipped $50 into $200. The coin later crashed, and many people lost their money.
I concluded that crypto was a zero-sum game. One person wins at the cost of another. When people take out all their money, the coin’s value is reduced, and others lose. You won’t always win, and that’s just how it works.
After that incident, I took my mind off crypto until Don brought up meme coins. Trump and Elon had their bromance going on, and it looked like crypto would be on an upward bullish run for a long time. Don was the crypto head, and he showed me how I could grow my money by trading instead of just leaving it in my wallet. He said he had insider info on meme coins that would scale.
So, I agreed.
We created two crypto wallets for the transactions — we didn’t want to put all our eggs in one basket. So, even if we incurred losses on one wallet, the other would be fine. Don mostly handled the trades, but I had access to both wallets and could see the transactions happening in real time.
We — mostly Don — also regularly tracked the coins on Twitter and Dex Screener. Viral trends drive meme coins, and you can follow the buzz online to predict if it’ll have traction. It’s almost like how people who follow the stock market can tell when a company is about to lose value because of how often they track the progress.
The first coin we tried was Trump’s coin ($TRUMP). I gave Don £200, and we made a £700 profit in two days.
Instead of taking out the profit, we put it all back in the market. That’s how we started. I kept giving Don more money, and he spread it across different meme coins. We diversified our portfolio like that to hedge against big losses. You never know when you could get rug-pulled, so it was safer not to bet on one coin.
Every day, Don watched out for meme coins generating buzz on Dex Screener, coins that could potentially get picked up by crypto whales, and we’d put money in them. We also had Telegram bots trading for us. It was a fun time.
By March, our portfolio had grown to $5000. Then we made our first mistake: we put all the funds in WOLF. To be fair, the coin looked good. It reached a market cap of $42m in two days. I thought, “Even if we make five times this amount, we’re good.” We could’ve made bank.
Instead, we woke up to $200. It was an obvious rug pull. We couldn’t even try to rebuild our portfolio because there was no guarantee that the coin would regain any value. So, we counted our losses and took out the $200.
Crypto giveth, crypto taketh.
For a few days, water stopped tasting like water to me. I lost my appetite and didn’t even want to look at my phone. But then, I figured there was no use crying over spilt milk. People face worse situations. The money wasn’t even in my account, so I guess it helped to make it not feel real.
Don took the loss much harder than I did. It took him months to get over it. We’d have shared the money, and his share was supposed to take him out of the trenches. The plan was that he wouldn’t have to work all year. My guy eventually had to find a 9-5 job.
He even offered to find money and pay me back at some point, but I told him to forget it. We went into it together.
If I could do it all over again, I’d have taken out my profits from the start — at least I’d have put my money in the real world.
However, I’m never doing that shit again. Crypto is not for me. You have to dedicate time and sleepless nights to battle bots run by supercomputers just to get crumbs while some people are raking in profit from these coins. The worst thing to do is to follow influencers in the cryptoverse. Some of them have insider information and are behind these rug pulls.
My advice to anyone reading this: Don’t do crypto, you’ll cry. The winners will always be fewer than the losers. It’s even worse when you can see those losses happen in a linear, real-time swoop. Just don’t do it.
Me, I know I’ll never do it again. I’ve counted my losses, and I’m moving on. Life continues.
*Names have been changed for the sake of anonymity.
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