A Week In The Life” is a weekly Zikoko series that explores the working-class struggles of Nigerians. It captures the very spirit of what it means to hustle in Nigeria and puts you in the shoes of the subject for a week. The subject for today’s “A Week In The Life” is a 200 level university […]

Do you remember the first time you knew what money meant? 2005 or 2006. I went to a government secondary school and lived in a boarding house. My folks gave me just enough allowance to survive — about ₦2k per term. One day, my dad drove to my school and gave me ₦500, which I […]

A Week In The Life” is a weekly Zikoko series that explores the working-class struggles of Nigerians. It captures the very spirit of what it means to hustle in Nigeria and puts you in the shoes of the subject for a week. The subject of today’s “A Week In The Life” is a community health worker. […]

Let’s begin with a throwback. Do you remember your oldest memory of money? I’d say it was the house-to-house visits during Christmas. I always looked forward to that every year, even though the money I got from them wasn’t a lot — about ₦800 at the end of the day.  It was a big thing […]

One recurring question everyone considering having kids asks is: how much does it really cost to have a baby. There are tons of hospital visits, tests and procedures. All of these things cost money and for the most part, a lot of Nigerians don’t have insurance.  For this aritcle, I spoke to six Nigerian parents […]

As told to Toheeb I’ve been thinking about talking to a gambling addict for Naira Life for some time now, but I haven’t found someone who’s willing to share their story yet. Two weeks ago, while looking for people to interview for this article, a lady reached out to me. She wanted to tell me […]

A Week In The Life” is a weekly Zikoko series that explores the working-class struggles of Nigerians. It captures the very spirit of what it means to hustle in Nigeria and puts you in the shoes of the subject for a week The subject of today’s “A Week In The Life” is a physiotherapist and Bitcoin […]

I am personally very fascinated by the sugar baby and sugar parent relationship business model. I have read and also written several stories exploring it but typically from the perspective of the sugar baby. Prompted by a conversation with Zikoko’s editor-in-chief, I decided to start reaching out to the sugar babies I knew and asked […]

The lady in this story is quite young, but frankly, that’s not the most interesting thing about her. It’s how she started photography as a hobby and followed through till today. Five hard years, long YouTube hours, a couple of projects later, here’s what her #NairaLife looks like. Let’s start from the beginning. What’s your […]

Conversations about money are not exactly fun. And I imagine that it’s harder for couples to have these conversations although they are very important. I was musing about how people in relationships navigate this and manage their finances, so I spoke to five people about it. Uche, 33, Male, Married I’ve been married to my […]

A Week In The Life” is a weekly Zikoko series that explores the working-class struggles of Nigerians. It captures the very spirit of what it means to hustle in Nigeria and puts you in the shoes of the subject for a week The subject of today’s “A Week In The Life” is a grief counsellor. Grief […]

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

  The subject of this story makes her money from selling soap and kerosene. She talks about how losing her job 18 years ago changed everything and how a social enterprise she belongs to made all the difference for her in 2020.  Do you remember when you started your business? 18 years ago. I used […]

“A Week In The Life” is a weekly Zikoko series that explores the working-class struggles of Nigerians. It captures the very spirit of what it means to hustle in Nigeria and puts you in the shoes of the subject for a week The subject of today’s “A Week In The Life” is a medical house officer. […]

In 2016, this subject made a difficult but necessary decision to move to Nigeria from the UK where she was born and raised. How long did it take her to find her feet in the country? About four years? What made all the difference? Linkedin. What’s your oldest memory of money? That would be my […]

The subject of this story sells tomato and other items at a market in Abuja. She talks to us about how she’s been building her business over the years and how the pandemic and a market dispute are making things a little more difficult for her. Do you remember when you started your business?  I […]

The idea for this article was inspired by a conversation on Twitter about what living on a ₦400k salary looks like in Nigeria, and if it’s enough to fund a “soft life”. We thought it might be interesting to talk to people who earn within that range, so I put a call out on Twitter. […]

“A Week In The Life” is a weekly Zikoko series that explores the working-class struggles of Nigerians. It captures the very spirit of what it means to hustle in Nigeria and puts you in the shoes of the subject for a week The subject of today’s “A Week In The Life” is Jimoh Adamu, a 27-year-old […]

The subject of this story works with small businesses. But before this, he tried to build two businesses from the ground up. The first one landed him in debt. The second one ended with some more dire consequences: legal troubles and debt. What’s your oldest memory of money? When I was about to finish secondary […]

The subject of this week’s Coping In A Pandemic is a widow with three children. She talks about starting her businesses, how Covid-19 has affected her income and her current struggles with paying her rent.

“A Week In The Life” is a weekly Zikoko series that explores the working-class struggles of Nigerians. It captures the very spirit of what it means to hustle in Nigeria and puts you in the shoes of the subject for a week. The subject of today’s “A Week In The Life” is a drug dealer. He […]

The guy in this story has two things going on for him: developing new skills and taking a leap of faith. The ultimate gamechanger for him, though, is a tech hub he joined at uni and a DM he got in 2020. What is your oldest memory of money? My dad always did this thing […]

A lot of people swear that Abuja has a lot of things going for it. I mean, it should — it’s the nation’s capital. That’s a decent claim to fame too. I was curious about how money moves in the city, so I asked 7 people living there to talk about their expenses. 1. Patrick, […]

Nigeria has an unemployment problem. According to a report published by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s unemployment rate was 27% in Q2 2020. This is the perfect situation for the rise of job scams, which a lot of people have actually fallen victim to. I thought it might be good to find some Nigerians […]