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?
I have plenty of memories of not having money in my childhood. Once, in JSS 2, I couldn’t participate in my school’s Christmas carol because my mum couldn’t afford the clothes.
I remember thinking, “How much is a white shirt or red skirt that you can’t get?” My mum insisted that she didn’t have the money, and it was frustrating. I also often missed school because I hadn’t paid my school fees. Sometimes, my aunties and uncles had to pitch in.
Did situations like this happen often?
They did. I was raised by a struggling single mum who tried petty businesses for money. She moved around a lot to hustle, so I had several stints living with relatives and friends. Our financial situation also played a part, though.
Things stabilised temporarily when I was 10. My mum got with someone and had my sibling. She also had a small shop that brought in money, and we all lived together: my mum, stepdad, and sibling. The only problem was that my stepdad depended on my mum, a factor that eventually led to their separation. I know my mum was often like, “You’re a man. You can’t depend on me for money. Go and make money.”
That incident and the whole dynamic shaped my relationship with money. I knew I wasn’t like the other people in my school, whose parents were stable and had money. I had to make money because I constantly experienced what it was like not to have money.
How did you go about trying to make money?
I did some things I’m not proud of. At 15, I started having sexual relationships with men for money. I didn’t even think there was anything wrong.
The men I dated were my mum’s customers when she sold barbecued fish. I think it was one of the effects of poverty because when they showed interest, my mum didn’t go, “Oh, she’s a child”. Instead, it was more like, “This person likes you? Fine, go ahead.”
She knew they gave me gifts and money. At this point, my mum and I lived alone. Some of these men even paid our rent.
Hmmm
In 2018, I got into uni and had to find another way to make money. My mum hardly made enough to pay my fees, and I often went hungry.
So, I reached out to a Facebook friend who sold vintage shirts. I asked if she could send me pictures of the shirts so I could market them, add a little money to the price, and take a cut for my efforts. She agreed, and I started posting them on social media.
I made sales, but the profit wasn’t significant; usually ₦1k here or ₦2k there. It was basically survival money. Sometimes, I saved up to sort out my ₦60k school fees. Other times, my mum rallied around to raise money, but my school fees and living expenses were primarily my responsibility.
I did the business until my second year in uni when I dropped out.
Why did you drop out?
First of all, I was depressed. Secondly, I didn’t like my course at all. I couldn’t concentrate in class, and it showed in my grades. My first-year CGPA was one point something and the school was going to make me repeat the year. That’s when I decided school wasn’t working.
My mum was upset when I told her my decision, and I understood. We’d gone through so much and begged people for money to pay my fees. It felt like wasted effort. However, I didn’t think it was fair to continue studying something I didn’t like and couldn’t see a future in.
So, I officially became a dropout in 2020, packed my bags and moved to Lagos.
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Why Lagos? Did you have any plans?
I just knew I wanted to find a job and fend for myself. In Lagos, I lived with a male friend from Facebook who encouraged me to stay with him while I figured things out.
I finally found a job four months after my move. It was an administrative intern role at an energy company, and I was paid ₦15k/month. Interestingly, the same day I landed the job, the guy I was staying with sent me out of his house.
Wait. What happened?
He expected sex in return for allowing me to live with him, even though we never talked about that. I initially refused when he demanded it after I first moved in. Then I relented because I desperately needed to find something to do, and I couldn’t return home.
However, just before I got the job, I told him I didn’t want to have sex with him anymore. I appreciated him for his help and promised to contribute my quota. He wasn’t happy with that, and after several attempts to get me to change my mind failed, he sent me packing.
Phew. Where did you go?
I don’t know if it was luck or divine orchestration, but I met an old family friend in the area that day. I told her my situation, and she allowed me to move in.
She was a baker, so after I returned from work, I had to help her till midnight, whether I was tired or not. Sometimes, I wouldn’t sleep. I couldn’t complain because she was literally putting a roof over my head.
I see. Back to your job. Was ₦15k enough for anything?
It wasn’t. To supplement my income, I began helping to sell the company’s solar products on Facebook marketplace for a ₦1k – ₦1500 profit. This typically brought me an additional ₦6k – ₦7k weekly.
But my accommodation issues were far from over. After living with the family friend for a month, she told me her mother-in-law was coming to stay. In other words, I had to leave again. I went online and put out a post looking for places to rent. I didn’t have money; I was just telling people to look for houses for me.
A random person saw my post online and asked if I had found anything. The question came when I saw an apartment for ₦100k/year. So, I told this person, and he just sent me the money like that. I didn’t even know him. I still don’t know what he looks like.
Mad
After I moved in, my problem changed from accommodation issues to “How am I going to pay my next rent?” ₦15k wasn’t going to cover it, so I began searching for a skill that could earn me money.
I knew I could write, and I heard people could get writing jobs from foreign companies online. I decided to do the same, so I started writing on LinkedIn. This was in 2021. Three months later, I got my first job from LinkedIn from a Nigerian guy who lived abroad.
He said he could tell I was enthusiastic about writing, so he hired me to write five articles weekly. My salary was ₦12k/month. I did all three hustles — writing, my 9-5, and Facebook marketplace sales — until 2022, when I quit the 9-5.
Why did you quit?
They refused to increase my salary, yet they kept adding to my responsibilities. I’d even “graduated” to the front desk. I couldn’t do it anymore, so I left. This meant I also had to stop selling the products on Facebook. I only made profits because the company gave them to me at a discounted rate as an employee.
So, I focused on writing. By this time, I’d grown a considerable following on LinkedIn and had started charging ₦5k for LinkedIn optimisation and classes to teach people how to grow on the platform. Quitting was scary; I didn’t know if I could bank on LinkedIn alone. But I figured I’d just make it work. I was also job hunting.
Two months later, I found an intern content writer role, but there was no pay. It was only a ₦5k/month stipend, but I learned much in that job. I did content strategy, social media management, and writing.
But ₦5k though
The money wasn’t commensurate with my work, but I saw it as an opportunity to learn and gain writing experience in an actual organisation, not the self-taught thing I’d done before. Now, people who understood writing better than I did critiqued my work, and it improved my skill.
It also helped that I was still making money here and there writing on LinkedIn. In fact, the job grew my LinkedIn efforts because my writing improved, and more people began to follow me.
I left the job in 2023 for my mental health and freelanced for the rest of the year. I increased my LinkedIn optimisation service to ₦20k and sold ebooks about growing on LinkedIn. I was a proper LinkedIn influencer.
What was your income like during this period?
I made an average of ₦100k/month. I also got occasional invitations to speaking engagements, and those brought in like ₦10k – ₦15k. I wasn’t super rich, but I could sustain myself.
By 2024, I started considering moving my focus away from LinkedIn. I was tired of posting online and needed to start thinking long-term, so I dusted off my CV and went job-hunting again. In May 2024, I landed my current administrative executive job with an event company.
My salary is ₦100k/month, but I usually get an additional ₦60k for event coordination. Also, my dad returned to my life in 2024 and put me on a ₦200k monthly allowance, so my total income is around ₦360k.
Curious, is there a reason he put you on an allowance?
We’re just trying to have a relationship again.
Also, I returned to uni via a distance learning program around the same time my dad returned. School doesn’t afford me the time to pursue side gigs. Plus, my tuition fee is ₦300k/year. I need as much support as I can get. So, I negotiated the allowance with him, and he’s been paying it.
Do you still make money from LinkedIn?
It’s once in a blue moon. I don’t pay as much attention to it as I used to. I can’t remember when last someone came to me for profile optimisation. But I’m very fine with it. I feel like I’m finally moving forward.
It’s part of the reason I returned to school. I want to build real-life skills rather than be that one person on LinkedIn who always does “aspire to Maguire.” LinkedIn was a lifeline for survival, but I’m past that now.
I’m currently studying a business-related degree, and with my admin experience, I think I’m on the right track to a solid career path. I also plan to get a master’s abroad after this degree.
Rooting for you. Let’s break down your typical monthly expenses
I often borrow money from loan apps in the middle of the month when my account has turned red. The funny thing is, I repay loans every month and still borrow again because I don’t have money by the time I pay them back. It’s a continuous cycle.
One thing I don’t do, though, is touch my savings. I prefer to borrow and pay the money back. I save consistently all year round and lock it in my Piggyvest because it eventually saves me when rent comes along. My plan for my savings this year is to repaint my room, pay rent, travel with my friends, and buy myself something nice at the end of the year.
How would you describe your relationship with money?
I used to struggle to spend money, but now I see it as a tool to cater to my immediate needs and care for myself. I want to make money to save up to do something nice for myself. I don’t believe in just working and working. I want to hang out with friends and travel, even if it’s within Nigeria, because I’ve not reached abroad level yet.
Is there anything you want right now but can’t afford?
It’s just one thing: to leave this country.
What’s an ideal amount of money you think you should be earning?
With how this country is going, I should be good with ₦1m/month. I believe I’m not earning that now because I don’t have the skills. That’s why I’m investing in school and learning technical skills so I can get that soon.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1 – 10?
5. I’m not doing badly, especially considering where I’m coming from. I’ve achieved some stability, and it’s great. But I also don’t like having to borrow money because my income doesn’t take me to the end of the month.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
Find all the past Naira Life stories here.
