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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Let’s talk about your earliest memory of money

That has to be in primary school. Whenever my brothers and I asked my dad for snack money, he’d give me ₦500 and give them ₦200 each. That’s when I began to notice my dad always gave me more money.

I was the second child, but I had the “only girl” privilege. I got a younger sister when I was 8, but I still enjoyed proper spoiling.

Safe to say you were a daddy’s girl?

I believe I still am. It helped that there was money growing up.

What did your parents do for money?

My mum’s a doctor and my dad did a bunch of things — mostly hotel businesses. He also ventured into politics and won a political seat around the time I entered secondary school.

I remember not seeing him regularly because he came home after my bedtime. He also became really lax with money. I think it was a side effect of working with the government because he used to be a bit more prudent. 

One time, when I was in JSS 2, he gave me ₦20k for my birthday. I didn’t know what to do with ₦20k, but I collected it. When my siblings and I wanted to go to the movie, he’d also give us ₦20k each. This was 2014, and a movie ticket cost ₦1k. 

What were you spending all that money on?

My siblings and I frequented a Nike store at a mall close to where we lived. I’d buy Benassi slides for like ₦5,500. We even had a discount card because we bought so much stuff there.

Many of the purchases were during school holidays, though. I didn’t get an allowance in secondary school, but if I wanted something during the holiday, I’d tell my dad, and he’d give me money. My mum was different; she was far more frugal.

How so?

She had — and still does — this thing where she’d make me and my siblings work for money. Once, she created a point-based system to earn rewards for doing chores. If I did my chores on time, I’d get four points. I got one or zero points if I did them late or not at all. The points determined what she bought me during the holiday.

Apart from this, I didn’t do anything else for money until 2017/2018.

Go on, please

I’d just finished my first year at university. I was in my Jumia shopping phase, and choker necklaces were all the rage. I got a pack of 20 chokers for ₦3k and planned to sell them at ₦1k each. 

I sold about half of it, but I couldn’t get buyers for the rest because people were picky with the styles. So, I gave up and tried selling makeup to my friends.

Why makeup?

My friends and I were in our makeup phase in uni. We looked for the newest palettes and constantly tried makeup tutorials, so I knew it’d sell better than the chokers.

I got the makeup products during my usual shopping for school. I think I spent ₦10k for some eyeshadow and bronzer palettes. I only sold one to a girl who paid me ₦4k; my friend took most of them and never paid me. I didn’t try to sell anything again.

This is the second time you’ve mentioned “shopping for school”

Well, I was a boarder in secondary school, so that was a given. In uni, my dad gave me money to shop based on the list I’d already written about things I needed at school — the usual amount was ₦120k. Then, he’d send ₦100k to my account when I was leaving for school. I didn’t have a monthly allowance because I could always call for more money if needed, but I rarely did. 

I tried to be frugal in uni because my dad’s tenure in the government ended back when I was in SS 2, and the change hadn’t been a great experience for me.

What happened?

My secondary school was full of super-rich kids, and I wasn’t popular. So, I tried using money to buy affection. My dad was in office, and I had more money than I knew what to do with. I bought people earrings, body wash, and perfume and generally tried to blow their minds.

Then, my dad left office, and the family had to make lifestyle changes. We moved away from where he lived, and he got a bigger place, maybe to overcompensate. But there was less money to throw around, and we just became more serious.

This meant I couldn’t get as many gifts and even reduced some of the things I bought at school. For instance, I liked getting things like spray starch in twos to have a backup, but I now had to settle for one. Someone called me stingy because I didn’t give as much as I used to, and it stung. I decided, “You know what? I’m not spending money on anyone again!”

So yeah, I tried to spend more reasonably in uni. Plus, my university didn’t have as many rich students. It was a private uni, but they were considerate. They gave scholarships and allowed people to pay in instalments. It was like coming from a school with money bags to people who were managing but thriving. So, I modelled my spending after them.

Was that difficult?

There wasn’t anything to spend money on in my uni. The most expensive meal was rice and chicken, which cost ₦600. Smoothies cost ₦300. I didn’t need up to ₦1k for a complete meal. So, copying people who lived on a ₦20k monthly allowance was easy. They withdrew ₦5k/week, so I withdrew ₦5k/week.

Each semester was about three months long, and my ₦100k lasted for two months and some weeks. My dad didn’t let me try to be broke in peace, though. He had access to my account. Whenever the money in my account went below ₦30k, he’d send me ₦50k extra.

Trying to be broke… God, abeg

That was pretty much how uni was. I already knew my dad indulged me, but it hit me again when I was about to enter my second year in uni. I asked for ₦250k to shop, and he gave me just like that.

I grew a conscience and thought it wasn’t fair for him to bankroll me as much as he did, so I reduced my demands. 

Also, I started doing makeup for people for money in my third year.

How did that go?

Not great. I did a couple of ₦1k, ₦1500 jobs here and there. Remember my friend who didn’t pay for the palettes? She also did makeup for a fee and had more clients, so I tagged along to assist her. She never gave any cut of the money she made, though. Not even when we made ₦50k on a few jobs in final year. To be fair, they booked her. I just assisted. 

I graduated from university in 2020 and began ICAN classes in January 2021. My mum also started giving me a ₦35k allowance to support me during classes.

Any reason why it was your mum this time?

My mum often moved locations because of her job. At that time, she was in a small house I called the “fuck up” house. Like I said, my mum is frugal, so she didn’t subscribe to DSTV, the internet, or any other entertainment. It was simply a place to sleep.

I moved in with her for my ICAN exams because the house was closer to the tutorial centre. Since I was living with her, she took up my allowance. 

Sometimes, my mum deducted from the money if I offended her by not attending church early or missing it altogether. I think each transgression was ₦2500. I augmented the allowance by adding a little — between ₦20k and ₦50k — to my ICAN classes and exam fees. 

Then, I wrote my first exam in May and went for NYSC in July. My PPA was a fintech/real estate firm, and they paid ₦20k/month, which I wasn’t excited about. But then there was also the ₦33k NYSC allowance and my mum’s ₦35k, bringing everything to ₦88k/month.

Was that good money at the time?

It was enough for me to enjoy myself. I lived with my parents and didn’t pay for anything, so I lived large. I ordered food or got a nice treat at least once a week. 

I was saving the ₦20k from my PPA because I wanted to change my phone and take another ICAN exam after NYSC, and I didn’t want to have to juggle it with work. The plan was to relax, write the exams, and then look for a job.

Remember I said my PPA was a fintech?

Yeah

They made me open my salary account with them, so they paid my ₦20k there. I didn’t touch it for months. But then they started having issues. I couldn’t transfer or withdraw my money because the account balance was just figures. There was no cash.

Fortunately, it was partly solved in January 2022, and I used the money to buy a phone, adding ₦60k to make up the ₦180k I needed. But just before I finished service in June, they had more issues, and ₦20k mysteriously disappeared from my account. I don’t even have words to describe everything that went wrong with them. 

Anyway, I eventually finished NYSC with ₦80k in my savings. I would’ve had more from my allowance and the money I got from increasing my ICAN fees, but I lost ₦120k to scams during my service year: a multi-level marketing scheme and an agri-tech crowdfunding investment. 

How did that happen?

The agri-tech platform absconded with my money, and the marketing people only sold dreams.

After service ended in June 2022, I focused on preparing for my last set of ICAN exams and applying for jobs in November. The job search was pretty difficult because I don’t live in Lagos, and most financial institutions are there. The recruiters wanted me to come to Lagos to interview, and I did that a couple of times. But it wasn’t sustainable. I couldn’t keep asking my parents to pay ₦250k for round trips, and I kept missing opportunities. 

While I was job hunting, I learned I had failed one of the three exams I sat for. I’d thought I’d get my professional level ICAN certification, but now I had to retake a paper. I felt terrible.

Sorry about that

Thanks. I finally found an accountant role through my church’s group chat in February 2023. During the interview, the recruiter asked about my salary expectations. I said ₦70k because I didn’t want to be too greedy. I really should’ve demanded more because I got the job, and it was the ₦70k they paid.

I was still getting ₦35k/month from my mum, which brought my income to ₦105k. Ordinarily, I should’ve been cruising on that amount. I even drew up a plan to save and change my phone. 

But Tinubu entered some months after and removed fuel subsidy. Cab fares went from ₦1200 to a minimum of ₦2k. I couldn’t take cabs to and fro anymore. I also stopped ordering food from Instagram vendors when they increased their prices. My employer added ₦10k to my salary to help with the hardship, but the salary was not doing what it was supposed to do anymore.

I know, right?

As if my ₦80k salary wasn’t small enough, my employers started deducting ₦500/day from the salary for coming minutes late. So my salary was often ₦77k. 

Also, my mum could just deduct from my allowance, so everything was somehow. Saving became something I did if there was any money left or if I wanted to buy something.

In January 2024, my salary increased to ₦100k. I wasn’t pleased about it because my employer had promised a salary review for the longest time, and I expected more. There was also one ₦200k allowance he was supposed to pay that never materialised despite the many promises.

I eventually left in February. In March 2024, I resumed my current role, where I’m an audit assistant.

Better pay?

It wasn’t a significant pay bump. My salary is ₦115k/month — ₦108k after tax. My mum also stopped my ₦35k allowance in December last year because she got transferred at work and had some delays with her salary. 

Plus, I didn’t have any more ICAN exams — I sorted those in May 2023 — so we haven’t had a conversation about whether she’d continue or not. 

I’m surviving on just my salary. Oh, I got a part-time three-month lecturing gig at my former ICAN tutorial centre last month, and they paid ₦22k. I’m not sure if it was a one-time payment or if they’d pay me again at the end of the third month.

Right now, my 9-5 is my main income, and the economy isn’t making it easy to survive on my own. Things get more expensive by the day and it’s crazy.

I can relate. Let’s break down your typical monthly expenses

My transportation cost is low because I now have a car — my dad bought me one after I passed ICAN last year — and he fuels it. I only take Bolt sometimes. I also do once-in-a-while sacrificial giving in church or online. It’s faith-based and can be as low as ₦5k and go up to ₦100k. 

How would you describe your relationship with money?

It’s like I’m running after money, but it’s running two steps away from me. Actually, I think my biggest problem is Tinubu. I’m not earning terrible money, but the country is spoiling faster than I earn. 

My savings have suffered a lot because I often dip into it for one thing or the other. Last month, my siblings and I contributed money to get my sister a phone, and my share was ₦76k. I have about ₦50k left in my savings now.

I’m curious about how your parents’ very different money management styles shape your thinking about money

I have a centrist-ish approach. My dad was lax and my mum was very frugal, and I’m more like a balance between them. If I want something — flimsy or not — I believe in saving towards it and working to achieve it. I won’t deny myself or just buy it on an impulse.

How do you feel about moving from chilling daddy’s girl to hustling babe?

It’s due to factors beyond my control. Yes, I’m trying to be more independent, but I shouldn’t be struggling like this. I feel like I’d be in a better financial state if I lived in a system where the president wasn’t actively working against me.

I’m living above my means, but I’m not doing anything crazy most of the time. I once did an analysis of my expenses and realised I was spending ₦64k more than my salary, meaning I regularly eat into any savings I have at the time or money gifts I get from friends and family. I’ve tried to cut down recurring expenses like ordering food at work to make it better but it isn’t doing much.

I was thinking about the whole thing a few months ago and became depressed at how my money was disappearing in the twinkle of an eye. You know what I did to feel better? I did a birthday photoshoot, bought cake, went shopping and essentially wiped out the money I was depressed about in the first place.

What do future plans look like right now?

I’m trying to get better job opportunities, but it’s still this Lagos thing, and I feel stuck. Ideally, I’d have wanted to stay at least a year at my current job to build my career, but constantly stressing about money isn’t allowing me to calm down. 

I also plan to do a master’s degree abroad soon. The last time I discussed it with my parents, the dollar was $700 to a naira. I don’t know what the amount will be when we revisit the conversation in December after my brothers are done with uni.

You mentioned looking for better job opportunities. Is there an ideal amount you’re looking for?

My ultimate goal is to be as far away from this president as possible because it’s not possible to outgrind a failing country. But right now, I just want to double my salary. Earning at least ₦200k while I live with my parents and not worrying about rent, food or fueling my car will go a long way. 

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

A gym membership. The fee recently increased from ₦15k/month to ₦20k and it’ll require a lot of calculation for me to fit it to my monthly expenses. One thing would have to suffer, which is really wild. I also want to change my phone to an iPhone 13 pro max and that’ll cost about ₦800k.

How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1 – 10?

4. I don’t have it the worst, but there are things I should be able to do for myself which are still out of my reach. I can’t be financially irresponsible for a month and bounce back because the country is spoiling faster than I earn.

Find all the past Naira Life stories here.

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