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.

Let’s start from the beginning. When did the hustle start for you?

1998. I was 15 and was in JSS 2 when I started working on my uncle’s farm every morning before school. Sometimes, I’d return to the farm after school to continue working. He grew yam, and his wife processed palm oil, so there was always plenty work. 

I made money by setting traps on the farm for bush meat and selling my catch to market women, making between ₦200 and ₦500 on each sale. It was big money in 1998.

How “big” was ₦200? What could you buy with it?

I mostly spent my money on meat. During break time, I’d go to a mama-put to buy pounded yam and plenty pieces of bushmeat for ₦200 and collect change. 

The old men in the canteen always looked at me like, “Who is this small school boy eating pounded yam in the middle of the day?” Some even questioned me, but I was stubborn. I once asked an old man to mind his business and tripped him when he wanted to beat me. Then, I started seeing him in my dreams. I thought he had cursed me.

Haha. You mentioned your uncle. Were you living with him?

Yes. My mum sent me to live with him after my father disappeared. I was three years old.

Disappeared? 

I don’t even know how to describe it. My mother got pregnant for him in SS 2, and they started living together. He was an inter-state driver, so he only came home during the weekends. One day, he stopped coming home. My mother didn’t have any work, so her brother offered to raise me. 

Can you paint me a picture of what things were like at your uncle’s?

My uncle and aunty didn’t have children of their own, but they always had five or six children in their house at any time. They did this to support the children, who were either orphans or came from poor families. I was one of those children.

It’s not like there was money; they were just good Christians. Things were tough most of the time. I only had one pair of trousers, which I wore to church every Sunday until they started reaching my knees, and aunty bought me another one.

We ate pounded yam or amala for breakfast and dinner because that’s what we grew on the farm. I was in SS 3 when I ate cornflakes for the first time. A classmate brought a pack to school, and I thought it was too expensive for the size. Why would anyone use money to buy something that doesn’t even fill your stomach?

You know what? That’s a good question

After some delays because of school fees, I graduated from secondary school in 2004 and knew there was no university unless I wanted to sponsor myself. I didn’t even really want to go. I knew some people in our neighbourhood who had gone to university only to return to teach. I wanted to make big money.

How did you plan to do that?

I was ready to try anything. That same year, I met a man through my uncle. He often came to our town to buy yams from my uncle, and I noticed he came with different cars. He also stayed back in town for a few days before returning. I asked around and heard he was a smuggler in Lagos. 

He looked like he had money, so I approached him and told him I wanted to be like him. This man reported me to my uncle.

I’m screaming

My uncle couldn’t beat me because I was 21, but he scolded me. He kept saying, “Upon everything I’ve done for you, this is what you want to do?” I could see he was disappointed in me and that was more than any beating. 

So, I decided to get a teaching job instead. I got one at a local primary school in 2005, and my salary was ₦5k/month. I hated the job ehn. The children were always shouting. I’m sure they also hated me because I flogged them very well.

Uncle, why?

Haha. I worked at the school for three years. They didn’t increase my salary until I left because I only had an SSCE certificate. I also helped my uncle and aunty on the farm, and they started giving me money too — ₦2k per week. I occasionally caught bushmeat and sold it to market women. I was comfortable.

I don’t even know what I spent money on. I didn’t have a girlfriend or anything. I just know the money was always finishing. Maybe it was food because I like food a lot. Meat was a luxury at home — my aunty didn’t eat bushmeat, and we couldn’t afford to buy beef or chicken. So, I usually bought it at mama-puts outside. Sometimes, I also loaned my uncle money to buy foodstuff for the house. But I wasn’t spending on transportation, so the money should’ve lasted.

But why did you leave the school?

I was the class teacher for Primary 3, but the school owner wanted me to start teaching the Primary 5 students mathematics. My problem was that he didn’t want to pay me extra, so I left in 2008.

I didn’t want to return to another teaching job, so I told my uncle I wanted to learn handiwork.

Did you have any in mind?

I considered plumbing because I knew a plumber, but my uncle discouraged me. He was like, “Does that plumber look like he’s making money?” Me too, I considered it and gave myself brain. 

Shots fired at the innocent plumber

My uncle suggested tailoring, and that’s what I did. I found a tailor who charged me ₦30k to learn for six months. I paid ₦10k, and my uncle paid the rest.

After I finished learning in 2009, the tailor employed me to assist him in his shop. He paid me ₦15k/month, and I worked almost every day. I was mostly sewing clothes and uniforms for young boys. Older men only came to sew clothes during festive periods. 

I worked there for two years until the tailor died. I tried to get another tailoring job, but the places I saw wanted to pay ₦10k, and I wanted more money. 

I considered opening my own shop, but there was no money to buy a sewing machine. I’d spent all my money as soon as it entered my hand as usual. I tried to convince my uncle to loan me money, but he asked why I had no savings.

Why didn’t you have savings, though?

I don’t believe in saving money. It’s like not wearing your fine clothes because you’re waiting for a special occasion. I don’t even know if I’ll wake up tomorrow, so what happens to the money I’ve kept if I don’t? It’s better for me to take care of the body that works for the money.

One time, when I was younger, my uncle lost some money he hid on the roof in an old tin of milk. He thinks someone stole it, but I mistakenly threw the tin away when I saw it on the floor. It’s possible a snake pushed it to the floor, but I thought it was rubbish and was supposed to be in the pit we burned waste in. I never told my uncle because he’d have beaten me. 

I’m telling you this story because see how my uncle lost something he must’ve been saving for a long time. It’d have been better if he had eaten his money jeje. 

Hmmm. So, back to your tailoring dilemma 

I couldn’t open a shop, so I stayed home for a few months. Then, in 2012, a distant relative of my aunty came to visit, and somehow, we started talking about me following him. He was a mechanic in another state, and I was going to be his apprentice.

How long did the apprenticeship last?

Four years. I realised I was really good with cars, and it didn’t take long to learn about petrol and diesel engines, bodywork and a bit of car rewiring. 

There were other apprentices in the workshop, and our oga didn’t pay any of us. Sometimes, he’d give every apprentice ₦1k on Fridays to do weekend, but that was it.  

I made small small money by increasing the price of car parts — usually ₦500 – ₦1500 per week. This wasn’t regular because my oga also knew how much the parts cost. 

I squatted with another apprentice during those four years and bought food for both of us to appreciate him letting me stay in his room for free. Even after finishing my apprenticeship in 2016, I still stayed with him for one more year.

What did you do after the apprenticeship?

Many of my oga’s customers liked me because they could call me to come and pick up their cars and fix them at the workshop. When I was done, I drove it back to them. They didn’t have to stress at all. I think my oga was scared that if I left, I’d carry his customers, so he asked me to keep working from his workshop and pay him ₦15k/month for rent.

I didn’t have another option, so I did that. Like I said, people already knew me, so I got customers quickly. Sometimes, I met customers on the road when I was driving to drop off other people’s cars. 

Between 2016 and 2018, I made at least ₦30k monthly. But the money wasn’t really showing in my life because I was paying my oga. Sometimes, my oga would corner my customers once they came to the workshop, and I couldn’t talk because I was using his space. I just knew I had to leave.

Did you have a plan?

For the first time, I tried to save to get my own workshop, but something always came up. 

For example, I had to rent my own apartment at ₦80k/year in 2018 because my friend wanted to get married. My woman also moved in with me, and I had to be dropping money at home.

Fortunately, my friend set up his own workshop the following year and allowed me to work from there for free. That’s still our arrangement till now. 

But in 2021, I set up a small container by the roadside not far from his workshop where I sell engine oil and do minor work like repairing okada. When I need to do major work, I use his workshop. I do it like this so we don’t get into arguments about stealing customers or space.

What’s your monthly income like these days?

I make between ₦60k – ₦70k from mechanic work and about ₦10k extra from selling engine oil. I also help people advertise their cars for sale on my WhatsApp and do pre-sale inspections and servicing, and I make money from that too. 

If a buyer comes through me, I can make as much as ₦80k – ₦100k. If it’s just a pre-sale inspection I do, that’s like ₦30k. Money from cars used to be almost every month in 2022, but since Tinubu entered, everyone is looking for money to eat, not buy a car. I haven’t sold a car since January.

What do your typical monthly expenses look like?

I take my enjoyment very seriously. I can’t suffer to make money and still suffer myself. God forbid. Every weekend, I go out to drink and eat barbecued fish. 

I also like to buy something new every month, like a watch or new palm slippers. People think mechanics are supposed to be dirty and smelling. At least when I’m not at the workshop, I can look good, abi?

That’s right. So, would you say your income is enough for the lifestyle you want?

It’s not at all o. I’m just making myself happy with the small money I make. If I think too much about the things I can’t afford, I’ll just be sad, and that doesn’t solve anything. 

My woman gave birth to our child last year, and I know very soon she’ll start asking me for money for baby food and clothes. I’m even lucky because she’s a teacher and hardly bills me, but I know the time will soon come. She’s already complaining that our self-contained apartment is too small, so I’ll need to look for another place.

How much do you think would be great to earn right now?

Maybe ₦150k/month. That will be hard to get from just mechanic work, so I’m hoping car sales pick up again.

What’s something you want right now but can’t afford?

A korope minibus. The plan is to give someone to drive for me and pay me weekly. But the price is increasing every day. A used one is now between ₦3m – ₦4m. Something that was about ₦1.5m last year. Maybe I should even remove it from my mind because it can be ₦10m when I’m finally ready.

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

6. Things are hard, but I thank God for how far I’ve come. I just need to find a way to make more money soon to take care of my family.

Find all the past Naira Life stories here.

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