In 2022, Folake* (27) suddenly found herself homeless and broke after her long-time boyfriend ended their relationship. In this story, she shares how the breakup was her wake-up call to make better financial decisions and what rebuilding has looked like.
As Told To Boluwatife
One night in August 2022, I tapped my boyfriend, Tunde*, awake, ready for war.
When he opened his eyes, I presented him with evidence I’d painstakingly gathered over two weeks: screenshots of chats, selfies and voice notes to prove his infidelity.
I’d discovered he was cheating on me with multiple women by chance. One random girl had messaged me on Snapchat: “Hi dear, sorry to bother you, but are you dating Tunde?”
I laughed at first because I knew what that meant. She was coming to me “woman to woman” to claim she had a thing with my man.
I thought, “Surely, this babe is joking. Not my Tunde.”
Then she sent screenshots and pictures. Tons of pictures.
My blood ran cold. My chest was tight. For a few hours, I convinced myself it was a prank. Then, I systematically went through his phone for weeks and saw enough to write a Tyler Perry movie.
When I confronted him that night, I expected drama, begging, maybe even tears. I desperately wanted him to explain and give me excuses — a reason to forgive him.
It sounds pitiful, but Tunde was my world. We’d been together for four years and lived together for three. I just wanted us to go back to how things were. Instead, Tunde looked me dead in the eye and said, “So, you’ve found out. What do you want me to do?”
I thought my ears weren’t working. I asked him, “Is that what you’re supposed to say?”
He calmly said, “You’re the reason I do all this rubbish, Folake. You’re too controlling. Maybe we should take a break to figure out what we really want.”
I couldn’t say a word. Four years gone, just like that.
The Breakup That Almost Broke Me
Two days later, Tunde asked if I could “give him space” for a while. That was code for “pack your things.”
The statement triggered a realisation that pushed my heartbreak to the background: I had absolutely nothing.
Nowhere to go, no property and no money.
I’d moved in with Tunde immediately after uni, and had essentially built my life around him. Everything I had was ours. He was the breadwinner, but I poured all my heart and soul into the relationship.
I thought we were “building together,” so I didn’t think twice about channelling whatever small money I made as a beginner makeup artist to what I believed was our home: taking care of food, buying fuel, and getting Tunde gifts. Sometimes, I even lent him money that I never got back.
I thought we were a team, so I never worried. I didn’t even have savings of my own because, why would I? Tunde handled everything I needed. I honestly didn’t think I lacked anything.
The breakup was a wake-up call.
I’m ashamed to say I begged Tunde a little. He cheated on me, but I was the one doing the pleading. I begged him to consider our love and let us work things out. When he didn’t budge, I asked him to give me adequate time to get a place to stay. He refused.
I cried for almost 24 hours straight.
I honestly thought my life was over. If not for my religion, I would’ve considered ending it all.
Tunde and I rarely had major fights. He’d cheated before, but swore never to do it again, and I trusted him. I didn’t check his phones or keep him from going out. He even spent whole weekends with his guys. So, his “control” allegations were very strange. It was like he just wanted an excuse to send me away.
In the end, I wiped my tears, packed three years of my life and makeup tools into three travel boxes, and moved into my friend Ronke’s one-room apartment.
On the day I left, I had just ₦15k in my bank account.
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The Financial Reality Check
For the first time in a long time, I was broke.
The worst thing was that I couldn’t even call home for help. I had fought with my parents and sister over this same guy because they didn’t like his job and wanted me to leave him.
Even though we still kept in touch, I wasn’t as close to my family as I had been before, due to their constant complaints about Tunde.
I knew telling them about my situation would only lead to them mocking me. So, I decided to face my struggles on my own.
My only saving graces were Ronke and my handiwork. My world might have scattered, but at least I had a skill that could feed me and a place to lay my head.
So, I started rebuilding.
It was hard. I had initially told Ronke I’d squat with her for three months. My thinking was that I’d hustle for as many makeup jobs as possible, gather money and rent my own place. But it wasn’t as easy as I imagined.
Firstly, I didn’t have a shop. I’d only learnt makeup to have a skill, not because I wanted to make it a business. My dream business was to open a fashion store, which Tunde had promised to set up. So, up until I became homeless, my clients were the girlfriends of Tunde’s friends who knew what I did. They came to the house when they needed my services and sometimes gave me ₦5k or ₦10k as a thank you.
As a result, I didn’t have an actual customer base. I had to start afresh, opening a business page on social media and beginning to market my work. I didn’t get any clients for four months. It was even more difficult because I could only offer home services. I didn’t have a shop where people could walk in. Most of the time, I just did makeup for my friend so I could take videos and post them online.
Also, when I managed to find clients, I couldn’t just keep all the money. I had to contribute to the household’s expenses and support my friend, as she was essentially feeding me.
I ended up squatting with my friend for almost two years. I don’t know why I thought I could manage to stand alone in three months. Maybe living with Tunde and relying fully on him made me blind to the financial realities of surviving in Nigeria.
During those two years with Ronke, I was in a constant cycle of hustle, settling bills and trying to save money. Yes, that saving I didn’t do before? No one told me to take it seriously.
Ronke — God bless her for me — didn’t pressure or make me feel like an inconvenience, but I knew I had to actively plan my finances so I never had to be stranded again.
I learnt to follow a budget for the first time in my adult life. Whenever I got paid for a job, I divided the money into two: half to my savings account and half to my spending account. I didn’t even spend the half in my account on myself, I used it to settle bills at my friend’s house and buy tools to upgrade my business.
In 2023, I found a hairstylist who owned a salon around Ronke’s area and begged her to give me a small space in her shop for my clients. She agreed and let me pay her ₦5k weekly for the space. That’s how I got a walk-in “shop”.
Fortunately for me, the hairstylist’s clients started to patronise me too. I also began getting returning clients from social media.
By 2024, I’d saved ₦350k, and my sister borrowed me ₦100k extra so I could rent my own one-room apartment.
The apartment felt like I was taking my first deep breath in two years.
Starting Over from Scratch
Since I cleared my savings for rent, I had to live in that room with no furniture for the first six months. I didn’t even have a mattress. But I slept on the floor with pride and happiness.
It wasn’t the soft life I was used to. No AC or Netflix like in Tunde’s house, but this was my own place. No one could wake up one day and send me away.
Gradually, I began to turn the apartment into a home. I bought a mattress, plastic chairs and a few kitchen utensils. I started feeling proud of myself again. There were times when I missed the comfort of relying on Tunde, but I had to fight through.
Eventually, my peace of mind came back. I realised I used to treat love like a financial plan. I gave my stability to a man and called it a partnership.
Now, I was building something real by myself.
I still don’t have everything I need, but I’ve come a long way since 2022. I’m not rich, but I’m stable. I have ₦200k in savings and no debt. I already have my rent saved somewhere. I’m even planning to get my own shop soon.
Last month, Tunde texted me. Something about “catching up” and “missing what we had.”
I didn’t even open the chat. I archived it and went back to my life. God forbid I return to what almost took my life.
*Names have been changed for the sake of anonymity.
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?
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.
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?
Tabitha and I started dating in January, so that’s about six months.
How did you both meet?
She’s a university student in my neighbourhood, so I’ve seen her around for a while. I finally got the courage to talk to her when she came to my POS stand to make a transfer. The person she sent the money to didn’t receive the alert, but the transaction was successful on my end. I convinced her to exchange numbers so she could reach me if the person didn’t see the money.
We actually didn’t need to exchange numbers. She would’ve seen me on her way to school the following day, but I insisted because I wanted to get close. After that day, I reached out on WhatsApp and we started talking regularly.
The talking stage lasted for two weeks. I officially asked Tabitha out on her birthday with a ₦3k teddy bear (she’d told me she liked them) and a handwritten card.
Romance!
After she said yes, I took her to the cinema for a movie date, and we bought shawarma, popcorn and drinks. I spent close to ₦30k on that date, which was quite dumb on my part. That’s how much I make in a week. But I was excited. She deserved it.
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Speaking of money, what’s your and Tabitha’s financial situation like?
I think we’re both doing as well as we can. Tabitha is in 300 level, but she does several things to make money. She sells perfume oils, female two-piece outfits and also cooks for money. Her parents and siblings occasionally send her urgent ₦5k or ₦10k, but she doesn’t rely on them alone.
I don’t know how much she makes exactly, but she pays her ₦80k rent herself. I also know she has savings because she has been trying to get me to be consistent with savings, too.
Saving is difficult for me because I live with my parents. My dad is sick, so he doesn’t work. Out of the ₦30k I make weekly, I have to drop ₦10k to support my mum, who doesn’t make much from her provisions store. Sometimes, extra expenses like my dad’s medicine also take out of my money.
So, it’s hard to keep money without touching it. Tabitha is always on my case about saving sha. She’ll say, “Aren’t you concerned about your future?”
How do you respond when she says that?
I can’t really say much because I know she’s right. I started this POS business in 2023 because I was tired of job hunting with my HND certificate, but I can’t do POS forever.
My business was one of the first things Tabitha asked me about when we started dating. She asked if I had future plans outside the POS work because she’d only date me if I had a plan to stop the work one day. So, I told her about my hopes of opening an outlet to sell male clothes and shoes to both online and walk-in customers.
We agreed I’d save ₦30k monthly so I can start the clothes business by the end of the year, but I haven’t saved anything. I saved ₦10k twice and withdrew it later. Tabitha is unhappy with that, and I’m trying to improve.
I plan to be more intentional starting this month. A few days ago, I made a kolo from a large tomato tin, and I’ll be dropping ₦1k there daily.
I hope that works out. Does your savings plan leave room to budget for dates and romance?
We don’t really spend on dates like that. I’m usually at my POS stand every single day till evening, so there’s not much time to go out.
However, I always go to Tabitha’s hostel in the evenings to spend about an hour with her. Sometimes, she cooks for me. I sometimes buy shawarma or suya when I visit because she likes them. That usually costs me ₦3k.
The last big relationship expense I made since our first date was in April. A dispatch rider ran away with ₦20k worth of Tabitha’s perfume oils, so I paid for the loss. She didn’t ask me to pay. I just saw how badly it affected her and paid because I didn’t want her to be unhappy. She thanked me for that money for three days.
That’s so sweet. What’s the most memorable gift Tabitha has given you?
She gave me a new money pouch last month. It touched me because my old money pouch was tattered. I always postponed entering the market to buy a new one because I didn’t want to leave my stand. We didn’t even talk about it. She just came to my stand that day and handed me the pouch. I almost cried o. Big man like me.
I’m screaming. Do you both have money conversations?
We’re both open about how much we have, but it’s not because we ask each other; the information just flows. We can just be talking and I’ll say, “It’s only ₦5k I made today o,” or she can say, “My sister sent me ₦5k.”
I think there’s still plenty of time for serious money conversations. I don’t need to know exactly how much she earns when it’s not like we want to get married tomorrow.
What do you think the future holds for you both?
We still have a long way to go. I don’t think I’m ready to get married in the next five years. So, we’re just taking it a day at a time. I’d really love it if we manage to stay together. She once joked that I had to convert to her religion because that was the only way her father would approve of a future marriage. If it comes down to that, I don’t mind converting.
What’s the ideal financial future for you as a couple?
Japa. We both want to leave Nigeria one day.
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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There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to financial advice. What works for the ballers won’t always work for the hustlers, and that’s okay.
We asked 7 salary earners across different low and mid-income levels about their thoughts on savings, and this is what they had to say.
Lanre*. Income range: ₦200k – ₦250k/month
Saving in naira is a scam. I realised this when my sister received a sizable bonus at work, and she decided to save it for a year till she was due to travel out of the country. By the time she needed the money and changed it to dollars, it was far less than what it would’ve been if she’d changed it to dollars a year before and kept it.
I prefer to invest my money in agribusiness or opportunities that will generate interest. If I have to save, it can’t be in naira.
Mayo*. Income range: ₦70k – ₦100k/month
I’m a firm believer in savings. I can’t feel comfortable if I have absolutely nothing to fall back on.
I earn next to nothing, but I consistently save about 40%. Up until 2020, I always left my savings in a single bank account. But I got robbed and lost all my life savings in one day. So now, I spread my money across my accounts, fintech apps and even ajo contributions.
Joy*. Income: ₦300k/month
I only save what’s left after removing what I can conveniently live on. I used to beat myself up about not saving as much as some of my friends with similar incomes, but I give myself grace now. The cost of most things is now increasingly costlier on a daily basis, and I can’t live a fairly comfortable life and save adequately at the same time.
I don’t think it’s fair to work as hard as I do and deny myself the things I like simply because I want to keep money somewhere. I’d rather focus on earning more so I can do both.
I live with my parents and work from home, so I easily save at least 70% of my income since I have limited responsibilities. It’s not necessarily because I have financial discipline; I just don’t know what to do with money. If I find a lucrative investment or business opportunity, I’ll probably direct the money there instead of letting it gather dust.
Esther*. Income: ₦180k/month
I prefer to take loans than to save. This is because I typically save when I have a goal in mind. For instance, I need to buy a TV which might require me to save for three months. By the time I have the money, the price might have increased because of inflation. So, I’d rather take a loan to buy it at once and pay it back gradually. I can save for rent since it’s fixed. But for any other purpose, I’d rather take a loan. I also keep between 10% – 20% of my income as emergency savings when I have no particular savings goal.
Joseph*. Income range: ₦60k – ₦65k/month
Omo. Na who get money dey save o. By the time I sort out transportation and feeding expenses from my salary, I’m already broke by the third week of the month. The prices of things also increase daily, so sometimes I have to really stretch my salary to even reach that third week. Maybe when I start earning more, I can think about saving.
Ruth*. Income: ₦260k/month
I think saving is great, but my challenge is fighting the urge to blow my savings on something I like. I tried locking my money in a fintech savings app once, but then a genuine unexpected need came up, and I was stranded. I had to borrow money from a friend to pay my hospital bills even though I had ₦300k locked somewhere.
I’ve never locked my money again, and now I just try to do my best to manage it. If savings work in a particular month, great. If it doesn’t, I just keep moving.
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. What’s your earliest memory of money?
During the festive season in the north, where I grew up in the 90s, kids would go on yawo — a Hausa term meaning to walk around. I started going on these walks with my siblings and other kids when I was five years old. We’d dress in our Christmas and Sallah bests, and go to neighbour’s houses to get food and ₦10 or ₦20, which we’d then spend on sweets.
I have memories of falling asleep at random houses, thoroughly exhausted from the long walks. Then, one of my many older siblings would come and pick me up.
You came from a large family. What was that like financially?
My dad was educated and had a business. My mum was a stay-at-home mum who dabbled in businesses once in a while. We had everything we needed. We also had two cars and lived in a nice neighbourhood.
We weren’t super rich, though, and I knew that because most of my older siblings went to top primary and secondary schools. But when it got to the last three kids — I’m the lastborn — we had to go to cheaper schools. Plus, at some point, we stopped having cornflakes for breakfast. I think it was a combination of the economy and my dad getting older.
But my parents made sure we developed a sense of self that wasn’t tied to money.
How so?
My parents discouraged anything that was overly money-centric. We weren’t allowed to sell or exchange stuff for money. If they heard one of us exchanged a banana for ₦20, they’d scold the culprit like they did blood rituals.
They encouraged us to come to them for what we needed and not worry about making money. If you went to them with an outrageously expensive want, my dad would trick you into not wanting it anymore so he wouldn’t have to buy it. It worked most of the time. So, I never worried about money and just relied on what they and my older siblings could give me.
When did you first earn money for yourself then?
2009. I was 16 and had just finished secondary school when I joined a modelling/ushering agency through my older sister. People always stopped me on the road to ask me if I wanted to model because I was tall. So I thought, “why not?”
All I had to do was dress nicely and stand at events, and I made roughly ₦15k – ₦20k per month. It was mostly fun. I met celebrities all the time, but it also had its downsides.
What downsides?
I once worked with an event organiser who called me and the other ladies riff-raffs and fought with the agency because, according to her, we didn’t look good enough for the event. There were also the men who kept trying to date me. But I was just there for the vibes.
The money was a nice-to-have, and no one at home asked me for it. I was still at it when I resumed uni in a different state. But then, I only took the gigs when I was home for holidays. At school, I relied on foodstuff and the monthly ₦10k – ₦20k allowance from home. I also got random cash from my big sister and a lecturer who was like a sugar daddy without the sugar.
Wait, what?
My sister sort of introduced me to him. He took a liking to me, but all we did was talk in his office every other day. After our chats, he’d give me ₦5k for lunch.
My first and second years at uni were pretty chill because I always had money, but I always spent it as fast as it entered. If I ran out of money, there was always an older sibling to ask.
What were you spending money on, though?
I had an appetite — still do — for nice things: clothes, human hair, food and phones. By this time, though, I’d learnt that taking all my needs to my parents would only end up in, “Why do you need this thing?” So I had to sort the money by myself.
I’d also learnt how to be friendly with men for money, especially since I stopped the ushering gigs in my third year.
Why did you stop?
I gained weight. Plus, I was schooling in a different state and wasn’t always available when they called, and they soon stopped calling me. I stopped and started writing for money instead.
How did writing come into the picture?
I’ve always been an avid reader, but I didn’t really write anything until 2013. Someone I liked ghosted me, so I started using it as an avenue to rant.
Then, I began to explore creative nonfiction and found out I liked it. Later, I stumbled on an article by an engineer-turned-writer who had a blog and a reasonable following. I was studying engineering, so I thought we had that in common.
I emailed him, telling him I was an engineering student who recently started writing and wanted his thoughts on my writing. He responded, and I started to guest-publish on his website for free. Then he started a company in 2014 and gave me small admin tasks, paying me a ₦5k monthly data stipend.
Was that all you were doing at that time?
I also did a six-month industrial training for school. I got paid ₦15k/month, which was exciting until I removed transport money and realised ₦15k didn’t cover anything. Luckily, I stayed with my sister during my IT, so she usually filled the gaps.
I graduated in 2015, and while waiting for NYSC, I kept on with the ₦5k admin task. Sometimes, he paid more, especially when he needed my help with extra operational tasks. But I needed more money, so I got a technical sales job at an inverter company. The offer was ₦15k/month, but two weeks in, they noticed I was smart and familiar with the technical concepts, so they decided to make it ₦25k instead. Me, I just wanted any additional income, so I didn’t even mind the ₦15k.
But I resigned after six months because of NYSC. My PPA was in the civil service, where I got paid ₦15k/month in addition to the ₦19,800 allowance. I also still had the ₦5k admin gig.
My brother and writer boss both helped out with my ₦90k house rent, so I just spent on transportation and food.
Did you have any savings?
To be honest, I’ve never been good at saving money. I know how to spend, and also know how to manage when there’s little, but saving just isn’t my thing.
I took another writing gig in May 2016 for a travel blog, writing 40 – 50 short SEO articles a month for ₦15k. I only did it for three months, though — I ran out of content to write on.
Yikes
I continued with my boring civil service job till service ended in September 2016. I was too proud to stay unemployed, so I’d been sending out applications since July. I interviewed with a startup media company, but they asked me to return after NYSC.
So, I hit them up again in September and got hired as a junior writer. The salary was ₦80k/month. I had to move to Lagos, so I moved in with a cousin. The commute was hell, though — the cousin lived at Argungi, and the office was at Yaba. It was probably for the best that I got laid off after two months.
Ah. What happened?
They were downsizing. So, I officially entered unemployment, but still hellbent on working for a startup. Working with cool young people was a breath of fresh air, and I didn’t want to go back to the civil service.
Although I moved back in with my parents, I was very picky with the jobs I applied to and stayed unemployed for about seven months. I still had the ₦5k admin job, though.
In July 2017, a friend introduced me to a tech hub, and I got employed to do PR, communications and social media for ₦100k/month. I was still staying with my parents, so I had no bills. But I left the job in December.
Another job?
I was told to resign. It was a chaotic husband and wife business, and a really toxic work environment. One day, I was just like, “Fuck this” and was rude to my manager. So they asked me to resign.
I was unemployed again, but this time, I wasn’t just looking to work at a startup; I was looking for structure and a clear career path.
Did you find one?
Luckily, I did. I resumed a marketing role in January 2018. My salary was ₦137k/month, and I had to move back to Lagos to stay with my cousin again. It felt like good money because I could afford to go out for drinks and buy myself nice things. I also stopped the ₦5k admin tasks to focus on my job.
Two months into the job, I moved out of my cousin’s house because I wanted independence. I rented a ₦20k/month room in a colleague’s house. I also chipped in ₦10k each month for other household expenses. It was my first major “billing” as an adult.
After sorting out rent, internet and maybe transportation, I’d blow the rest of my salary on drinks, then run to my siblings for money when I became broke. Even when my salary increased to ₦150k in August, I still always asked my siblings for money.
Did you ever think this was a problem?
I didn’t realise it was until one of my siblings visited me in Lagos and saw where I was living. She was like, “It’s better you come back home instead of just getting by.” It forced me to think about my life and realise I was actually tired of not having money.
So, I started to look for financial advice. I learned how to use Excel and started tracking my expenses on a spreadsheet, but I continued to struggle with saving. A friend told me something I can’t forget. She said, “You can only try to earn more, not squeeze what you already have to live the life you want. You just need to make more money.” But I was following passion and wanted to stay in tech startups that couldn’t pay me those big salaries.
By the end of 2018, I started to want better for myself financially and decided it was time to start earning more. I went back to my spreadsheet tracker and calculated that I’d have some financial leeway if I earned ₦40k extra. So, I went looking for side gigs and found one writing copy for a tech founder who paid that exact amount.
Nice. How was work going?
I got promoted to the head of my team in 2019, and my salary increased to ₦250k. With that, I could afford to move to a bigger three-bedroom flat that I shared with two other people.
The rent was flexible. I paid ₦195k/quarter for my room and didn’t have to spend anything else because it came furnished.
I had to stop the ₦40k side gig after a couple of months because of my increased responsibilities at work, and my job became my only source of income. But I started getting restless about earning more again. I looked at my spreadsheet and decided I needed to earn ₦400k per month.
So, I started job hunting. I put in my three-month notice in January 2020 and left in March. I was interviewing for a ₦450k job, and I had it in the bag, but COVID happened, and everyone froze hiring. Unemployment again.
Oh no. What did you do?
I thought COVID would be gone in a month, so I cut down my expenses to survive while I waited it out. Two months passed, and nothing had changed. Also, I had no savings.
I was violently job hunting and taking as many side gigs as I could. I was probably running on like ₦50k/month. I also relied heavily on my siblings and the goodwill of my friends.
I had to leave my apartment in July when no job came, and returned to live with my parents. I kept applying for jobs, and in September 2020, I landed a job in Ghana for $1,400.
Whoosh. Did you have to move to Ghana?
Not immediately. I worked remotely for two months, so they sent my salary in naira. It was around ₦600k — no thanks to CBN’s rubbish rate. But the job was a lifesaver. To finally earn money after five months of unemployment and enduring scrutiny from Nigerian parents was such a relief.
As usual, I blew the money. I used to work out of cafes just because, and went to brunch every week. But it was the first time I’d spend like that and still have money in my account at the end of the month. My brain clicked on the fact that I’m earning more now, and should keep a better eye on my spending. So, I began attempting to save.
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Was the attempt successful?
Uhmm, not exactly. I did some lifestyle upgrades because I’d been practically suffering for the past two years. So, I upgraded my wardrobe, bought wigs and started contributing about ₦50k monthly to the food expenses at home. I also started buying gifts for friends to reciprocate how they came through for me when I was broke.
I eventually moved to Ghana in 2021 to work at the office, and my finances became a bit tighter. Living in Ghana was expensive, and $1,400 per month didn’t do so much. I should mention, though, that I travelled a lot within Ghana and stayed in resorts on mini-vacations, so that took a lot of my money. I also became a prolific Instagram shopper. I didn’t pay for accommodation or feeding because the company provided it. But by September, I decided I needed more money again.
And you started job hunting again
Yup. A friend founded a startup and offered me ₦1m/month and stock options to lead influencer marketing. I moved back to Nigeria to live with my parents — for free, as usual — in 2022.
I thought getting a car would be nice, so I saved ₦500k from my salary for three months. But when I got ₦1.5m, I decided the job was stressing me out, so I quit on a whim and decided to survive on the money while I found something else.
It looks like you were no longer scared of unemployment
I’d gotten used to it, so what was the worst that could happen? I got a ₦960k offer a month later, but the money wasn’t enough to afford the lifestyle I was used to, and wasn’t commensurate with the level of work I’d have to do. So, I turned it down.
I eventually landed my current job about three months later as a sales operations specialist.
₦1.2m/month isn’t exactly a jump from my previous role, but I work with it. I moved to Lagos again and stayed with a boyfriend, and then another friend for the rest of the year. In January 2023, I took a ₦4m loan from work, got an ₦800k/year apartment, and used about ₦2.5m to renovate and furnish it.
How has going through several phases of unemployment and income growth impacted your perspective on money?
Working hard doesn’t guarantee having money — people can have money just by virtue of who their parents are. You can work hard, but the value you’ll get for your labour is typically tied to your socio-economic status in life. For instance, a poor carpenter will have poor clients and might never make enough to be rich.
However, I think being extremely rich borders on immoral. That kind of wealth is usually a result of the capitalist ideology where you mostly have to take from people or not care how anyone else fares as long as you maximise personal gain. Everyone could make do with less. So, I just want to be comfortable. I don’t want to be very very rich.
Right now, my life is a mix of gratitude and guilt. I feel extremely lucky to be able to have the life I have, where my major responsibility is myself. But there’s also guilt because I know what bare minimum is, and I don’t think humans should have to survive on bare minimum.
Also, all the clichés about money are true. You need money to make money, and we’re often never satisfied. I remember when I thought a ₦400k job would make me happy, but look at me now, I’m still passively looking for something that pays more.
Curious. Do you think you live above your means?
Oh definitely. I don’t have any money left over at the end of the month because I spend on a lot of things I don’t need. Take my princessing budget, for example. I know how to do my hair and lashes. But I want to go to a nice place so someone else can do them for me.
I also don’t have to go out for drinks or buy stuff from Instagram as often as I do. It just feels really nice to make these unnecessary expenses. The self-awareness is there, but the self-improvement is still coming.
Do you ever worry about not having savings?
I am. I’m trying to optimise my financial lifestyle to fix that, but it’s not easy. Right now, a chunk of my money goes into renovating my apartment and getting more furniture.
I have about $150 in savings, and that’s just about it. I try to save ₦150k per month, but I always end up spending what I manage to save.
Can you break down your typical monthly expenses?
The loan repayment is towards the ₦4m loan I took from work earlier this year. I pay back 30% each month and will pay it all off by January 2024. My princessing budget is essentially what I spend on my nails, hair, lashes and all that stuff. It gets higher in a month when I have an event to attend.
In some great months, I usually have ₦70k extra after all my expenses as a buffer till salary enters. In the months I don’t, I turn back to my siblings. They’re my safety net. I usually support them too, though. So, I’m not just taking.
Is there something you want right now but can’t afford?
I’d like to get breast reduction surgery. I got a ₦2.8m quote last year but haven’t gotten around to it. I’d also like to get a car. My budget is ₦4.5m. Who knows what that’d get with the current exchange rate?
How would you describe your relationship with money?
It’s very weird. I monitor my expenses, but my savings and investments are non-existent. I don’t think I’ve ever downloaded an investment app. I guess I’m just indifferent to trying to control my money, so I just track it.
I record every amount I spend and know where the leakages come from, but I’ve just been unable to stop the extra expenses. Maybe after this conversation, I’d be embarrassed enough to actually do something about it. I work in a Fintech, and I’m learning more about how people manage their finances, so let’s hope something comes out of that.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?
7. It could be so much worse. I think you get better at making money the older you get. I believe that I can make more money if I want to and put in the work needed. In summary, I just try to maintain gratitude for where I am.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
If you are a part of the very small percentage of Nigerian adults who have their lives put together enough to make budgets, we have a thing or two to tell you. While you might think that you’ve covered all your bases. You’ve made a budget for food, transport even Friday night faji, there are a couple of key things you are leaving out of your budget that could ruin your finances.
The second cloth you have to buy after your tailor takes the aso-ebi you bought for a wedding and travelled with it.
Please, when are we going to come together as a people and boycott Nigerian tailors?
The extra tyre you need to buy after that deep pothole on your street finally tears your tyre.
And the second one you’ll buy after the same pothole tears the new one.
If you thought you’ll need only 10k fuel for the month double it, because the transformer on your street will blow and you won’t have light for three months.
And you’ll still contribute for NEPA people to come and fix the transformer.
Drugs for malaria you only got because your street has been flooded for the past two weeks.
By the time you get your hospital bill, you’ll wish you just stayed home and prayed the malaria away.
The third and fourth internet subscriptions you have to pay for because the first two start moving mad.
Then you go back to the first two when the third and fourth one starts misbehaving too.
The funny sound your generator starts making even though you only serviced it last week.
You’ll think it just needs to be serviced again until your gen guy tells you, you need to replace the carburetor.
When someone steals wires from the NEPA pole on your street and you have to contribute to pay for it.
You also have to settle the NEPA guys who will come and fix it.
The new phone you have to buy because they obtained your old one in traffic.
Shebi if the traffic was moving the thief won’t have seen road to collect your phone.
When your rent is due on January 1st and your landlord tells you on the 31st that he’s increasing the rent.
After you’ve used all your extra money for December rocks.
Getting that message from your younger brother, sister asking for money.
Me sef I need epp.
The borehole in your compound just suddenly stops working because the last plumber to fix it used fake parts.
And you just fixed it last month,
All the people you have to settle just so you don’t die on the line collecting things like your driver’s license or passport.
And they’ll still ask anything for the boys after you’ve settled them.
Settling police so they can release your friend they carried for no reason.
They said because he was using an iPhone he must be a yahoo boy.
The side mirror of your car you have to replace because one danfo guy trying to overtake you hit it.
After hitting it he started rolling on the floor using God to beg you.
Having to replace the compressor of your freezer because NEPA blew it.
And the surge protector you bought was fake.
NEPA bringing a 90k bill for you even though they only gave you light twice that month.
If you don’t have a prepaid meter go and get one now.
