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.
How long have you been with your partner?
We dated for a year and have been married for almost two years. So, we’ve been together for three years.
Where did you meet?
We met at my former workplace. HR announced Greg as the new tech hire one day in November 2021. I didn’t pay much attention to him until January, when I needed to solve a tech request. I messaged him, and he told me he couldn’t do much because it was his last day.
I was shocked. When did he even join? I like gist, so I pushed him to share. We took the conversation off Slack and kept chatting after we finished doing office politics amebo. Two days later, he sweet-talked himself into a date. I don’t even know when he stole my heart. I just know we started dating in February.
See love o. But what was happening with Greg’s job situation?
He left my former workplace because of some disagreements with the work contract. My bosses tried to get him to do far more than was agreed, and he wasn’t down for it. So, he quit.
He didn’t have another job lined up, but he often got freelance software development gigs through his network of colleagues. He relied on that, pending when he’d get a full-time role. Greg was technically unemployed when we started dating.
Did this affect the new relationship?
Not at all. Money, or the lack of it, has never been the most important thing in a relationship for me. I know it’s essential, but I like to look at other factors too. Greg is kind, loving and isn’t lazy. Despite being unemployed, he also wasn’t poor — the gigs helped. He didn’t get a full-time role until we were five months into the relationship.
Another thing that helped was how open we were about our finances and how we spent money. It helped manage expectations on both sides. I wasn’t expecting him to “give me the world” when he only had ₦50k in his account.
One time in June 2022, he made ₦700k on a project and took me out to an upscale restaurant to celebrate. I remember this vividly because that’s when we started talking about marriage. To be honest, I think we both knew marriage was wishful thinking at the time. My salary was only ₦350k/month, and he didn’t have anything stable. We had nothing to plan a wedding and home with; we just knew we wanted to be together.
The universe must’ve been listening because less than a month later, Greg landed a $4k/month contract job with a foreign company.
Whoops!
The new income gave us the confidence to plan for our future more intentionally. $4k at the time was about ₦2.5m, and Greg started saving ₦1.7m monthly as a safety net for our wedding and new apartment. We got married in February 2023 and moved into our current apartment. The rent itself is ₦1.8m/year, but agent fees and furnishing drove the cost up to ₦3m. Greg handled this.
How about the wedding expenses?
Greg handled most of the wedding expenses, too — the hall, food, decorations, photography, videography, and security ran into ₦4m. I’d been saving too, so I assisted by paying for our outfits, accessories and my make-up. I think the whole thing cost me ₦1.2m. Nothing too serious.
I got pregnant almost immediately and had to quit my job when my bosses became passive-aggressive. They kept implying I wouldn’t work as hard anymore and increased my tasks as if to prove that. I didn’t need that stress in my life, so I quit in September 2023. I had the baby in November.
I planned to wait for my baby to become at least seven months old before I started job-hunting again. However, Greg’s workplace ended his contract in March 2024, and I had to dust my CV. I found my current job within six weeks of searching, and I earn ₦520k/month. Greg has yet to find another full-time job.
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Does this mean your home currently runs on a single income source?
One stable income source. Greg has returned to freelancing, but the income isn’t steady. He can make $1k today and not make up to ₦300k for the next three months. We’ve had to tighten our belts and live as frugally as possible. But no matter how much we try to keep money, living in Lagos and the economy just force money out of our hands. We also have a baby to care for.
Sometimes, I think about feeding, electricity and transportation costs and my head just starts bringing out smoke. Imagine spending ₦120k on electricity every month because we’re on Band A, and it’s not like the light is 24/7 o! We still have to spend on fuel for the generator. I’m sorry I’m ranting; I don’t get to rant at home.
Why can’t you rant at home?
Greg feels bad whenever I complain about money. I might just be complaining about how an item has tripled in price, and he starts feeling guilty about not providing enough. I’ve told him countless times that I’m not faulting him for anything. But it doesn’t change anything.
I understand him, though. It must feel emasculating that, no matter how he tries, his efforts don’t seem to match our needs. He has a provider mindset, and I don’t want him to feel worse than he already does. So, I keep my concerns with inflation to myself and just try to manage his emotions.
I see. How do you both approach budgeting for home expenses?
We have a joint account that we use to handle all our needs. We send a portion of our salaries there to pay our bills. At first, it was just Greg sending 70% of his income to the account. If the money finished before month’s end, I’d assist with any bill that needed to be paid. That rarely happened because Greg’s income was so high.
But since he lost his job, I’ve been sending 70% of my income to the account. Then, I save the remaining 30%. Sometimes, I send the full 100% because of the high cost of living.
Is there any left to plan for dates and stuff?
We often plan indoor dates where we order in food, and the money for that usually comes from our joint account. Those dates happen at least once weekly, especially when I’m too tired to cook.
We used to buy random gifts a lot before the job situation. I’d often come home to see a dress or pair of shoes that Greg ordered. I’d also buy him things I knew he’d like when I went out. But now, we’re just trying to survive. Hopefully, things will get much better soon, and we can resume.
Hopefully. Do you both have a safety net?
We had an “untouchable” ₦2m emergency fund, but we had to touch it when rent was due last month. So, we’re trying to build another emergency fund. Greg and I have agreed that the next big payout he gets from a gig will go there.
What’s your ideal financial future as a couple?
I just want us to earn enough to afford a little extra to set aside in real estate and stock investments. There’s only so much running around we can do to make money. I feel like the highest point in wealth building is to have a source of passive income, and we need investments for that.
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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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.
What’s your earliest memory of money?
In JSS 3, I was a part-time apprentice learning how to make aluminium windows. Sometimes, clients would drop amounts like ₦1k for the apprentices to share. I can’t remember how much I usually got, but it was enough for snacks. That was the first time I got extra money — my family was quite poor —so it was a big deal.
Tell me more about your family’s financial situation
I grew up in the north, and everyone was pretty much content with what they had. I only realised we were poor when I became older.
My dad was an okada rider, but when the state government banned okadas, he lost that income source. Then, he had a stint cleaning at a general hospital and farmed for food.
My mum also did several things for money; she sold kerosene, firewood, uncooked pap and ground pepper for people with her grinding machine.
I’m the first child, and learning a trade while still in school was my parents’ way of making sure I had skills that could lead to money in the future. I didn’t just learn how to make windows; I also learnt photography and electrical installations. Those didn’t exactly bring money— except on the random occasions when clients dashed the apprentices’ money. I did get a chance to make money when I got into the polytechnic in 2017.
How did that happen?
So, at this point, I was living with my uncle. His son and I schooled in the same area, and I remember him giving us foodstuff and ₦500 each, then explaining that was all he had after saving for two weeks. It was very clear I needed to figure something out.
My mum sent me my first school fees — around ₦62k, but instead of paying my fees, I teamed up with my girlfriend and used the money to start a plantain chips business. We’d wake up at 4 a.m. to buy plantains at the market for insanely low prices, fry and pack in small plastic buckets, which we then gave to people to sell in school.
We didn’t turn a profit at first, but I made my school fees back.
Phew. That could’ve turned out badly
That wasn’t the last time I used my school fees for business. We sold the chips for about a year and used my school fees as the capital for the most part. We stopped after a year when school authorities banned students from selling on the premises.
Around the same time, my landlady sent me and my guys packing, so I used everything I’d saved from the business to rent a new room. My guys never refunded me, and that’s how that money went.
I finished my OND in 2019 with distinction and got a ₦50k cash gift from the state governor. I used the money to buy an Infinix phone someone eventually stole.
Yikes.
Anyway, my internship came next, and I secured an intern technician role at a company that sold inverters, batteries and other energy products. My salary was ₦15k/month, which mostly only covered transportation.
Whatever was left went into financial self-help books. I think my financial situation really started to hit me, and I just wanted to learn everything I could about making money. I also started a liquid soap side hustle with the guys I lived with.
We made the soap in 5-litre kegs and sold each at ₦1k. We stopped when we ran out of customers. Then, we moved to coated peanuts. A friend’s sister sold zobo, so I went to her for used zobo bottles. We washed the bottles and used them for our peanuts. I can’t remember how much we sold the peanuts because sales weren’t consistent. We just shared whatever profit we made.
That’s how I managed my ₦15k salary. At some point, my employers increased it to ₦20k, but I didn’t enjoy that for long because my two-year internship ended three months later.
Two years?
It was supposed to be one year, but I waited an extra year to return to school for my HND because of my girlfriend. Our school had some delays with the HND programme, and I didn’t want to leave her behind. Funny enough, she got a scholarship to study at a private university, and I returned to school alone.
But before I returned to school, my girlfriend and I decided to take the coated peanuts business seriously and make it a professional venture. We registered the business as a company and got NAFDAC approval in 2021. That was around the time Vice President Osinbajo offered a discount for people to register companies, and I spent less than ₦20k.
What was the NAFDAC approval process like?
Pretty seamless. I went to their office to get the requirements, and it took us about two months and about ₦100k from start to finish. That included the cost of fumigating the kitchen space we used for production and settling other requirements the NAFDAC officials gave as conditions for the inspection before finally getting the approval. We started selling before the approval came, though.
My girlfriend took the peanuts to different banks on Fridays, and we also approached several supermarkets. We made the peanuts in 200 and 500 grams bottles and sold each at ₦1500 and ₦3k, respectively. Again, sales weren’t that consistent, and we put most of what we made back into the business.
Marketing reduced when I resumed school. Since my girlfriend had transferred schools, I had to do it alone. So, in 2022, I dialled down on production and turned to writing for extra cash.
How did that go?
The money wasn’t great, but I survived. Although it was inconsistent, I charged ₦15k to write and print projects for students. Even when the gigs came, a project could take about three to six months to complete.
Naturally, I was exploring other opportunities. A few friends in school had access to the SUG buses and used to get periodic solar installation gigs, so I tagged along since I had installation experience. The first time I went with them, we installed 12 panels in about four different places, and they paid me ₦45k. That was the biggest lump sum I’d ever received as personal income. I was so excited.
Subsequent gigs paid ₦15k, but I absolutely loved it. I spent practically nothing on transportation and got fed whenever we went for gigs. It was like free money for only three hours of work. After a few months, I started getting the gigs myself and sharing the work with a friend. The first huge gig I got was in 2023, during NYSC. ₦1.3m for solar panel installations.
Mad o
That wasn’t only profit o. I still had to buy the panels and other materials. Even though I brought two friends on the project, I made ₦200k in profit. But that ₦1.3m was the biggest amount to ever enter my account. It was surreal.
Besides the occasional income from the solar installation gigs, I also got ₦53k/month from NYSC — ₦33k stipend and ₦20k from my Place of Primary Assignment (PPA). I served in the same polytechnic I graduated from, and I did everything from being a personal assistant to a lecturer to helping him teach classes within and outside the school.
In addition, I got some side income helping students write project reports, which brought ₦30k on average. Plus, I received random ₦10ks here and there from students who were being supervised by the lecturer I worked with. The lecturer was super strict with projects, and some students gave me money to help with their projects or make sure they got approved.
I made good money during my service year, and when it ended in October 2024, the money was pretty much used to set up my life. I got a ₦150k/year self-contained apartment and furnished the place with some furniture and other essentials. I even splurged ₦280k on a fridge and got a new laptop for ₦370k. In all, I spent about ₦1m.
What’s your income like post-NYSC?
I’m currently unemployed with no consistent income. Right now, I have only ₦900 in my account. Solar panel installation gigs don’t come as often anymore, and I can’t be sure of when or how much money will enter my account. The last gig I got was about a month ago, and it paid ₦220k. I used that to buy half a bag of rice and some other provisions because I might not get another gig for another month or two.
I still run the coated peanut business, but I don’t earn from it. My girlfriend and I broke up in 2023, and I haven’t had much time to focus on growing the business. I have a manager who I pay ₦30k/month to handle the end-to-end process of producing and packaging the peanuts whenever we have orders from a supermarket.
Whatever we make is returned to the business to pay the manager and other workers involved in production. The orders don’t come every month, and I have to pay the manager out of pocket most of the time, like I did in the last two months. I hope to give more attention to the business in 2025 and see how I can grow it.
Out of curiosity, does your unstable financial situation come with some anxiety?
Definitely. I get anxious, but I anticipated this as I was rounding up NYSC. I just make sure to always have food at home so I don’t add hunger to the pressure of not having a job. That way, I can keep a clear head and explore how to pursue my dreams and turn my business around.
I also have some money invested. Out of the ₦220k I made last month, I invested ₦110k in a friend’s cassava farm. I’m supposed to put in ₦350k, so I’ll spread the balance over the next few months. I expect to make a ₦245k profit added to my initial investment after harvest at the end of the year.
So, when I feel bad about asking someone for ₦2k data like I did last night, I remember that I still have something to look forward to. I also have the bulk of my money invested into my business. It reminds me that while I don’t have money right now, I didn’t exactly waste it when I had it.
Right. Sounds like you’re not exactly job-hunting
I think about getting a job sometimes, but I want one that’ll give me time to pursue other interests and maybe explore a writing career. I don’t want to be stuck at a 9-5 that’ll keep me in a cycle. I’m not looking for a job just to survive.
I’ve turned down offers. The person I work with on solar installation projects offered me ₦100k/month to come work with him full-time, but I refused because I’d have to go everywhere with him and possibly work 24/7. I don’t want that. If I find a remote job that allows me flexibility and creative control of my time now, I’d definitely take it.
I notice you haven’t really mentioned your family, but you’re the firstborn. Do they have financial expectations of you?
My dad and I are not on great terms. Nothing serious; he just doesn’t know whether I’m surviving or not since I was in the polytechnic. My mum doesn’t ask me for money, but she put me through school. So, whenever I have money, I send her between ₦20k – ₦30k, or as I earn. For my siblings, I support them when I need to. I’m not under black tax pressure to handle anyone’s expenses.
Talking about expenses, what are your recurring monthly expenses like?
I buy food in bulk when money enters my account, so I don’t spend on food monthly. The only food items I buy outside bulk shopping are bread and the occasional pepper for stew.
How would you describe your relationship with money?
I’m quite self-sufficient, so it makes me plan my money right down to the last kobo. I don’t like begging or asking for salt from neighbours, so I think ahead for whatever I might need and plan accordingly.
I also like to invest. I know if I spend everything that comes to my hand, I’ll suffer for it soon. But by investing, I have something to look forward to.
Is there something you want right now but can’t afford?
A washing machine. I’ve become very lazy to do my laundry. The last one I checked cost ₦177k, and I’ll probably get it next year from the proceeds of my cassava investment.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1 – 10?
5. I don’t have all the money I need, but I’m content that I’ve utilised the opportunities I had to the best of my ability.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
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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One time, in 2000, our landlord came looking for my dad to ask for the house rent, and my dad told me to tell the landlord he wasn’t around. Guess what I said?
“My daddy said he’s not around?”
Worse. I told him my dad was inside. My Sunday school teacher had used one film about hell fire to traumatise me the week before, and I wasn’t about to go to hell for lying. The landlord disgraced my dad that day and said things like, “If you don’t have money, go and sleep under the bridge.”
I was 8 years old, and I concluded that not having money equalled turning into an agbero. Of course, my dad punished me too.
Of course. What was growing up like financially?
The rent incident opened my eyes to our financial situation: we were broke. My dad was a mechanic who didn’t make great money, so unpaid house rent and our landlord coming to shout were regular incidents.
To make things worse, my dad had two wives and nine children, and we all lived in a two-bedroom flat. My mum was the younger wife whom he married because the first wife didn’t have a child. Ironically, the first wife started popping kids out the minute he married a second wife— children he didn’t have money to provide for.
My mum was a tailor, and she pulled most of the financial weight for her children’s education. The only thing my dad did was drop ₦1k for food every three days. There were days when my mum would cook a pot of soup, feed the children and hide the remaining soup in her cupboard so my dad wouldn’t find and finish it.
There were a lot of fights between my parents and the first wife. Even us children fought each other too. It was a toxic situation, and I didn’t like going home. After school, I hung out with my friends and ate at their houses or ran errands for their parents for ₦20 here and there.
Speaking of, when was the first time you made money?
I didn’t make any actual money until after I graduated from secondary school in 2008. I got a job teaching primary one students for ₦3500/month. During the weekends, I took serving and cleaning gigs at events for ₦1k – ₦3k. I was making money but didn’t feel the impact because my dad insisted I submit my income to him.
You say?
The man argued that I was living in his house and eating his food — which was actually my mum’s food — so I had to give him what I made. I initially refused, but my mum convinced me to give him the money for peace to reign.
This stopped when I moved out to go to uni in 2010. I didn’t get any allowance from home except for the foodstuff my mum managed to get me when I visited home. I survived by doing several things for money.
I continued serving food at events and lived on the ₦5k it brought weekly in my first two years in school. Then, in my third year, I started selling sneakers. A friend introduced me to the business; all I had to do was show people the pictures of the sneakers, then buy the shoes after they paid and deliver to them. I made at least ₦3k in profit on every pair of sneakers sold.
Not bad
By final year in 2015, everyone in my department knew me as the guy who sold good sneakers. I could sell six sneakers and make up to ₦25k in profit in a week. I was handling my school expenses and feeding myself comfortably. I also started sending ₦10k to my mum when she complained about my dad not dropping money.
The business dipped when I went for NYSC in 2016. Till today, I have little regrets about not working my service year to the same state I schooled in. That way, I’d have held on to my customers. Instead, I went to a northern state and served in a school. No one bought sneakers in the north.
The school paid ₦5k, and I got ₦19800 from the government. It felt like a downgrade. Me, who was balling on almost ₦100k monthly now had to manage ₦25k.
Would you say your quality of life also reduced with your income?
My reduced income just led to me cutting off certain excesses. Back in uni, I bought food every day and changed clothes when I liked. But during my service year, I remembered I knew how to cook. I didn’t like having to tell my mum I didn’t have money, but I didn’t have a choice.
I returned home in 2017 and got an operations role at a finance institution. My salary was only ₦80k/month, but I was really excited about it. I knew several people who struggled to get jobs after NYSC, and I’d just gotten one without stress. It felt good.
I was squatting with a friend when I started the job, but I planned to get my own space. I reasoned that if I saved half of my salary monthly, I could rent a decent room within a year. I ended up squatting with that friend for four years.
What happened?
My family happened. As soon as my mum learnt I was working, she started complaining about the situation at home, and I had no choice but to give her money.
My dad started asking for money, too. I mostly ignored him, but then he’d complain to my mum and pick a fight with her, accusing her of turning his son against him. My mum, ever the peacemaker, would call me and beg and beg until I agreed to send money to my dad.
When I made the mistake of visiting home, my half-siblings would descend on me for help too. At one point, one of my half-siblings was in a federal university, and I was paying his school fees.
An outsider looking in would’ve assumed I was one rich man with the way I kept giving my family money. But I couldn’t stand hearing them complain if I could help. That’s where all my savings went during the three years I spent at the operations job. My eyes cleared in 2020.
Tell me about that
The lockdown happened, and my employers laid off non-essential staff. I fell into that category. I found myself jobless and with zero savings.
My dad and siblings kept calling for help, and they never understood when I said I didn’t have money. When the calls became too much, I stopped taking them entirely. One day, my dad sent me a text message saying, “Thank you for refusing to help me, but remember I’m still your father. Your child will do the same for you.”
Ah
I was so angry. This was someone who was never there for me growing up. I didn’t hold on to that and had helped him financially several times. Just the one time I didn’t, he was swearing for me.
It became a whole issue. I called him back, and it descended into a full-on shouting match. I told him never to call me again. My mum tried to intervene days later by summoning me to the house for a physical meeting so I could apologise to my dad.
The physical meeting also became heated, and several of my half-siblings took my dad’s side and insulted me too. These were children I spent my money on and contributed to their school fees. I felt betrayed. I also concluded they had the audacity to talk to me the way they did because I’d stopped giving them money.
It was a wake-up call. There I was, bending myself backwards to help my family, but they saw me as an ATM card that had no value once there was no money in the account. I felt used.
Sigh. I can imagine
My friend was the only reason I didn’t starve or become depressed. He kept encouraging me and also convinced me to learn project management. He told me it was lucrative and I could get a remote job with it; that was all the encouragement I needed.
I took a couple of free online courses and started putting “Project Manager” on my CV and LinkedIn like I had actual experience. Fortunately, an opportunity came in the middle of 2021: one of my former bosses at the finance institution helped me get back my operations job. I’d been pestering him to help me get back in, and I didn’t even think he took me seriously until I got the call to resume.
This time, my salary was ₦100k/month. The money was a welcome change from months of relying on my friend’s kindness, but my primary goal was to get project management experience.
How did you do that?
I started shadowing the project managers on my team and asking them to give me some of their work. A lot of it was about monitoring compliance, risk management strategies and countless meetings.
Thankfully, I had an understanding manager who liked the work I was putting into gaining enough experience for a career switch. When a spot opened up in the project management team in 2023, she recommended me, and I got the role. My salary bumped up to ₦250k.
Whoosh. How did that feel?
It felt great. I’d actively pursued something and gotten it. The salary increase was also timely. I had moved into my own apartment in 202,1 and my landlord increased the rent from ₦350k to ₦500k/ year. Thankfully, the new role came around the same time.
I also became more intentional with my finances, saving at least ₦30k/month. Since I realised how much my family drained me financially, I stopped checking on them. I haven’t even visited home since 2020. I can’t afford to go home because I know the billing and sad stories that await me if I try it.
My dad still does his emotional blackmail, but I make sure to start every call with a made up narration of how I’m also suffering so I have an excuse when he inevitably asks for money. I don’t pick anyone else’s calls except my mum and her kids; I try to send her at least ₦30k/month. I know she probably gives some of her allowance to my dad, but that’s her business. As long as I’m not giving him anything other than random recharge cards and rice during festive seasons.
What are your finances like these days?
I got my current job in April — still a project manager, but my salary is now ₦400k/month.
I plan to get married next year and will need to move into a bigger apartment. So, I still live like I earn ₦250k so I can save ₦150k/month. I currently have about ₦950k in savings, but I’ll need double that if I want to achieve both goals to a reasonable extent. I’m starting to think aggressively saving alone won’t get me there, considering how terribly high the price of everything gets by the minute.
I’m also considering side gigs to increase my earnings. The same friend who introduced me to project management recently linked me to a remote job site for freelance and contract job opportunities. But I’ve been applying to jobs without much success. The one that seemed promising was going to pay $30/hour for a week, but my network during the interview was terrible, and they didn’t reach out afterward. I hope I find something soon.
I hope so too. Let’s talk about your typical monthly expenses
What’s one thing you want to be better at, concerning your finances?
I need to hack the making money bit. I’m not a big spender, but I had a really late start in my financial journey, and I haven’t made the best decisions. Maybe if I’d been more intentional with managing money, I’d have a bigger safety net and would even be able to consider investments like my mates are doing.
Right now, I can’t afford to tie money down because I’ll need it in the near future. Maybe after that’s settled, I can start researching investment options like stocks and crypto.
I’m curious. What’s an ideal income range for you?
I’d say ₦800k/month for my current professional level. However, I know I’m still a junior level project manager, so that may not be possible yet. But I intend to keep upskilling and applying to more opportunities. I believe it’s only a matter of time before my earnings match that amount.
What’s one thing you want right now but can’t afford?
A car. I work from the office only twice a week, and I’ve been toying with the idea of driving cabs whenever I’m free. If I had my own car, I could do that on my own time and park somewhere if I had meetings. Plus, it’d help me with mobility. Anyway, that’s just a wish. A good car costs at least ₦5m now, and I don’t have anything up to that.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?
6. I feel like I wasted so much time trying to save my family and sometimes, it feels like I’ll never get that lost time back. It’s my biggest regret.
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.
How long have you been with your partner?
We’ve been together for four years and married for two.
How did you meet?
We met in the comments section of an Instagram Live during the COVID lockdown. The IG Live was a competition—I can’t even remember the reward—but I noticed Lydia kept trying to win. I checked out her profile, liked what I saw, and DM’ed her.
Lydia also recognised my username from the comments, so she responded. We had a good conversation that day, which subsequently became regular. After a few months of talking, we met at a mall. I brought her flowers and asked her to be my girlfriend. She accepted.
Smooth!
To be honest, I had the confidence to ask her out because I’d just gotten a job. After my NYSC, I was jobless between 2019 and the first few months of 2020, surviving on my parents’ goodwill and the small design gigs I got here and there.
But COVID brought remote work, and I landed a $200/week brand design gig on a freelancing site. I felt financially ready for a relationship.
What was Lydia’s financial situation?
She was still a corps member, but her PPA paid well. Her salary plus the NYSC allowance brought her income to about ₦133k.
Lydia is a big saver, too. She used to complain about jumping buses to work in the morning, but when I suggested she take a cab, she’d be like, “With which money?” That babe could stretch ₦5k for a week and have ₦100k chilling in her account. She sort of infected me with her saving habits, too.
For instance, when we went on cinema dates, she’d insist we shared a pack of popcorn rather than buying two. I was the one paying, but she hated what she termed “unnecessary spending”.
Lydia would ask me to outline my expenses every week so we could track my spending and find out if I was overspending on certain things. We really worked well financially. That, among other reasons, made it clear that I had to marry her. We got married in 2022.
But I lost my job shortly after my wedding.
Damn. What happened?
The startup I worked at folded three months after I started working with them. I joined after the agency I worked with on the freelance site didn’t need my services anymore. It seemed like a blessing in disguise because the new job paid ₦600k. I’d just moved my family to a ₦1.2m/year apartment when my employers asked me to go home.
I thought it was a bad dream. Like, we were just two weeks into the new apartment. I’d spent all my savings on the wedding and relocating to the new house. We had no bed frames or chairs in the sitting room — we gave away the old set in my old apartment because we thought we’d buy a new one. To top it all, Lydia had resigned from her job when they refused to give her time off for wedding preparations.
Yikes. How did you both manage?
We got about ₦300k in money gifts from the wedding and managed that for a while. My mother-in-law also sent us plenty of foodstuffs after the wedding, so we used that to see road. We got plastic chairs for the sitting room and slept on a mattress on the floor for months. Our friends thought we didn’t want them to visit because we were honeymooning. In reality, it was because we were crazy broke.
We were also job hunting like mad but with little success. I should note something here: Lydia hardly nagged me. Of course, she wasn’t happy about our situation, but it was more like both of us complaining about our financial crisis rather than fighting each other. We approached the problem from an “all hands on deck” standpoint.
We knew we couldn’t afford unnecessary expenses like a Netflix subscription, eating out, or even eating chicken with every meal. We began a Sunday tradition of visiting our parents to eat dinner and take foodstuff home. I even pretended to prefer drinking garri at night so we could stretch meals for longer. We were in this situation for about seven months before Lydia got a job in 2023. Her salary was just ₦150k, but it was a lifesaver.
Phew. How was your job search going?
I applied to and interviewed at countless places but got nothing. I even abandoned the job search for a while and focused on getting freelance design gigs. But it was tougher to get foreign clients because no one trusted Nigerians. I got a few local design gigs that brought ₦15k or ₦20k occasionally.
At one point, I thought I was being attacked spiritually. I knew several designers making serious money even as freelancers, but I was just stuck. I started taking prayers seriously. The whole situation affected my self-esteem and led to arguments between me and Lydia.
What kind of arguments?
I constantly carried a “woe is me” expression, which affected our communication. I didn’t want to talk or joke because I didn’t find anything funny, but Lydia wasn’t having that. She was like, “We’re working out this money thing together, and I’m not complaining. Why are you letting it affect our relationship? Is it money you want or this marriage?”
I tried to explain that I didn’t feel comfortable without an income as the man of the house, but Lydia never accepted that as a valid reason. She also didn’t understand why I complained when she transferred money to my account to handle my personal needs — she knew I wouldn’t ask for money. I felt useless, and she thought I was too proud.
Our relationship really changed a lot. We went from talking about everything to sitting in silence for hours. It’s just funny because when people hear that a wife is feeding the husband, they expect the arguments will be about the woman feeling frustrated about taking care of the bills. In our case, our arguments were primarily due to my feeling sad for myself and allowing it to affect our communication.
My moodiness worsened when the time came to pay rent, and I couldn’t find any means to loan money to augment the ₦400k my wife had managed to save. We had to move to my brother’s boys’ quarter apartment.
Depression and shame almost killed me.
I’m sorry you went through all that
Thank you. For the rest of 2023, we survived on my wife’s salary and my brother’s kindness. We also had to get on birth control after having a pregnancy scare. Imagine giving birth while squatting in someone’s house.
Thankfully, things changed in May 2024. My brother helped me get my current job and gave us ₦400k to add to the ₦500k my wife had saved to get our own apartment. The house is still mostly empty, but we’re slowly getting the necessary furniture. I’m just glad that things are finally looking up.
I’m happy about that as well. I hope your relationship is getting better too?
Gradually. We aren’t as close as we used to, but I’m trying to make up for it by communicating more. At least, I can now afford to take us out to eat once a week. I couldn’t afford to buy her a Valentine’s gift this year — even though she swears she loves the love notes I gave her — and I look forward to finally being able to afford to buy her gifts next year.
What does your relationship budget look like now?
The weekly dates don’t cost more than ₦10k. Besides that, I’ve told my wife I’ll handle all the household bills from now on. She can just save her salary for emergencies or do whatever she wants with it. Knowing her, she’ll probably just save it.
Have you considered planning for a safety net?
Oh yes. I know better than just relying on one job now. I save at least ₦40k monthly for rent, and I’m actively looking for another job on the side. With another income source, I can look at investment options.
What’s your ideal financial future as a couple?
I really want us to own our house one day soon. Rent is such a huge expense, and once that’s out of the picture, I believe we can look at achieving other things.
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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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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That was in 1994. I’d just finished secondary school and had gone to spend the holiday with my uncle while I worked on uni admission. My uncle was a clergyman and was so generous. The man was just dashing me money. He could give me ₦200 to buy something worth ₦50 and ask me to keep the change. Or he’d just randomly give me money. It was the first time I ever had money that was mine.
I spent a few months at his place, and when I left, I’d gathered about ₦700. That was big money in 1994. It was even bigger in my eyes, especially because my family didn’t have much money. I opened a bank account with the ₦700 because it felt like the adult thing to do.
Tell me more about your family
My dad was a civil servant, and my mum was a trader. Both incomes didn’t do much to provide for our family. My dad tried to supplement his income by purchasing shares, and I remember he’d send me or any of my siblings to pay his dividend warrants into his bank account.
In those days, the company you bought shares from would post your dividend warrants to you by mail at the end of the year, which you’d then cash in at the bank. It’s unlike now, where people get their dividends straight into their accounts. Anyway, the income from the shares was often really small — I saw a ₦26 payment once.
Our financial situation was the reason my dad forced me into science class in secondary school. I wanted to join the commercial class because I had a knack for business management, but my two elder brothers studied science. My dad said he’d already bought all their textbooks and couldn’t afford to buy new ones. I wasn’t happy, but I managed. I even went on to study biochemistry at uni. It was at uni that I first made a conscious effort to make money.
When?
My first year of uni in 1997. I sold plastic hand fans. They had just come out, and the weather was hot, so I decided to try my hand at selling them.
I went home and bought the fans from our main market at ₦30 apiece. I sold them for ₦50 each, and the fans quickly became popular among students. Business was good. I stopped selling them after 100 level because I found it really difficult to balance my course requirements with a business.
With the business gone, I had to rely fully on whatever allowance my parents gave me, usually ₦2k – ₦3k. Even that didn’t come regularly because my dad had stopped working, and my mum was now the primary provider.
Whenever I was returning to school, I’d give my mum a list of the items I needed, but she’d only give me what she had. Once, I cried on the bus back to school because the foodstuff I was travelling back with wouldn’t last three weeks, and I couldn’t return home for another month or two. I’m not sure how I survived uni, but I did.
What happened after uni?
I wasn’t immediately mobilised for NYSC after I graduated from uni in 2001, so I worked briefly with my brother in his electronics store. I was his sales assistant, but he didn’t pay me. That period was a humbling experience.
Picture market people with a young girl they assume is a salesgirl who knows nothing. I had to deal with people talking to me anyhow. Fortunately, I didn’t have to stay too long before I went for NYSC in 2003.
After NYSC, I got my first real job with an FMCG company in 2005. I was supposed to come in as a jobber — to pick up the products and transport them from the distributors to retailers. But the company decided to take me on as a salesman instead. My job was to supervise the jobbers, ensure they met targets, and liaise with the retailers. It sounds like an important job, but the salary was only ₦22k/month.
Was ₦22k enough for anything?
Not at all. I lived with my parents, so I wasn’t paying rent, but I still struggled. I often worked overtime and on weekends to get my salary to ₦33k. In fact, my dad turned my job into prayer points during our morning and evening prayers. Everyone knew I was underpaid.
Fortunately, I was promoted to area sales manager in 2007 and got a salary bump to ₦45k. That happened because some top managers decided to give salespeople with degrees a chance to take the graduate trainee test. I was the only one who passed in my set; it was a computer-based test, and not many people knew how to use a computer.
I didn’t get another raise until 2010 when I got promoted to junior executive. My basic salary increased to ₦150k, and my takehome was ₦450k after allowances and commissions. I also received additional perks like an official car, domestic help allowance, and housing allowance. There was also a ₦35k weekly float for transportation and other quarterly bonuses. Those perks made my life easier.
Did you still have limited responsibilities at that time?
I got married in 2008, but my responsibilities didn’t increase. My husband handled most of the expenses. My only major contribution was rent, which the housing allowance covered. At this point, my financial situation was smooth and easy.
Fast-forward to 2016, I lost my job due to company restructuring. The loss came barely a month after I buried my dad, so I was coming out of huge expenses. My husband had to start paying rent in addition to everything else, and things generally became tight. My only saving grace was that I’d saved roughly ₦7.5m from all my years of working, and I put it all in money market funds, a high-interest deposit account (HIDA) and the stock market several months before I lost my job.
I actually started because a finance person I met online taught me about those investment channels. I already knew about stocks from my dad, but I learned that I didn’t have to wait for dividends from a company. I could also trade stocks by watching the market, buying stocks low and selling them high.
So, how did these investment channels save you?
I’d been investing in money market funds, and the monthly returns became my primary source of income. By then, my monthly returns were around ₦100k. One good thing about the money market is that the interest compounds. For instance, let’s assume you get ₦100k interest on ₦1m this month. By the next month, interest is calculated on the ₦1.1m in your account, so the new interest is higher.
In addition to the monthly returns from the money market, I also received a 28% interest from my HIDA account. I can’t remember how much it was now, but it was definitely not up to ₦100k.
I used my free time to return to school. It was always the plan, even when I had a job. Years back, I opened a separate account dedicated to saving for a post-graduate degree, and losing my job brought me the perfect opportunity. Between 2016 and 2023, I studied for a post-graduate diploma and a master’s in business administration. I also started my PhD.
Were the investment returns your only income source through this time?
For the most part, yes. But I also did several things at different points for money. During my master’s programme, I often helped some of my lecturers review their articles and taught some of them how to use Microsoft Office for little money here and there.
Once, I also helped my uncle, who was abroad, to buy some real estate property in Nigeria. I made about ₦550k in commissions from that. At another point, I invested in my sister’s mini computer accessories business. I invested about ₦5m to import the accessories and got my profit back after sales. We also split the profit. This happened thrice, and I made a total profit of ₦2m. I basically survived on these side incomes through those years. My husband also supported me from time to time.
I actually got a job at a hospital in 2022, but it was a one-month stint. My experience was so bad that I didn’t even put the job on my CV. People thought I was stupid when I resigned because I’d been complaining about unemployment, and there I was, throwing an opportunity away.
But what happened at the hospital?
A lot. A man and his wife owned the hospital, and they offered me ₦120k/month to work as the hospital’s manager. They made it sound like I’d be managing the staff, but it was more than that. If there were no buns in the canteen, it was on me. No fuel in the generator? Call the manager.
It wouldn’t have been a challenge if there was unity of command. The husband could give one instruction, and the wife would come later to give a counter instruction. I lost so much weight in one month from stress and developed tension headaches. I’d never heard of a tension headache before working there, and I only knew the name because I Googled my symptoms. I’ve never been happier writing a resignation letter than when I resigned from that place.
It definitely sounds terrible
I had to take a walk for my mental health. I’m also back to full-time employment: I got my current role in 2023, and thank God it’s nothing like the hospital. I work with a public policy office as a research analyst, and my job is basically to research, write and develop policy briefs.
I earn ₦300k/month, which isn’t great, but I get to work from home and be there for my family. Also, I’m close to completing my PhD programme, and once that’s done, I can head back fully into the labour market to find better opportunities.
I was just about to ask about the PhD. Why did you decide to pursue one?
I love academics. I hope to teach one day, and I learnt that a PhD is the minimum requirement for employment as a lecturer with the Ministry of Education.
I also want to solve problems through research. I read journals and a lot of international documents, and they always talk about how they solve societal problems with research done by institutions like Johns Hopkins University, MIT, and others. I want to see how we can solve some of this country’s problems via research and what I can do to make it happen.
A PhD would definitely increase my earning potential, but it would also mean I would be paid to do what I already enjoy. Because right now, my salary isn’t doing anything for me.
What kind of life does your salary afford you?
My salary just maintains me. I can’t even afford to contribute to the house, save for maybe ₦20k for the light bills. I’m just grateful that my husband earns well enough to handle our family’s expenses and our child’s school fees. ₦300k doesn’t do much at all.
Could you break it down to show how you typically spend your salary?
I don’t keep any money in savings because the interest rates are just like 2% – 4%, while I can earn 20% with the money market funds. Also, I can still withdraw my money from the money market at any time, so it’s a no-brainer.
How much is your investment portfolio worth right now?
I have ₦23m in money market funds and ₦6m in stocks. I also have a piece of land I bought for ₦1.5m in 2013, which is worth ₦10m now. I plan to develop it and build a warehouse.
I don’t want to build a house to rent because I feel people tend to owe their landlords. The average person would first pay for the space they’re using for business because they don’t want anything to affect their source of income.
Do you have a timeframe for when you hope to build this warehouse?
Not yet. I estimate I’ll need about ₦50m to build it, and I don’t have that yet.
How would you describe your relationship with money?
I believe money comes and goes, so I don’t deny myself anything I can afford. I’m not extravagant, but if I want something, I don’t do unnecessary calculations to justify the expense. I just get it.
There’s something my people say — nobody eventually finishes all the money they have made. One will die someday, and some part of your money will be left for people who don’t know how you made the money. I stand by that.
Is there an ideal amount you think you should be earning?
Of course. I should be earning at least ₦1m/month. I feel underpaid right now, but I know I’ll get there one day.
I wish I had known about the gold mine that’s the stock market earlier. If I had known what I know now when I was touching money at the FMCG company, my case would’ve been different. I try to make up for it by encouraging young people to take it seriously. I tell my nieces, “This isn’t the time to buy wigs. It’s time to invest”. Wealth creation is an intentional process; when you start seeing the returns, it’s like making money while you sleep.
How much do you get in investment returns now?
I earn around ₦400k monthly from the money market. I also receive stock dividends when companies declare them at the end of the year. I monitor the stock market daily and sometimes sell.
For instance, I bought a bank’s shares at ₦8 before the 2023 elections and sold it for ₦28 about a year after the elections. If I had bought millions of those shares, I know how much I’d have made in profit.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1 -10?
7. I think I’ve done really well. I’m grateful that despite the setback in 2016, I didn’t struggle. I’ve not gotten to where I want to be yet, and that’s the only reason it’s not a 10.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
Losing a job can be devastating on two fronts: The apparent loss of a steady income and the not-often-discussed loss of the identity tied to that job.
For many people, feelings like a sense of self-importance and success are often tied to their ability to keep jobs and earn their own living. What happens when this ability is taken away? These Nigerians talk about it.
I grew up in a polygamous home, and for much of my younger years, I dreamed of growing up and making money so I could leave home. My first job after NYSC gave me that opportunity. It was in 2014, and I was earning ₦100k. It was good money — enough to get me an apartment and make sure I didn’t have to return home.
I only enjoyed the freedom for eight months sha. My boss started hitting on me, and when I refused to sleep with him, he influenced my termination on flimsy reasons. It wasn’t just losing my job; I also lost my freedom and ability to change my life’s circumstances. I fell into depression for a long time.
I had to return home, and even though I got another job months later, it didn’t pay as well, and I didn’t get the chance to leave home again till I got married in 2020. I feel like I’d have achieved financial independence much earlier if I hadn’t lost that job.
Sola, 29
I’ve been fired from work only two times in my life, but the second one was the most painful. It was during the pandemic in 2020, and my job was the only thing going well for me at that point.
My girlfriend had broken up with me, and my dad was seriously sick with COVID. To make matters worse, I couldn’t even visit him. So, I used my job as a crutch — a way to get through each day. So, when they fired me because of “operational changes,” it felt like I’d lost everything. I suddenly had no purpose, no excuse not to break down and cry. It was a tough time for me. I crashed out for months and didn’t have the energy to job-hunt. My dad also passed away during that period. I honestly don’t know how I survived.
Akeem, 26
I lost my job after a company-wide layoff last year, and I’m still unemployed. At first, I thought I’d be fine. I had some savings to fall back on, and I don’t even have that many responsibilities since I live alone.
However, it’s more than just not having a salary. I’ve begun to doubt my skills. I’ve never had to wonder whether I’m good at what I do — my managers always praised me. But now, I’m realising maybe I’m not that great. I’ve applied to several jobs and done countless interviews, but still no callback.
It’s so bad that I’m now wondering if the layoff hadn’t been because I wasn’t performing as expected. At least, my previous employers still kept some people on the payroll. Maybe I’m just not that good. It’s a bitter wake-up call. I know I should focus more on improving my skills than feeling not good enough, but it’s difficult not to think about it.
Nosa, 29
I became jobless right in the middle of that 2023 cash scarcity when my workplace packed up, and I seriously panicked.
I’m the firstborn and don’t have anyone to turn to for financial help. I also don’t know how to beg anyone for urgent ₦2k, so I had to find a solution quickly. I’m not proud of it, but I started looking for “any work.” I’m a human resource officer, but I applied to every vacancy I could find, from cleaner to personal assistant.
I was so ashamed because I’ve recruited for people and always badmouthed applicants who applied to jobs very different from their career paths. But I was doing the same thing. I just needed the security that came with a job, knowing that money was coming at month’s end and I could take care of myself.
Five months later, I got an admin job, but the whole experience humbled me. I wasn’t above desperately looking for work just so I could afford to live without begging for money. I learned not to be so judgemental about others and the decisions they took. Anything can happen to anybody.
Evelyn, 22
I got fired a month ago for calling in sick on my birthday so I could party. Unfortunately, a coworker follows me on Instagram and saw my posts, so they reported.
The painful part is that I’ve only been at the job for a year, and my dad helped me get a foot in. I feel like I’ve failed him and destroyed his trust in me. It’s like I just threw away the one opportunity I had to show my dad that he could treat me like an adult, and I feel foolish.
Chinwe*, 27
I now believe that getting fired from your job hurts just as much as breaking up with a partner or best friend. In 2023, I was fired from one of the best jobs I ever had because the company didn’t think my department was meeting expectations.
I think I went through all the stages of grief. My work was my wife, and I couldn’t believe it was going away just like that. Then there was the anger at the company. They’d just hired me a few months prior; how could they do that? Ultimately, I had to accept it, but I felt empty all the months I was unemployed. Like I was missing out on something in life.
I have another job now, but I’m focusing on filling my life with other interests and building relationships rather than depending on work to fulfil me. The job can go at any time, so it shouldn’t be the only thing that brings meaning to my life.
*Some 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.
What’s your earliest memory of money?
Making ₦200 – ₦300 from braiding hair when I was 15. I was in secondary school, and I taught myself how to make hair by plaiting the grass stalks in my boarding school’s compound. I also practised on a senior student’s hair. Then I started making simple braid hairstyles for people in my area whenever I was home from school.
I also tried my hand at making braided wigs and sold a few to neighbours at ₦1k – ₦1,500. I remember feeling so excited that I was making my own money. It’s funny because it’s not like I didn’t have parents to give me money, I just wanted to make mine.
Why do you think that was? This desire to make your own money?
I’m the first child of a large polygamous home. My dad had a cocoa farm that wasn’t doing great, and we had several members of our extended family living with us at different points. So even though my dad did his best, many people depended on him for money.
I grew up knowing I couldn’t always wait for my dad. I had to work for whatever money I wanted.
Where was your mum in all of this?
I was the only child on my mum’s side, and she mostly depended on my dad too. He once gave my mum money to start a provisions business, but she was forced to close it after a few months. My dad would take money from the business to help these same family members, and my mum also had to feed them with the business proceeds. At one point, my mum opened another shop in a different location without my dad’s financial input so she could have a say in how the finances were managed.
Back to hairdressing. Did it help you become somewhat independent?
The jobs weren’t consistent, so I just did it to get the usual ₦1k every other week. I took a break in 2015 when I got admitted into a polytechnic.
I didn’t make hair or do anything for money because I was focused on leaving the school.
Why?
I decided I didn’t like the school from the first day I stepped foot there. You won’t believe they welcomed me to school with a cult fight.
I spent all my time there writing JAMB and applying to other schools. I finally got admitted into a university and started classes in 2017.
I had a sister in the same uni too, and she told me the students loved to look fashionable. So, I decided I could make a fortune by offering them nail services.
What did this involve?
I took some money from my ₦10k monthly allowance and went to the market to get the materials. A bottle of nail polish cost ₦100, and I got nine colours and a hardener for ₦1k. I also bought nail polish remover for ₦150 and a couple of nail files, buffers and artificial nails. I put all my tools in a basket and started moving from room to room in the hostel, looking for clients.
I charged ₦500 for both hands (with artificial nails) and ₦200 if it was just normal painting. I charged an additional ₦200 to paint both sets of toes.
Sounds affordable
It was, and it made the business an instant hit. The students in my uni typically held many events, and when these happened, I’d have as many as six clients and make about ₦3k daily.
By 200 level, I had to move off-campus — only first-year and final-year students were guaranteed hostel space. Staying in an off-campus apartment with my sister was a big blow to my nail business. I could no longer move from room to room to find clients. It was time to find something else.
What did you find?
Makeup. Just before the end of the session, an entrepreneurship class in school tasked us with learning a skill during the three-month break so we could present what we learned when we returned to school. I’ve been interested in makeup since childhood, so I decided to learn it.
What was learning it like?
I found a professional at home and paid ₦30k for a one-month class. I’d drag a friend along to practise on her face. I also regularly followed YouTube tutorials. When school resumed in 2019, I began telling everyone I was now a makeup artist.
At first, I charged ₦2k for a face beat, but when the cost of products started to choke me the following semester, I increased my price to ₦3,500. I usually had three to four clients daily across different hostels.
In final year, I moved back to the school hostel and restarted my nail business. This time, I charged between ₦1k – ₦1,500 to fix nails. I also increased my makeup rates to ₦5k – ₦6k. I was constantly booked and made about ₦20k weekly from both businesses.
The money was good, but my partner introduced me to UI/UX design in 2020. I saw yet another opportunity to make money.
Let me guess, you grabbed it
I procrastinated for a bit sha. My partner was in the Google Developer Students Club, and I joined in 2021. The training was free, but omo, it was hard.
My beauty industry experience helped me quickly understand the user interface bit because I was already dealing with colours every day. However, it took me about three months to get a hang of the user experience part.
Did you get any UI/UX gigs while in school?
I didn’t prioritise getting any. I was already making money with makeup, so I decided to focus on learning and mastering my UI/UX skills.
When I graduated in 2021, I got two small UI design gigs on Twitter. I got these gigs because I was already vocal about my skills on the app, and someone reached out to me to redesign a website for ₦20k. The second gig was a simple landing page website design that paid ₦40k.
When NYSC came in 2022, I was posted to a school, but I paid someone ₦25k to change my PPA to a fintech startup because I wanted to do more UI design. I don’t even know if he worked with NYSC; someone just introduced me to him. Thank God they didn’t scam me.
LOL. Tell me about the job
I was supporting a UI/UX designer on the team. For some reason, I didn’t ask if they’d pay a stipend in addition to NYSC’s ₦33k monthly allowance. But the job came with a free room in the office, so my accommodation was sorted.
The designer I was supporting was redesigning a product, but she was preparing to leave the team and was distracted. So, I decided to do the work myself and did three different redesign variations within a week. I later learned they planned to pay me ₦10k/month, but the MD was impressed with my work and decided to give me a ₦20k bonus that month.
I got ₦30k in my first month and expected only ₦10k the next month. But I got ₦30k again. I asked HR, and they said the increase was because I was the only designer they had at the time, and they hoped to retain me after my service year. In my head, I was like, “Wow, nice one.”
Were you still offering makeup services on the side?
Not really. NYSC was in a different state where I didn’t know anyone. Two months into the job, I got a part-time design job on Twitter. It paid ₦50k, and only required me to work on the product for two hours every weekday.
The project ended five months later, but then they asked if I could manage social media for their sister company as they didn’t have a manager. By now, you should know I can say yes to anything as long as there’s money in it.
Screaming. So you took the job?
The job was onsite in a different state, as I’d need to take videos and create content. I told them I’d take the job if they gave me accommodation. They agreed, and I moved to the state in December 2022. The pay was ₦150k/month.
But you weren’t done with NYSC
I was going to round up NYSC in February 2023, but my PPA was already having money issues. They’d offered to retain me at ₦70k/month (including the free accommodation). But they started laying people off in December. We even closed for the year in the second week of December because of the money issues. I couldn’t wait around to find out, so I told them I was leaving and would return for my final clearance. They were okay with it.
So, I moved states for the second job. It was an event video coverage company, and I had to follow them to events to create content. It was crazy stressful. I’d never experienced something like that in my life. We could go out all day, return at 6 a.m. the next day and still go out again in the afternoon. I suffered.
Did the pay help the suffering, at least?
If anything, it allowed me to save more. During my service year, I regularly saved the ₦30k from my PPA and lived on the ₦33k allowance from NYSC. When I got the ₦50k side gig, I also saved part of it and spent the rest on random shopping or sending money home to my mum.
I had about ₦200k in savings when I started the social media job and saved an additional ₦100k from my first salary. Subsequently, I tried to save at least half of my salary monthly.
But I wasn’t enjoying the job at all. In January 2023, I got another UI/UX design side gig at ₦50k/month. Then I was referred for and landed another ₦50k/month social media management gig for a US client the following month.
You were juggling three jobs?
Yes, and it triggered a mental breakdown. My primary 9-5 was stressful and extremely toxic. Our MD used most of the company’s funds to relocate, and we were left with the HR officer who was a bully. I was planning to resign in June when they called me in March 2023 to tell me they no longer needed my services.
The crazy thing is, I resigned from the US job only two weeks earlier because my head wasn’t in the right place, and I needed to reduce my workload. I had no idea I’d lose my 9-5 so soon. I was left with only the ₦50k/month UI/UX job.
But I’d saved up ₦600k from my earnings, and I used it to buy a MacBook so I could focus on design. I didn’t want to do anything social media-related again.
How were you surviving on ₦50k/month?
I told my employer I could now work full-time with them, and they increased the salary to ₦70k. I also moved in with a family member to reduce my running costs. I tried getting side gigs again, but nothing came.
Then I thought, if a job won’t work, why not school? So, in July, I told my parents I wanted to apply for a master’s abroad. They agreed, and I began the process of getting my transcript from uni for the application process. I took permission from work for this, but one day, they felt I was asking for too much permission and asked me to leave the company.
Just like that?
Just like that. They also complained that I was delaying tasks, but I was severely burnt out. It felt like I was just learning how to work afresh. That’s how I sha became jobless.
For the next two weeks, I cried daily. I lost my confidence and questioned my abilities. Like, wasn’t it this same me that was hyped at my PPA then? Had I gotten so bad?
When I was finally done crying, I told my parents I was now unemployed, and my dad demanded I start a business. I considered my options and told him I wanted to sell thrift clothes. He gave me ₦500k. I used half of that to buy stock and launched the business online in August. Within a month, I had 30 orders and made ₦36k in profit.
Not a bad start
However, I was still interested in UI/UX design, so I decided to start afresh. I paid ₦40k for an online three-month design course to rebuild my confidence. I’d create content for my business in the mornings and then study after.
In October 2023, I thought about returning to makeup but going at it differently. I opened a YouTube channel and started doing makeup looks and sharing via YouTube Shorts.
Why YouTube Shorts?
I noticed people preferred short-form content. My first video had 10k views because I used a trending sound. It motivated me, and I thought, “Maybe I can blow on YouTube”.
Remember the master’s admission I was pursuing? I got admission in October 2023 at a UK university. The deposit was about ₦4m after conversion. My dad sent it, but before I could make the payment, the exchange rate increased from ₦1k to a pound to ₦1,300, and the deposit was now about ₦5m.
Damn
My dad couldn’t afford it. Even the ₦4m was everything he’d made from selling a cocoa harvest. He hadn’t even paid his farm staff. So, we agreed to defer the admission to 2024, and I returned the money to him.
Since school was off the table, I focused my attention on YouTube, my design classes and business. By December 2023, I’d grown my subscribers to almost 200, using only YouTube Shorts. I intend to start vlogging properly in 2024 to cross the 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours threshold to get monetised.
What about your thrift business?
The business is no longer doing as well; I make an average of ₦50k/month from it. But it’s business money, so it goes back into the business. I still have about ₦200k left from the initial business capital saved up, and I might restock in a couple of weeks.
These days, I survive on the occasional design gigs I get through my partner, and that brings in an average of ₦100k in a good month.
What do your expenses look like in a good month?
I’m trying to live on a ₦50k monthly budget, so I can save anything else that comes in. This is possible because my parents and partner support me financially when I have nothing — they’re essentially my safety nets. I just moved into my own apartment in January 2024, and it cost me ₦270k, with some financial help from my parents.
Before moving into my apartment, I hardly spent on data and food because my partner took care of it.
It’s interesting you lost jobs twice in a year but didn’t exactly go broke
For me, being broke means not having a job that constantly brings money at the end of the month. Though it wasn’t consistent, I was still getting money.
I was broke — I still am — but my safety nets and savings have helped me survive. I believe your savings can save you. Also, don’t just spend money the way you see it. You should always plan how you intend to spend. I usually weigh my options and decide the importance of things per time to determine what should take my money in one period of time.
What do you see when you think about your financial future?
Ah. I always hope for the best o. I have my hands on so many things because I want to have different sources of income, but I’ll eventually need to streamline it to one source as I grow older. I can’t be jumping up and down in my old age. I’m still looking for a good-paying job. I really want to do user experience research and product design. I might just put the business aside if I find a job now.
How much is a good-paying job for you right now?
That’s tricky. What if I say a figure now, and Jesus says, “That salary you mentioned is exactly what you’ll get?” What if He has a bigger plan for me? If I have to share sha, I’d say a minimum of ₦200k/monthly or $1k if it’s a foreign company.
Curious. Do you have a retirement plan?
I plan to invest in a cocoa farm like my dad once I have enough money. This is how cocoa farming works: You rent a farm that already has cocoa seedlings — so you don’t have to start planting all over again. Renting one can cost as much as ₦100k annually, depending on the farm size. Then you hire people to care for the farm and harvest the ripe cocoa in December.
Right now, a kilo of cocoa is about ₦5,200 and a bag contains 66 kilos. That’s ₦343,200 from one bag of cocoa. You can harvest up to 10 – 12 bags and sell them to those who export to other places. You can also decide to pay the person you hired to take care of the farm with one-third of the harvest.
I also plan to go into the palm oil business. That one just involves buying multiple kegs of palm oil in January and storing them to sell in December when they’ve doubled or tripled in price.
That’s interesting. How much do you think you’ll need to start cocoa farming?
I’ll need about ₦300k to rent a farm and start operations. I can actually start any time and make that amount back fully in a year because the dollar-to-naira rate influences the price of a cocoa bag, and since that’s consistently increasing, the profit would increase too.
However, I intend to build my business to a point where it’s profitable enough for me to be able to remove that kind of money to invest somewhere else. I’ll also have financial support from my dad when that time comes.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?
2. I still don’t have a job, so I’m not happy with my finances. I hope to get a job before March 2024 and possibly monetise my YouTube. Maybe by then, things will start looking up.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
Skip the part where you apply to a thousand jobs without getting a reply. Call the companies directly and tell them you want to confirm your interview time. Chances are, they’ll be too lazy to check if they actually sent you anything.
Find their email address and send them an interview invite
If you’ve already applied, be proactive and send them an interview invitation, so they know you mean business. Companies always say they want proactive people. Show yourself.
Offer them fuel
If they have an office, then they need to keep the lights on. Offer them free fuel as a perk for hiring you. You’ll leave them no choice but to hire you with joy.
Offer to pay them a salary instead
What better way to prove to them that you’re not doing it for the money than to offer them money?
Become a POS attendant
You’re going straight from being unemployed to being self-employed. Even better, you’re handling plenty cash every day. What more do you want?
Become a Wizkid stan
Being a part of Wizid FC is a full-time job, and the best part about it is that you don’t have to apply. Just start working. You might get stressed out every once in a while sha but the job is the job. Another option is to just become Davido’s online defender for the week. But you’ll be doing a lot of overtime sha.
Shoot your shot at your future employer
No, we’re not asking you to send them a DM on LinkedIn. Instead, find their IG handle and slide into their DMs with as much rizz as you can. Ask them on a date, then go with your CV. They’ll be impressed by your focus.
People will be scrambling to get to work, but you just can’t relate because you’re still in bed at 11 a.m. Don’t you just love that?
No billing from family members
Everyone knows you’re unemployed and don’t earn a salary. What are they even billing?
No more taxes to cut your salary in half
Imagine handing over one-third of your salary to this government. Who does that? Even God only asked for ten per cent.
You can pursue a better-paying career
An example that works well is having a sugar daddy or mummy. You’re still earning a salary, but you’re no longer doing a 9 to 5. It’s more like 5 to 9 now.
You can always say you’re an “entrepreneur”
No one will question you if you don’t look like you’re suffering. And even if you do, you can always blame it on the hustle.
You can also make a killing from begging
If fronting as an entrepreneur doesn’t work, hit the streets and start begging. You’ll make bank.
You can finally finally chase your dreams
According to motivational speakers, “Your salary is the bribe they pay you to forget your dreams”. So what happens when you don’t earn a salary? Of course, you’ll chase your dreams. You might be chasing actual dreams by sleeping all day, but that’s still a win.
Or you can focus on making heaven
Stay unemployed so you can shift your focus from worldly things, and put everything into making it to heaven.
You can finally find love
If you can’t find love in the office, maybe you’ll find it if you spend your 9-to-5 in the streets. Think about it.
The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed but is actively seeking employment. According to the multinational consulting firm KPMG, Nigeria’s unemployment rate will likely hit 40.6% based on its 2023 projections. Another way to put it is, out of every five employable Nigerians between 15 and 64 years, two would be unemployed.
This would make Nigeria one of the countries with the highest unemployment rates globally.
[Highest unemployment rates 2021 / Statista]
How did we get here?
If you look at the screenshot above, Nigeria doesn’t feature in the top twenty. The explanation is that the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which releases official unemployment figures, has not done so since Q4 of 2020. As of then, Nigeria’s unemployment rate was an alarming 33.3 per cent.
KPMG’s report estimated that Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 37.7% in 2022. It expects it to rise even higher to 40.6% in 2023 based on their projections. Here’s what they said:
“Unemployment is expected to continue to be a major challenge in 2023 due to the limited investment by the private sector, low industrialisation and slower than required economic growth and consequently the inability of the economy to absorb the 4-5 million new entrants into the Nigerian job market every year.
“Although the NBS recorded an increase in the national unemployment rate from 23.1 per cent in 2018 to 33.3 per cent in 2020, we estimate that this rate has increased to 37.7 per cent in 2022 and will rise further to 40.6 per cent in 2023.”
KPMG said the coming administration would face weak and slow economic growth and trouble in the forex market. Inflation also affected Nigeria badly in 2022, maintaining an upward trend that has spilled over into 2023. Nigeria’s inflation rate in February rose to 21.91 per cent despite the Central Bank hiking the interest rate.
“Additionally, government revenue remains inadequate to support much-needed expenditure, leading to a high debt stock and high debt service payments”, the report said.
Is there any hope at all?
According to Punch, at the end of Q4 of 2022, Nigeria’s GDP growth rate was 3.52 per cent. This was a boost from 2.25 per cent in Q3 of 2022. On average, Nigeria experienced a 3.10 per cent growth rate in 2022.
KPMG said that Nigeria’s growth would be affected negatively in 2023 by Meffy’s disastrous naira redesign policy, the proposed subsidy removal and the budget deficit.
However, if Nigeria addresses security issues, KPMG expects some recovery in telecommunications, trade and the oil sector. The growth rate for 2023 is projected to be at a “relatively slow pace” of three per cent.
What can the incoming government do?
Every solution to arrest Nigeria’s economic decline feels like a bitter pill. We recently added an $800 million loan to our mounting debt. Let’s not forget the coming census projected to cost ₦869 billion. It should be apparent that a serious government would look to cut down on these high expenses.
There are also security concerns that, if left unattended, might worsen an already bad situation. A 40.6 per cent unemployment rate is a ticking time bomb as this means there are too many idle hands for the devil to employ.
Unemployment is a lagging indicator. This means it’s an indicator that changes after the economic variable with which it is correlated changes. If Nigeria has a poor economic outlook, unemployment will keep rising, while if it’s growing, unemployment will fall.
Therefore, the obvious solution is to get Nigeria’s economy to grow again. This could be by supporting the manufacturing sector, making Nigeria more attractive to investors, unifying our exchange rate and providing incentives to encourage local production. These things don’t happen overnight; it will take collective political will to turn things around. But as the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Join us on Twitter Spaces on Friday, April 14th, by 6 pm as we talk to historians to give us a perspective on an interesting slice of Nigerian history.
