Fu'ad Lawal, Author at ��è��Ƶ!

Miracle

Fu'ad Lawal — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 09:17:00 +0000

When it came in March 2014, no one knew what it was.

At first, everyone thought it was malaria because of the fevers and aches. Some said cholera because the rainy season means cholera season. But cholera doesn’t leave people bleeding to death from their mouths and noses.

Others thought it was just isolated cases of people getting poisoned, but if there’s anything Gloria’s life has taught her, it’s that nothing is a coincidence.

A teenage Gloria was living in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia when the rumours of war began in late ‘89. Charles Taylor, who had just moved to Cote d’Ivoire in December, was starting an uprising to topple the government of his former boss, Samuel Doe.

When war comes, families are scattered in every direction, scampering for safety, like lizards when a hawk descends.

Gloria’s parents asked her to gather all the other children in the family, and take them out of the country by road until things became certain. Gloria and the children travelled through dense forests and harmattan dust roads to the North of Liberia. Her sister headed east to Freetown, Sierra Leone, a country that was itself less than eighteen months from their own civil war.

On the 23rd of December, Gloria reached a Liberia-Cote d’Ivoire border town in Nimba County, the biggest of Liberia’s 15 counties.

On the Ivoirien side of the border, another exodus was happening, led by Charles Taylor, and by the dawn of Christmas eve, Charles Taylor re-entered Liberia forcefully with 100 rebels. Waiting with their allegiance were thousands of people from Liberia’s Northern tribes – the uprising was alive. Doe’s government responded by sending two battalions of the Armed Forces.

And so, the First Liberian Civil War began, with Gloria and the children trapped in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by strangers. Gloria, the oldest of the pack, was 15.

It took a ceasefire in ‘95 and an election in ‘97 for Gloria and her family to return home. Charles Taylor, the rebel leader she met at the border, was now President of the new government.

That year, Gloria returned home to Monrovia, not just because it was now safe, but because she’d finally graduated from high school. She was 23. But as she returned home to reunite with her family, she was carrying a virus in her, one she went on to infect her entire family of nine with – chickenpox.

Every infection, conflict or rumour of conflict since then has met a vigilant Gloria.

When Liberians finally had a name for this new ‘thing’, the virus had begun to spread, and by the end of March 2014, Liberia had confirmed its first two cases of Ebola.

While Ebola travels by physical contact with the bodily fluids of the infected, fear has no such physical limitations. Entrances of homes had chlorinated water for handwashing on entry or exit. Hand sanitisers were lifestyle essential. But this came too late for some people.

Because some of the first symptoms of Ebola are malaria-like – fever, pains, fatigue, aches and a bad appetite – some of the earliest infected were healthcare workers. They approached these first Ebola patients, touching them with the assumption that it was a familiar sickness. By mid-June, the first known deaths in Monrovia had occurred as a result of the virus – of the seven people who died, one of them was a nurse, including four other members of her household, one of them a baby.

In July 2014, Gloria had to see a doctor for pain unrelated to Ebola – it was a sharp pain travelling up and down her spine. To get specialist care, she had to travel to Tapeta, a small town over 300 kilometres from home, somewhere in Nimba County. It was going to be a short trip, but still, she worried about leaving Cherry and Blooming behind – Cherry’s her niece, and Blooming is Cherry’s daughter.

Blooming was born in 2011 with congenital glaucoma, a condition that caused raised pressure in her eyes. All vision is currently impaired.

Cherry’s mother had heard about an eye doctor in Ganta and thought it’d be a good idea to seek help for Blooming’s eyes.

“Haven’t you heard that it has reached Ganta,” Gloria said before heading for Tapeta, “why don’t we wait till it’s safe?”

A few days later, Cherry called. “I’m calling to check on you,” she said, “but we’re in Ganta. Mama told us to go to Ganta to see the eye doctor.”

And as Gloria worried about their safety over the phone, Cherry tried to reassure her, “Aunty, if I’m the only one, then Ebola won’t reach anyone.” Cherry, Gloria’s darling niece, was a hermit who barely socialised.

“Take care of yourself and the baby,” Gloria said. When she returned to Monrovia, mother and child hadn’t returned from Ganta.

Ganta is an ambitious city of fewer than 50,000 people, just south of the Guinea border. It’s also the second-most populous city in Liberia.

There are multiple accounts about how Ebola reached Ganta. One account says that in July, a street vendor went visiting in Lofa County and returned sick. After spending a few hours at the clinic upon his return, he was discharged.

Later that day, a woman took her pregnant daughter to the hospital. The pregnant daughter was admitted on the bed the street vendor had been on, while her mother sat next to her.

Eventually, the street vendor, the mother, and 14 members of her family died from Ebola. As Ebola divided the living from the dead, so did it divide little Ganta. People on one side of the road stopped crossing to the side of the road . It remained that way till November 2014.

Another account says that a boy was home visiting from Lofa County. “The boy brought Ebola home to his mother who cared for him, not knowing it was Ebola,” a contact in Ganta told Gloria. He eventually died, and his mother had him buried. Shortly after, she came down with the illness and also died. She wasn’t just anyone, she was a banker with significant clout across Ganta. People across the town showed up for her burial – many of them believed she was poisoned.

In their time at Ganta, Cherry and Blooming stayed in the banker’s compound as a guest of one of its many occupants. When she eventually called Monrovia, Cherry’s first words were “Aunty, I’m sick, and I’ve never felt this sick in my whole life.”

The pain cut Gloria in half.

Cherry is the first grandchild of her family. Her mother had her just before she went to college, and thus, her care became someone else’s responsibility. That someone else was Gloria, and although she was quite young herself, everyone thought she was Cherry’s mother – she in fact raised Cherry like her own daughter.

“How is Blooming?” Gloria asked.

“We’re about 11 in the house,” Cherry said, “everyone is sick.”

Everyone except Blooming.

In August, Nigeria got its first death from the virus that later infected 20 people and killed 8, including , the lead doctor who treated the index case. According to , 142 new cases and 77 deaths were recorded in less than three days in August across Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Less than two weeks earlier, the organisation had declared Ebola in West Africa a public health emergency of international concern. On August 6, two days before, the President of Liberia declared a state of emergency.

All attempts by Gloria and her family to find an ambulance available to go to Ganta failed. Emergency services were overwhelmed. Eventually, they found a cab willing to make the 300-kilometre trip.

Her brother-in-law, a doctor, wasn’t going to let her take the trip. Gloria later said, “They said my B.P. was too high, so he went with his wife – my little sister Rose – and the driver.”

Cherry was already so weak when they reached Ganta, that she had to crawl into the car herself – no one could help her, because no one could touch her. A man in that compound in Ganta was looking after Blooming as Cherry got sicker. He eventually passed away from Ebola, and his name was Jerry.

As the cab headed back to Monrovia, Cherry sat quietly as always, with Blooming on her lap. The doctor urged her to drink water and stay hydrated. “Cherry, please be strong,” Gloria texted. “As long as you reach Monrovia, you’ll be fine. Everything will be fine.”

On the 8th of August, upon entering Monrovia, Cherry and Blooming were immediately admitted into the Ebola Treatment Unit. From this point on, she no longer had access to a phone.

The next morning, Gloria and the family headed to the ETU. The tents were surrounded by a red, mesh fence, a boundary between the agonising pain of the sick, and the gut-wrenching anxiety of their loved ones.

ETU

Every day, the bodies kept coming and getting dumped, some dead, some all but dead.

“Cherry are you there? Can you hear me?” Gloria would shout.

A sick man came out of an SUV he’d driven himself and entered the ETU. He was never seen again.

“I’m here. We’re here. We’re praying with you!” she’d shout another day.

A family of five entered the ETU, holding hands in a single file. They were never seen again.

“Nurse, help me, please. Cherry – she’s a soft child. Help me – make sure she eats. Please.”

“Your daughter is getting weaker by the day,” the nurse said. “But the baby – the baby is here. The baby is fine.”

It was Sunday the 24th of August before they saw Blooming again. A doctor in a hazmat suit came outside, Blooming in hand. She had no clothes on, only diapers. The doctor raised Blooming as high as his arms could let him. “She’s okay, nothing has happened to her.”

“Fine. What of Cherry?”

The doctor turned around and went back in.

“How is Cherry?” Gloria asked the next doctor she saw. The response was silence. When the third doctor came out, her brother-in-law had had enough.

“Here’s my medical licence,” he said, “can I go in? Whatever happens, is at my own risk.” They agreed, he geared up and went in.

When he came out almost thirty minutes later, he was alone. He walked up to them, Rose and Gloria, hugged them tightly.

“Let’s go home. We’ve lost Cherry.”

Cherry Adikwu passed away after 17 days of fighting Ebola in the ETU. Her body was cremated the next day.

Early in August, Liberia’s Health authorities had issued a directive that the bodies of all the people killed by the Ebola virus be cremated instead of buried. After Ebola has killed a person, the body of the deceased remains contagious for .

When they saw Blooming again on the 25th of August, a doctor in a hazmat suit held her to her chest, again with no clothes.

“We’ve tested this girl three times,” the doctor said. “We’ve sent her blood to Belgium, and all the results say the same thing – she hasn’t caught the virus. We can no longer continue to keep her.”

And so it was that Blooming, who stayed in a house in Ganta where 11 people got sick, came back to Monrovia sitting on the laps of her sick mother, staying in the ward surrounded by the sick, somehow stayed immune to the virus.

She was there, as the virus travelled in the bodies of those around her, forcing their cells to explode, damaging their organs from the inside, and making them bleed from their eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and even give bloody diarrhoea. Blooming was there, seated, and unable to see anything when her mother breathed her last.

She was in the thick of it all, and she came out unscathed.

A of Ebola survivors found that while some people came in contact with the virus and recovered, another group who came in contact with it never got infected at all. The women in the study “are phenomenal women who have had a horrendous story to tell,” Prof Miles Caroll told Guardian UK.

Prof Miles Carroll is a virologist and Head of Research, National Infection Service, Public Health England. The team studied 60 women, including 25 from Guéckédou, the town in Guinea where the West African wave is believed to have started with a 2-year-old boy. The women in the study, despite cleaning up after the sick and caring for them, never got infected. The study suggests that it’s in their genes, and it appears that Blooming’s case fits.

When Blooming returned home, she returned to a Liberia that was paranoid and on the edge. On the 18th of August, a mob in West Point, Monrovia’s biggest ghetto, had descended upon an Ebola clinic in their neighbourhood, protesting its very presence there. Protests quickly turned violent, leading to the looting of the clinic and the eviction of everyone inside, including the infected. There were real fears that protesters might have gotten infected.

By the next day, the Liberian government had quarantined West Point and President Sirleaf Johnson had declared a nationwide curfew. By the 22nd, violence broke out again, with the armed forces firing at protesters, killing one teenage boy, and injuring others.

Closer to home, Blooming’s household was ostracised by the entire community. No one was taking cash from them, the church community wanted nothing to do with them, and they weren’t allowed into the markets.

No one wanted anything to do with a family whose child had returned from the ETU. “This is when I knew that Ebola had really hit us Liberians,” Gloria said.

The next few months were the hardest. Gloria’s contract at the NGO she worked for had expired in July, and she didn’t renew it. Her mental health depreciated as the weeks went by as she was plunged into shock first, then depression. Her hypertension worsened.

In November, President Sirleaf lifted the state of emergency in the country. That same month, Gloria moved out of her family house with Blooming, to a new neighbourhood where no one knew about her or the little one. It was also around this time she began calling Blooming by another name: Miracle.

“She was such a strange child,” Gloria said, almost trembling, “she’d sometimes wake me up in the middle of the night. And hug me, and say it’s okay.”

2015 was when Gloria decided to give life a chance again, “for Miracle”. By April, she got a job working at an NGO, four times less than what she used to earn. But she needed to be with people, and thus, her office became her healing ground.

To fulfil her need for closure, Gloria held a memorial service for Cherry on August 24th, 2016, two years after she passed. She invited family and friends, with a blown-up portrait of her surrounded by roses.

“Like a proper burial,” Gloria said. Every second Wednesday of March since then, she’d buy helium-filled balloons, write little notes in them to Cherry, and release them. Across Liberia, this is called Decoration Day, a national festival Liberians have marked since 1916, where they refurbish the graves of their deceased, clearing away the bushes and cleaning the headstones.

Other times, she’d buy roses, drive to a river – any river – and leave the roses there. On the , Liberia was declared Ebola-free.

Their biggest hurdle now is Miracle’s vision. Glaucoma has no cure, but treatment is possible to slow down further damage and prevent permanent vision loss. Despite her right eye being in better shape, the race to restore Miracle’s vision is a race against time.

While Gloria struggles to find funding, these days you’ll find Miracle, now 9, in grade school. Whenever she doesn’t show up at her school for the visually impaired, her classmates come to the house to see her, huddled together. She’d crack jokes with them, mostly mimicking Gloria’s speech.

Keep your sweets, she’ll pass, but in true Liberian fashion, she never turns down Rice and Torborgee or Palava sauce.

When music is playing, she sits quietly, absorbs, and sings it later while rocking her tambourine. On Sundays in church, she hangs around the drumset – she loves the bass drum the most.

If she feels your presence and likes you, she’ll walk up to you, feel your palms, and ask for your name. When you ask for hers, she’ll say, “my name is Bloomingdale Miracle Adikwu.”

The Rollercoaster #NairaLife Of An Adman

Fu'ad Lawal — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 07:28:54 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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 oldest memory of money?

I was 5, and my mum gave me money to buy a crate of eggs – ₦1 coin. My own introduction to money was with coins, and this was in 1990. There was the 50 kobo coin. My boxed-up uncle used to give me whenever he visited.

What could 50 kobo buy at the time?

Yoo. Think about what half the price of a crate of eggs can buy a kid now.

What was childhood like though?

We used to get money for school, and I saved a lot of it to buy toys. It was a middle-class living in a good neighbourhood. Full-on Buttie – only English. Whenever we went to the markets, people used to say “una done carry this una American pikin come.”

Hahaha.

We weren’t elite rich but we were comfor – bro I had a skateboard. So, a middle-class family in the 90s that Babangida destroyed? That was us.

What do you mean “Babangida destroyed”?

For context, . Still, for most of my childhood, I always saved. And it wasn’t from a need to keep money, it was just from a resource control standpoint. Our parents always told us not to be wasteful, you must finish the food on your plate. If you’re not going to finish it, don’t ask for that much. If you don’t finish it, you’ll die and come back.

Buhaha what?

My dad was chilled, but my mum used a spatula on my head more than she used it for Eba.

Ah. Anyway, what was the consequence of the economic dip in your family?

First of all, the dip became telling close to the end of the 90s. My dad had bought land and started building a house, but he didn’t have money for decking. We got a quit notice, somehow, and so we moved into a boys quarters. A room and parlour, beds came out at night and went back in the morning. My parents slept on one, my two siblings slept on another, and I slept on a long single bed. My parents stopped buying me clothes, so I had to start going to Yaba myself. I had that one shoe that was one size small.

Over the next decade, my hustle mode turned on. I stopped getting money from home. I even started to do what you’d consider shady things.

What?

I was selling contrabands to boarding school students because they couldn’t go out. I’d buy at a price, and then add my own price on top of it. Look, my life was boring, and I needed some excitement. I was consuming a lot of Western culture, hip hop and all. It was a complete opposite to my life, and I wanted to experience some of that shit. But I just wanted to do everything. I was doing well at school and rolling with the geeks. Also, I was in the choir at church, but I was betting. I was also playing ball in the area and knew DMX and Famous Five.

I got into Uni in 2004, the real rude awakening for me. By this time, money no dey. My dad was dealing with health problems. I was trying – wait, just before Uni, I did one small hustle.

What?

I realised that whenever WAEC was pasting centre numbers, the lists were always fragmented and incomplete. So, I went to WAEC office, bought photocopies of the complete list for ₦150. Then I went to one school where I’d see people go to the noticeboard and look out for people frustrated about not finding their names. Then I’d approach them like, “it’s not there abi? I have it here o, it’s ₦200”

Ah.

I did the first day, made like ₦2k, the second day, I made a little over that, and on the third day, the gateman sent me away.

Why?

I learned my first lesson about making money: understanding your fucking climate. If I’d been sorting that guy for ₦200-₦300 per day, he’d have even guarded me. So, back to uni.

Back to uni.

I was just so free. I was smoking like one pack of cigarettes in two days, but I was broke and couldn’t afford accommodation. Now, I was staying in a single room with four other guys – only one person actually owned the room, and it wasn’t me.

The room owner had a babe, and whenever she’d come at night and they want to smash, we’d have to go and wait outside. Then we’d come inside whenever they were done.

Hahaha.

That’s how fucked up my life was. Then I started floating in school – I’d spend the day in class, crash overnight and go to the hostel to shower. I did that for like a month.

I imagine you didn’t just continue this way.

Yeah, I got a job at a cybercafe. I was lucky because as a teenager, my dad already got us a computer – a Compaq laptop in ‘94, bruh. So I already had a thing for computers. Anyway, by early 2004, I collected my first salary at my first job for ₦2,500.

Ah, first salary. What else were you doing in that period?

Sooo, one of my friends was getting into music at the time, and I was quite enthusiastic, so I became his manager. He even recorded an EP, but we weren’t making any money. We were broke and it was hard. I’d drop money to print CDs and stuff, push into the music scene at the time and all.

I was doing all kinds of things, and still managed to maintain a good GPA. My last GPA was about 3.76, then my life changed forever.

What happened?

I got kicked out of Uni in 2008, my final year. Long story short, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. It does feel like karma.

Wooaaah.

My parents didn’t handle it as badly as I imagined they would. Funny thing is, my dad actually had to leave his first Uni because he had issues with a lecturer and he had to go finish up elsewhere.

Anyway, I was back in Lagos, and I had this artist who I was managing, pushing my man into the scene. In all this time, I was writing exams to gain admission into other universities, and nothing just clicked.

By 2009, I got a job at another cybercafe where I was getting ₦10k a month. The best part was that I had access to unlimited internet. Then I discovered blogging. I started putting up my guy’s music on my blog, then I started charging other people to put up their music for ₦8k per song. Then management companies came too, and I’d charge them over ₦20k. Since it wasn’t frequent, I was making about ₦18k. I was still at my Cyber Cafe job.

Then I met this guy, a senior executive at an advertising company that was also working with entertainment companies. I somehow managed to secure a meeting with him, shared a breakdown on some campaigns and talent they were working with, and how I think they’d be able to manage them better.

He was impressed.

Loud.

Then he asked me, what can you do for us? I told him I could help them with artists’ PR and management. Before I left that day, he gave me ₦5k. Oh boy. I first went to eat at one buka. I eventually started working with him, and was able to save up to buy a used laptop for about ₦50k by the end of 2010.

That year had its own struggles.

What else?

I was addicted to weed. People in the hood had heard I didn’t graduate, and I was mostly on it to cope. It was depressing. There was that period in that year too where I was a sidekick on the radio, and was getting the occasional ₦200 or ₦300.

How did you beat the addiction?

I woke up one day, tired of the addiction. I read cured his love for women by going to bed with women and not having sex with them. So I decided to go to where we used to smoke and sit with smokers for one month, without actually smoking. I did it for one month, and that was it.

Mad o.

Yeah. Anyway, being in the entertainment scene meant that I met a lot of the interesting people at the time, like 2Face. One of my guys working in another advertising agency was leaving, and was looking to hire a replacement.

I got a meeting with the boss, and they said they were going to hire me at first as an account manager. Basically, I was tracking everyone else’s output, uploading and stuff.

He asked me, “how much do you want to get paid?”

I said, “how much do you want to pay me?”

“₦20��.”

“Let’s do it.”

This was early 2011, and I just needed the job and access to the internet. Remember the other ad exec, he decided to put me on payroll officially. He paid me ₦35k – ₦55k from two jobs.

What were you doing at the ₦35k gig?

Helping their talent hustle studio time, booking events, writing press releases. At my ₦20k job, I moved to copywriting: ads, press releases and all that. I was enjoying it more, and in 2012, I ditched the account management gig and focused on my job as a copywriter. My salary climbed to ₦50k. Then I started getting a commission off the sales that I made. I was also getting bonuses from profit sharing at the end of the year. The highest bonus I ever received was ₦200k.

When I left in 2014 though, my monthly salary was ₦80k.

How much did the next gig offer?

₦300��.

Mad o.

I’d already built a reputation, and you know what’s funny? I actually left for for ₦125k, but as I put word out that I was leaving, I got more offers. Two of them were offering me ₦400k. I tabled it to the ₦125k people and they bumped me up to ₦300��. I took the ₦300k offer, and I’m glad I did. It wasn’t just an agency doing the advertising side, they were also a full-blown digital agency. I joined as Head of Digital.

Two months later, I got another raise to ₦400k.

Ah, how?

Someone on my team was about to leave the company, and he asked for ₦300k as his condition to stay. They gave him the raise, but then they didn’t want him to earn the same as me, so they bumped me up to ₦400k.

Over the years as I garnered more experience, I started taking some consulting gigs on the side around digital strategy. I was doing well enough that I could afford to get a place – my first place as a working person. I also bought a car.

Suddenly, all the things you panicked about in 2008 disappeared?

Fuck all that shit. At this time, I could take care of my mum conveniently. One time, she wanted to celebrate her birthday and I just sent her ₦300��. The problem at the time was that even though I had money, there was no intention going into saving and investing. Then I started dating my wife.

What changed?

My wife saved my life. She’s my anchor. She’s great with money, She made me take a course on Coursera where I learned about financial literacy. I do the hard hustling, and she does the planning of our lives.

That’s where I learned what you spend, save, invest. All the babes I was hanging out with it just wanted popcorn and cinema at the time, but she was the one for me. We’re married now. We moved. After our first kid, we moved again. My son was turning 1 and I needed him to grow up in a place that was safe enough for us to go on evening walks.

How much is your rent now?

First ₦300��. Then I started paying ₦600k. Now I’m paying ₦1.5 million. I panicked when I was about to move, but I quickly learned that I just had to save ₦125k per month.

Back to your salary.

I got a raise in 2018 that bumped me up to ₦581k. But I was entitled to bonuses that could bump me up to ₦1.2 million, but it never really came. In 2019, I started listening to offers again. One bank came with a solid offer to lead comms, but the amount of shirts and ties I had to wear ehn, I just cancelled.

I wanted more action, so I chose a role in a startup instead. This time, in Business Development.

How much did you join for?

₦1.8 million. My salary hasn’t grown since then, but I’ve gotten performance bonuses. The highest I’ve received at a time is about ₦600k.

What’s your current mindset with money?

You spend it, it comes back. Now, this is not on some careless shit, but I believe that the more I give, the more it comes back. I have ₦144k and someone came with an emergency and needed a ₦50k loan, I didn’t even think twice. Like, look at how far I’ve come and I didn’t die. Is it now a small inconvenience that will now kill me?

Looking at how far you’ve come, how much do you feel like you should be earning?

Double my current salary, for starters. I do a lot of work that I don’t get paid for, but I’m building my reputation.

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

I want to invest in companies with money that I can afford to lose – $5k here, $10k there.

What’s the last thing you bought that required serious planning?

I have three kids – two of them are adopted. I bought a Sienna so the driver can take them around conveniently. The family van cost ₦2.3 million.

When was the last time you felt really broke?

I always feel broke, bro. In fact, I never have enough money after I save all my money. I only always have like ₦200k in a month.

What do you wish you could get better at?

We run three small businesses, all these businesses were my wife’s ideas. My own ideas never dey commot money. I also spend a lot on education.

Tell me about that.

I’ve done some courses with a solid business school, and some other schools. I just finished a course in Project Management and am currently studying Product Management.

Do you have any financial regrets?

When I started earning well enough, I should have been saving more. But then, I’m glad it went that way because I won’t have experienced a lot of things. Money is good, guy. I still enjoyed it, but I wish I should have just saved more in dollars.

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

5, considering where I’m coming from, haha. It’ll be 10 when I pay for life insurance and when I buy my house.

It’s been a wild couple of years.

I believe the universe is amoral, it doesn’t believe in good or bad, only happenstance. Being kicked out of school led me to all the choices that led me to where I am. At that point, it looked like my world had ended.

10 years ago, I was earning ₦10k. Keep going.

Naira Life: 10 Must-Read Stories

Fu'ad Lawal — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 12:46:00 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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.

As we anticipate the 100th episode of the Nairalife series, here are 10 must-read episodes from the series:

1) The Firstborn Who’s Playing Breadwinner On A ₦104k/month Salary

I like this story for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a story about the dark underbelly of city life. I also like it because the #NairaLife before it was about a designer. Except that the previous designer was earning 10 times more than this designer was earning. When you read these stories side by side, it’s an early #Nairalife lesson for me in how a ton of factors, beyond talent, drive success.

Read here.

2) The Housewife Living Her Best Life With Zero Salary

This housewife shook the internet. Why? She tried everything. 9-5’s, entrepreneurship, and you know what she chose? To be a housewife. What exactly is ambition?

Read here.

3) The Hustler Staying Hopeful At ₦25k/month

The suffering in this one is immense. This guy literally trailed off whatever path he’d dreamed for himself. I can’t stop thinking about that one exam he couldn’t pay for…

Read here.

4) Still Fighting For Her Future at ₦60k/month

Marriage can come at a steep cost for women, and no Nairalife epitomises this more than any. Shortly after the marriage, she got pregnant. And then everything changed.

Read here.

5) Bills? Over ₦6 Million/Year. Income? She Has No Clue

This was such a wholesome conversation for me. But it was a very valuable moment of inflection for the subject. It helps that it was hilarious too.

Read here.

6) This 70-year-old Woman Sacrificed Every Kobo For One Goal

I really enjoyed this one because it was the first #Nairalife peek into the 70s and 80s. This woman went through it. She remains the oldest subject of Nairalife till date.

Read here.

7) The Student Who Went From ₦3k/month To ₦1 Million

Some #NairaLife stories mess up your insides. But some of them fill you with hope. This story of how one skill transformed the life of a student and his family will forever be close to my heart.

Read here.

8) The #NairaLife Of The Woman Who Went From Maid To Magnate

This is my favourite NairaLife outlier story. It doesn’t get more extreme than going from maid to magnate.

Read here.

9) #NairaLife: How Did She Grow Her Income By Almost 600%? Language

This is another outlier story that I really love. There’s time, chance, and a wild income jump!

Read here.

10) The #Nairalife Of A Depression

It’s common to hear people talk about “Oh, go to therapy.” This Nairalife is about what it’d look like if people went to therapy. Frankly, the subject of this Nairalife even got lucky.

Read here.

The #NairaLife Of A Civil Servant Winging Life At ₦96k/month

Fu'ad Lawal — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 07:31:09 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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.

When you rewind to the very very beginning, what’s your oldest memory of money?

It’s definitely collecting Salah money at my grandparents’ house. Some people would willingly give me, and I’d tax some others.

Do you remember the first thing you ever did for money?

Does washing snails for my aunty count? Anyway, I started working at my school’s radio station at the university.

Was it really money if they gave a ₦2,500 stipend for 30 days worth of work?

What year was it, and do you remember how that felt?

This was 2011 or something. I was annoyed because we were doing all the work: news gathering, vox pop. We’ll embarrass ourselves on the roads of campus for ₦2,500.

No vex. Did you do anything else after that?

There was this radio show I started that was kind of a big deal. It was airing across about four radio stations. I loved the show, and we were waiting for sponsors. When we eventually got some sponsors, I never saw the money.

My NYSC year and the year after was the period of not knowing if I was going to get a job or not because my result wasn’t great. I started a postgraduate diploma, then I got this job at some accounting firm. The pay was ₦50k, but they owe me to date.

Those years of drought, what was it like?

I live with my parents, so I don’t pay rent or worry about food. My family is very close, so even when it came to things like hair, makeup and clothing, my aunties were spoiling me to a large extent. There used to be a lot of “Don’t worry, you’ll get a job.” Also, my dad gave me pocket money.

My feminism will collapse when I say this, but I’m a girl — when I want to socialise, I only have to worry about transporting myself there. I don’t necessarily concern myself with what I’ll do there.

In all, the real struggle was my mum. We’d get into these fights because she thinks — wait, not think, she is an African mother — she knows that she can tell me what to do. I didn’t have a say in stuff at all. I’d have to ask for her permission before going anywhere and make sure that it worked with her schedule because I was her part-time maid.

Then my friends started getting jobs, and things got awkward. If they invited me anywhere, I told them I couldn’t afford to be there. Then they start offering to pay for me, which would annoy me. But they were just being good friends. It was a sad time because I felt I had no say in the direction of my life.

I eventually got a job at the end of 2016 in the civil service.

That social anxiety that money causes. What’s a particular episode you can’t forget?

My cousins live abroad. There was a time they came back home when I wasn’t working yet. Whether they’re high or low earners, people from America have a strong disrespect for the cost of things in Nigeria because they earn in dollars.

One evening we were hanging out, there was something we wanted to buy; pepper soup and nkwobi. At ₦3k, it felt too expensive and didn’t make sense to me. Especially since I could get it for ₦500 elsewhere.

Anyway, my cousin was like, “₦3k? That’s so nice. That’s so cool.” And while I was still ranting about the price, they were like, “Oh, we’ll get yours.”

If I was a crying person, I’d have excused myself to go and cry. I felt very bad.

I feel you. Back to you joining the civil service?

I joined December 2016, and my starting net salary was ₦74k — after deductions for pensions and housing (that you never get). I work in the Public Relations and Information Unit at my ministry.

Interesting. How has your salary grown over the years?

I started at level 7, step 4. Every year, you go up one step. Every step is an extra ₦1k to your salary. Some steps can be ₦2k or up to ₦10k the higher you go. I got promoted to a new level this year in the middle of a pandemic. My salary officially became ₦96k since the middle of the year, but that raise hasn’t reflected in my bank account. I haven’t even been paid last month’s salary.

Ouch. I’m sorry. How do people think about salaries in the civil service?

Nobody talks about their salaries except new staff or young people. My boss told me recently that the reason young people like to talk about their salary is that we think we’re young and fresh, but that’s how they were too until they began to climb higher.

Sometimes, based on your job description, your salary might go up more than the people you entered civil service with, then you’ll become secretive.

What’s your current monthly spending breakdown like these days?

As soon as I started getting paid, I stopped asking for assistance from my family. I felt like there was a lot of see-finish happening, so I started squeezing to survive.

I always have small weird jobs that’d come in: I sometimes help my neighbour with research or assembling focus groups. Sometimes, there’d be some weird errand that someone would pay me ₦5k to ₦10k for. That money is for vanity because my actual salary goes to my monthly-running costs.

How has all of this has shaped your perspective on money?

I’m kind of responsible with money. I don’t spend money that I don’t have. Still, I have a very “If I die, I die” philosophy on money that isn’t for savings.

I also feel like not earning as much as my peers and still being reliant on my parents has drilled in that whole mindset of not wanting anything. Maybe because I can’t afford things, I’ve found a way to convince myself that, “Wo, it’s not really that important.”

Oya, with your full chest, what is something you really want but can’t afford?

There are these shoes that I saw once worth $3,000. They’re considered old school now but I don’t care. I’ve wanted them for three years. The second thing I want to do is live in another country. I like Nigeria, I want to be here, but I want to be able to leave whenever I want.

If I had like ₦40 million now, I’d buy a house or leave the country for good. I like Nigeria, but this country is going down the drain.

How much do you honestly feel like you should be earning at this point? And as a follow up, how much would be great right now?

Like ₦300k-₦350k. ₦250k would be nice.

When do you think you’ll retire? And what do you think about retirement?

I look forward to it. I’m not one of those people that think they’ll be so bored. I hear about billionaires that have hectic schedules, and I’m like, are you kidding?

I’ll love to be one of those people who retire at 40 and then have pet projects here and there because they have enough till they’re 90 or 100. I saw my retirement fund, and it’s not looking good. After four years of working, it’s like ₦600k. And the money is in naira, which is going down the drain. As it is, let’s just be looking at the retirement age of 60.

I’d like to retire early, but it’s not realistic. I don’t see it happening unless I leave this country.

Random, but what’s the last thing you paid for that required serious planning?

It’s two things, but they happened around the same time. I bought a washing machine for ₦80k. Then Asoebi for two weddings cost me ₦50k.

When was the last time you felt really broke?

Right now. They’ve not paid since November, and I already made plans for December expenses. So I’m living on fumes, and the thing I don’t want to do is ask my parents for money.

The cost of living in Lagos has increased by a thousand, so I’m not normal-broke. I’m Buhari-broke.

What’s something you wish you could be better at financially?

Making money. I need to be able to put value to effort. But the truth is, I’m not very business-minded, so I’m not sure how to start. I could never become a CEO, and if I do, it’d be because I have a lot of business people beside me doing the business stuff.

Also, I wish I understood investments more. I’m not making efforts to understand it because even if I did, I don’t have the funds.

Hmm. Do you have an emergency plan for stuff like emergencies?

If my savings fail to cut it, I have this plan that I can spell out to you: D-A-D-D-Y. The begging I’ve refused to do, I’ll beg.

The question is, what if it’s something that he’s unable to help with? He’s a comfortable man, but he’s not wealthy. So what if it’s something that he cannot cover? Omo.

Ah, that.

I don’t know what happens after that. I saw some tweet that said in Nigeria, we’re all one terrible illness away from poverty. I was like, “God forbid,” but if somebody in my family or I got really sick, we would be able to afford treatment based off of my dad and mum’s safety nets,, but I doubt we’d be able to for a long time.

I’ve also thought about the kidnapper joke: “If you kidnap me, don’t ask for too much else I’ll be stuck here with you.” It’s a common joke, but it’s a reality.

Is there something else you imagine you’d be doing if you weren’t working in the civil service?

That’s the thing. I joined the civil service because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I decided to stay somewhere and do whatever I’m asked to. I’m still figuring it out.

But then, what the hell am I figuring out? How long? Three years is long enough to figure out what I want to do. It’s not enough time to do it, but it’s enough time to know. I do not know.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

3. I need to earn better. I can speak a lot of English, but at the end of the day, money is all that matters.

What do the next few years look like for you?

I just finished my Masters, and right now, I just want a better paying job. The kicker is that I want a better-paying government job, and they exist. People say “oh don’t get stuck in government work.” But I feel like if we want this country to get better, we have to participate.

I feel like we’re the ones that will have to fix it, eventually.

The #NairaLife Of A Writer Who’s Living On Pure Vibes

Fu'ad Lawal — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 05:50:00 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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 oldest memory of money?

I was seven, and there was a housewarming party at my father’s new house. An uncle gave me ₦50 as per for being a good boy. Later that evening, an aunt asked me to lend her the money for her transport home. She’s never returned my money since then, and it still keeps me up at night 20 years later. I don’t even remember which aunt it was.

Haha. What’s the first thing you ever did for money?

I sold rabbits and chicks as a teenager. But I didn’t do much for money because I was a “get inside” child.

Ah, kids who were barely allowed to go out. What did you do after that?

I vaguely remember marking scripts for money at some point between when I was 15 and 16. In university, for a brief period, I helped out my friend with a printing business to type essays or projects. I made ₦4,000 off a particular one which was a pretty sweet deal. I was also getting allowances from my parents. About ₦2,000 per week – ₦1,500 if the economy was particularly hard that week.

My university was in the same town as my family home, so I regularly went and picked up foodstuff all the time, so it didn’t eat into the allowance.

Who was giving you this allowance?

My father, but work always took him out of town, so my mother would do it. He reimbursed her sometimes; most times he did not. — he had eight other children. But he never joked with tuition.

If he had to sell an arm and a leg to make sure his children never defaulted on fees, he would.

Eight other children?

Welp. He married my mother first, but they couldn’t have kids for a number of years. So he got a second wife, who got pregnant almost immediately. Then my mother got pregnant with my elder sister months later. Another five-year lull in child-bearing pushed him to venture out once more to marry a third wife. She got pregnant with his third child just a month before my mother got pregnant with me. Five other kids came from my two stepmothers in the 10 years that followed.

I’m my mother’s second, and my father’s fourth.

Sensational. What did this mean growing up? Financially that is.

For a long time, especially while I was a dependent, the guy was capable money-wise. It wasn’t anything extravagant, but food was on the table, and he was pretty influential in his circle.

Things got down a bit more in his later years. But I no longer depended on him, so I didn’t really suffer. Some of my younger siblings did. The lesson here is, maybe don’t have nine children.

Post-uni. What came next?

I had to wait one year after graduation for NYSC deployment. It was supposed to be a two-month wait, then it was five months, and everything pooled up to a year.

I turned down a ₦28k-a-month offer to teach a secondary school class. This was mostly because I hated teaching and had a big fear of sticking out in front of other people. I basically did nothing to earn in that entire period except for peanuts on some writing and editing gigs.

NYSC came and I quite unsurprisingly got a teaching posting – ₦19,800 as usual – I loved every minute of it.

Inside life.

Apart from the regular NYSC allowance, I was making money on the side doing extra lessons during the holidays. I had a close colleague that was an organiser, and I was the only English teacher he could find. We got paid well, ₦12k each.

NYSC ended and I had no idea what to do with my life. My pocket was empty after a couple of weeks. I sent dozens of email applications, walked to other places to drop CVs. After a couple of months, it became anywhere-bele-face.

It got so frustrating that when I saw a cyber cafe attendant role I jumped at it. ₦15k a month. Then I was ready to jump back out after a couple of weeks. It wasn’t working out great, other than the free internet.

I typed up a resignation letter towards the end of the second month. Without a plan in sight. Days later, I got a ₦40k-per-month internship offer at a media company in Lagos.

I left my small town and moved to Lagos with my one bag two days later. I didn’t really know anyone there and had no clear long-term plan on shelter or anything. What I knew was that I just wanted to start working where the prospects were better.

New city, no friends. How does one even begin to navigate that?

I got the internship through a friend of a friend who didn’t really know me. But he had to do some vouching that I could do the job. Then I moved in with another friend of a friend who was himself trying to find his own feet. He decided one month later that he was moving out of Lagos. So I suddenly had to start looking for a new place, calling up everyone I knew.

I found a new spot after a week of searching. This time, it was a friend of a friend of a friend. Even my friend was someone from Twitter I hadn’t actually met. It was supposed to be a two-month stay while I got my money to get a place. I ended up staying there for 14 months because it turned out money doesn’t just come because you want it. I moved in with another friend I had made in Lagos and stayed with him for about eight months. Then I finally got my own rented apartment.

That’s almost three years.

I should mention that much of the time I stayed with these guys, I wasn’t really sleeping there. Thing is, I didn’t want to feel like a burden around my hosts. I spent a huge chunk of my squatting times sleeping at my office. 6 days a week at some point. The only reason I’d go back to those guys’ places was to do laundry on weekends. Then I’d just pack again for the week. I was trying to not betray their faith in me being of good behaviour. So I’d contribute to apartment expenses as much as I could.

In real terms, took me about two years to get on my own feet. So, shoutout to the kindness of complete strangers.

You slept at the office for six days a week? How did that work?

It starts with packing enough clothes, and the usual necessities, to last the entire week. Most people go home at the close of work, you do whatever you want from then on. There were a few factors that made the process easier at my office. Like an abundance of mattress-like couches to sleep on. Heck, sometimes, you could just sleep on the wooden tables. There were also quite a few bathrooms at the office, You just needed to wake before work started the next day. Have your bath, and continue with the rest of your day. Rinse and repeat.

There were a few other people doing it at the same time as me. Not all of us were homeless, some just hated going up and down with traffic.

How much was your salary at the time?

How did you feel about the margins for these raises?

The first raise felt good because it was obvious progress. The second one came as a complete surprise because I had not asked for a raise. No one told me until it hit my account. I called my boss to say they mistakenly sent me too much and he said it wasn’t a mistake. I felt really great about that one because it was an obvious appreciation of my work. The raise to ₦122k was really annoying because I did ask for a raise at that point. A ₦5k raise wasn’t what I had in mind. I also received it days after my father had died.

Sorry about your loss.

I was about to have more responsibilities on my neck. Then the ₦200k raise came because I received an offer from a different company and used that offer to negotiate.

This is probably the work version of hostage negotiations.

The bizarre thing about that is I actually negotiated myself well below the mark. I didn’t realise it until months later. I clearly suck at that. I’d prefer the next raise just be double, at least, of what my pay currently is.

Tell me about the responsibilities on your neck.

Thanks. It just meant my father’s death shifted primary support of my mother to me. She’s not completely dependent. She has her own petty trade that takes care of her primary needs. But she had a recurring health problem that was becoming a sinkhole for my emergency fund from time to time. She’d try to hide it from me sometimes. She was feeling self-conscious that I was only spending money on her sickness.

Ah, this struggle.

Thankfully, the health issue has drastically reduced over the years.

I was still trying to find my feet at the time too. I also had to support my sister, also still finding her feet. Things would probably be a lot messier for me if I was closer to my half-siblings. They’d bring their own needs to my table too. I mean, they still do, but not with any regularity that would make it a concern.

Back to your income. You want it doubled, how do you imagine that’d happen?

To be honest, I don’t see it happening any time soon, if at all, where I currently work. The fastest way to that kind of raise would be an entirely new job. If I’m seriously working towards that is an entirely different conversation. It’s mostly just vibes and inshallah at this point.

What do you think comes next?

I really have absolutely no idea, and that can be scary sometimes. It’s such an important decision to make, but I have no wherewithal to do it.

What are your real fears regarding this?

Getting stuck, mostly. Doing the same thing for such a long time that it no longer brings you excitement. It becomes harder and harder to get out of it.

How has your experience shaped your perception of money?

I’m not sure how best to answer this, but my spending habit is pretty annoying because it confuses even me. The most basic way to explain it is I’m pretty tight and loose with how I use money. Tight because I can be very meticulous about how I spend on things for my own benefit. Loose because I’m more carefree with it when it’s to fulfil the needs of other people.

It’s hard to turn people down when they ask me for money whether it’s dash or a loan. Some loans, I just end up writing off when I get tired of asking for repayment. The way I do it, you’d think I’m Dangote, but my bank account knows it’s all smoke.

I have no investments. There’s nothing tangible I can say I’ve done with the money I’ve earned over the past few years.

There’s really no financial discipline and it’s another one of those things in my life that runs on vibes.

Money comes. Money goes.

What is making your money go these days?

I spend ₦15k on internet data subscription, sometimes more. ₦50k on savings. A regular ₦20k split between my mother and sister, minus whatever else might come as an emergency down the line. I also have an adopted family of six back where I serve, so I send something back there sometimes. It’s irregular and not a big deal, just mostly for the children. I don’t really do any budgeting on my own expenses, so I really just spend whatever’s left.

Much of my savings just goes into my rent (₦350k), or part of my sister’s rent. I don’t know what I’m saving for. I don’t even think there’s a significant amount to be saved from what I earn. So, I’m careful with money, but I’m also reckless, and that makes no sense.

What does reckless mean to you?

By reckless, I mean there’s no plan for the money other than to just spend it. It’s simply about spending it on basic, non-luxurious shit or giving it out to people. All this, without mapping out a long term plan for how to grow it and keep the tap running.

Losing my job at any moment would be disastrous. I’d hit rock bottom money-wise after a couple of months with no new job or stream of income.

What’s the last thing you paid for that required serious planning?

I recently bought a new phone for ₦270k. The old one had overstayed its welcome and was really frustrating to use. It didn’t require serious planning though, but it’s the most I’ve spent recently on anything that isn’t rent. I just closed my eyes and went for it.

Money well spent too.

How much do you feel like, at this stage, you should be earning?

₦500k would be a great start. It gives me the freedom to do certain things like ask my sister to quit her job. She gets paid peanuts, and it’s too time-consuming for her to look for a better one. On my current income, I can comfortably pay her salary, or even double it (although that becomes a bit inconvenient). On ₦500k, I could just pay her enough to make her comfortable until she gets something better.

That kind of income lets me breathe a little bit better too. Investments can become a bit easier to make without looking too much over my shoulders.

How much does she earn?

₦25k. At least that’s what she tells me. She doesn’t know what I earn too. I won’t be surprised if she’s lying. But it’s still a very low-paying job.

Always guiding.

LMAO. Even though she and my mother (probably) believe I still earn around ₦100k. They expect that I have significant savings and planning for a family. If they know what I actually earn, it’d be a whole different thing. I’d suddenly have two money managers expecting me to build a house as soon as possible.

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

A solid 5.5? I’m in a completely different place from where I was three years ago, but I also want more now. You always want more money. More than that, I think it’s also important that, while getting the bag, you find comfort in what you do. You do one thing for too long, and a lull will inevitably set in. So, you always have to evolve or find something new to keep the energy up.

I’m trying to open myself up more. Maybe I’ll put it in my new year’s resolutions list. But for now, vibes.

Why vibes?

Because I am an unserious person. I’ve never really had a phase in my entire life where I just set like a long-term plan. I’ve also never wanted to be anything in particular, and just start working towards it. Most of my life choices have really been about just flowing to where the tide takes me. Also, I also can’t swim, lol. I’m not a lazy person, and there’s been plenty of hard work and grit along the way. But I had to fumble my way into position first.

I realise that run ends at some point, and it looks like it already has; but I haven’t properly dealt with that reality.

The #NairaLife Of A Biologist Who Ditched Lab Life For Marketing

Fu'ad Lawal — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 07:06:42 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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.

My favourite first question is –

Hmmm..First memory of money?

Haha. Exactly.

It was in secondary school. My allowance for the week was ₦250 per day or something. So I got maybe ₦1k a week. I spent it on meat pie.

I was not one of those “I am saving my money.” Tuck shop!

Haha! Do you remember the first thing ever that you had to do for money?

My transcribing job in uni. It was such a sweet gig. Some lady doing her PhD abroad was interviewing a lot of people, and she needed the oral interviews transcribed.

What year was this?

In 2015 or so. She was paying me in a foreign currency, and the thing is I didn’t know what I was doing. I was 18.

Wait, how did you find the job?

In my hostel, everyone looked at me like somebody that takes any opportunity she sees. I’m smart, I’m quite the talker, and I find it easy to communicate with people. Someone told someone, who then said I could do the job.

Hostel clout.

Sweet stuff. I wasn’t even getting the money directly. The person was sending it to the babe I knew, then that one was paying me. I’m not sure how much they were sending me, but I knew I was getting scammed.

I was in like 100L going to 200L at the time. I remember that there was a break, and I was doing most of it at home.

What did you study?

Biology. if you’re reading this, please don’t do it. If you put me in a lab now, we’re all going to burn, hahaha. I can’t mix shit. I don’t even remember the thing they were teaching us. Heck, I didn’t even collect my certificate.

Hmmm. So, you channeled all your energy to collecting your transcription money eh?

Yesss. I think the whole money I made was up to ₦600k. I was getting payments after every few transcriptions. I’m not sure how much it was per transcription because of the varying length.

Hmm.

I spoilt myself with the money. I even changed my wardrobe haha. That period was the wildest.

I’m listening.

My mum knew I was getting money somewhere else, so she stopped sending me money. Omo, she just relaxed and was like, “Peace.”

Things switched up when I ran into someone during a class – we had a mutual friend – she was ranting about all the pages that she needed to manage on social media.

My friend told me she was going to ask the social media manager to offer me the gig.

I was like, so I can be posting, and they’ll be giving me money just to post things?

Did you get the gig?

It never clicked. In fact, I don’t think we talked about it past that day, but a seed was sown in my heart. I went back to my hostel and started researching. I couldn’t stop or sleep, and I just started courses.

Do you remember the first course you did?

Shaw Academy’s Digital Marketing course. I can’t remember now if it was free or I got a scholarship, but it was from an ad.

I knew I had to practise everything I was learning, but nobody was going to give me a job. My sister ran an event planning business, so I just collected her accounts and practiced.

But I wanted to work at a place where someone could validate what I was doing, so I started applying for digital marketing jobs. Any small thing: “I’m an avid something-something,” until I finally landed an interview. And what did they say when I showed up? “Your CV is impressive.” Hahaha. Those people are still owing me ₦20k till day.

Is there anybody that is not being owed ₦20k for work like this?

And that was actually my first salary o. I went thrice a week, and my transport fare was 19,800 by the time I calculated it.

Only 200 in real earnings?

Basically. When I got that job and my friends would ask me, “Are you going to class today?” I’ll say “No, no. I’m going to the office.”

My friend was the one who was taking attendance for me.

You were clearly uninterested in school.

Yep. My school didn’t give me the course I wanted to study. And now that I think of it, I’m not sure I’m even cut for the one I wanted to study.

This new chapter of my life was very exciting for me, and I poured all my energy into it. It was interesting, having strategy meetings, hahaha.

Tell me.

My boss would just come in with egg rolls and drinks for everybody. Then he’d gather all of us into his office like, “Everybody gather round, what are we doing in this session?” And me sef, I’ll sit down and be forming strategist.

What did the business do?

Sell soup. I was doing photoshoots for soups and posting online, hacking angles and shit. I loved it because everything I was learning, I got to apply. After three months, I quit sha. The guy ran me street because I didn’t know you were supposed to collect salary before you quit.

Why did you quit?

My boyfriend. He was like, “Baby girl you don’t need to do this, you’re stressing yourself.” The job was in fact stressful.

When I actually quit, I was already looking for other jobs close to me and that’s when I got the job that I feel like made the difference. It was a Digital Agency, my real bootcamp. I interned with them for 6 months. I didn’t feel like an intern to be honest; they didn’t even regard me as an intern.

I feel like I learn fast because to be honest, I was not bad at my job. I got a ton of accolades, and most importantly, exposure to managing big Nigerian brand accounts. My salary was ₦20k, but because of how close it was to where I lived, transport in a month cost about ₦4k.

By the time I finished my internship, I was in my third year and was supposed to find a placement for my industrial attachment from school. Then I landed a social media manager role. I was doing social media calendars, SEO and chopping insult on top of ₦20k.

By Year 4, I got a job with another agency that paid ₦70k. Omooooo.

Mad o.

That was when I really felt like Omooo. I started working with them around the time when I was working on my final year project – this was 2018. I was working during the day and sleeping in the lab. When I finished my project, and I left the agency too – I was there for three months.

Why did you leave?

My mum’s house was closer to the outskirts of Lagos, and I just couldn’t continue like that. Leaving home early, getting home late. I needed to move out, but all I had saved up was ₦200k, and it wasn’t enough.

The second reason I left was because I got a remote job. The owner of the business is Nigerian, but they registered their business abroad. Now, I use that in a lot of interviews like, “I’ve also worked with a US agency as their social media strategist.” The pay was ₦50k.

What came next?

I applied for another job and got it. This one was on the island, and now I had a solid reason to move out. They were paying ₦140k.

What year was this?

I think 2018. I moved to a hostel of sorts that cost like ₦250k a year. Also, I left the company after three months.

Why?

The office was horrible – we were always sweating. I don’t like suffering. I also think the people that owned it didn’t care about the company. It felt like they stumbled on an idea and then, “Omg, we got so popular, we can’t stop doing it now.”

I joined at the time when they were still trying to figure out if they were a hobby or a company. This was early 2019, and I was 22.

For my next job, I saw a tweet for a digital marketing role at a startup. I applied and got the job at ₦250k a month. In six months, it was increased to ₦392k or so. Because the startup was building for users, it exposed me to real life things that matter. Growing numbers, making things that customers want. It also gave me a career capital.

In between, I had side projects that contributed to my income.

2020?

Because of the pandemic, I took a pay cut, so my last salary was about ₦320k or so. But I was not really relying on that because I had this client in Hong Kong that was paying me about ₦700k monthly.

For?

I wasn’t earning the whole ₦700k. Part of it was paying staff salaries because I had a small team. I feel like there are so many small gigs I didn’t mention, but I’ve almost always been working on small gigs. I even registered a company at some point in 2018, which I ditched when I joined the startup in 2019.

Interesting.

We used to work on my client projects and handled social media for companies. There was the graphics designer, social media manager, etc. So let’s say I get paid ₦250k; I supervise, run ads and then we split the money.

This is how I ran the Hong Kong gig. They were a company trying to break into the Nigerian market. When they asked me early this year whether I wanted to get paid in naira or dollars, I said naira.

Ouch.

I just became smart o. Anyway, I did that for about four or five months, but it just made me more stable for the year. I have a flatmate, and our rent is ₦1 million. We split 50-50.

Anyway, I quit the startup in the middle of the year, and the next jump happened.

Are we there yet?

Yes. I went from earning ₦320k monthly to earning $4k monthly. I wanted to run mad. We had been doing the whole interview –

Let’s start from how you found the job.

I had a lot of offers from Nigerian companies, but my eyes were set on the international market. One company offered 650k, but I no do. With the startup I worked at, I needed something that felt like a jump.

When did you want to start collecting dollars?

I was okay earning my naira jeje, until I heard what my flatmate was earning. I was like “SIS! Put me through!” She’s still my oga, but I don’t think I’m doing badly. The first company that interviewed me abroad said they couldn’t hire me because I’m Nigerian. Basically, they didn’t want to go through relocation trouble.

I was just applying sporadically to things. Sometimes, I’ll just google “Successful companies in X industry,” then check the career pages of all the companies listed. Working remotely helped me have time for this.

I just organised my portfolio around the work I did at the startup in detail. In fact, I made it into Google Slides.

There was this company that I was very sure I was going to get the job, but they ghosted me. Then I found one other company scattered across a few cities in the world. I can’t even remember how I found them, probably on one of those sites for remote job opportunities. I looked at the job description, and I was like, I can do all these things na!

They gave me a test, and I literally sat down for hours working on that test. The scope of the test they gave me? I’d never done it before. So, I just did what I’d been doing –

Google.

Yes! I put everything together in a document. I know I did a good job. The next day, we had a call. Once I knew I would get it, I texted my flatmate: “I’m in!” But I knew she was going to come running and screaming, so I followed it with “Still on the call.” I can’t even remember anything they said after they confirmed me.

When people talk about how 2020 has taken a lot from them, I just stay silent because this year has brought a lot for me. My job win made me forget all my past difficulties. After I got the job, I blew all my savings for rent. The first thing I did was book a massage.

Haha. How much did you have in your savings?

About ₦500k. My rent was ₦500k. I can’t even remember what I spent it on. I was just having ideas and ordering food. There’s the dress I bought, the tattoo, and even a gym subscription. Then I had an annoying gynaecologist miscellaneous that cost ₦200k.

That’s how I’m spending my money now. I’m ridiculous.

How do you get your money?

I had complications with getting my money in the first month, but I ended up using my bank. Everyone around me was sad for me because the exchange rate was definitely not the best deal. But when I looked at my account balance and saw plenty of zeroes, I didn’t even hear what they were saying.

First of all, I got paid more money for only seven days of working in a month than my previous salary. Then they sent money for me to buy a new Macbook.

I think I got a little over ₦1.3 million. Right now, I haven’t really set up any saving structure. I’m just vibing. The salary after that first one is still in dollars.

So, this is the part where we break down your expenses.

So, the thing is that I’ll be moving in 2021. I don’t feel very settled right now. In fact, there are purchases I want to make — like a monitor — but why should I buy one when I’m moving soon? I’ve just been spending on vibes.

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought since you collected your first salary on the new job?

I randomly bought solid speakers for my situationship. But that’s not the most; it’s a lot of tiny things. Like for example, I gifted random people 15k each.

See ehn, I think everyone should do two things:

Have an emergency fund
Then prioritize enjoyment.

Some days, I’ll be lying on the bed and I’ll just open my app and be smiling.

Between 2015 and now, how have all of this has shaped your perspective of money or opportunity.

My current mindset is that there’s nothing that I want that I can’t get. All my career moves have been wild. My mobility has always been: “I want better, and I take steps to get that better.”

As for money, just go and look for ways to earn more money. It’s a priority to earn more. There’s only so much you can do from saving and investing.

What’s something you want that you cannot afford?

To be honest, nothing o. Except to japa. Even the Japa sef, it’s not something I was seriously planning until my company relocation came up.

If I wasn’t going to leave Nigeria, my answer would have been moving to another apartment and a car. I’m so comfortable now with the things that I have, and I’m just living in the moment.

What is something you wished you could be better at financially?

All these investment stuff. But to be honest, I feel like if I wanted to, I’d do it. The options are there, but right now, I don’t think I’m not ready for it. I might have a spending problem, but I think it’s because I’m a nice person. My friend’s birthday can come up and I’ll be like, here.

Do you have any financial regrets?

If I regret something, somebody should actually slap me because all the money I’ve made in my career, in a few months, I’ll make everything again. Abeggi, I no regret anything.

What’s something you bought recently that significantly improved the quality of your life? That just made you feel comfortable.

My chair, my Macbook. My gym sub too because I like how I feel when I work out.

Last question, on a scale of 1-10, financial happiness?

I done tear the scale mehn. I’m happy!

The Secure #NairaLife Of An Engineer In Oil And Gas

Fu'ad Lawal — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 07:30:49 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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.

This is #NairaLife, episode 96.

What’s your oldest memory of money?

I’d say not having a lot of it. My dad had money, but it did not seem that way. I felt we were poor. I remember back in secondary school, I had to wear worn-out shoes and bags, my uniforms were not anything to speak about, and while my friends were going on trips out of the country, that was not the reality for me.

We had this policy in my house where you didn’t get an allowance until SS 1. So until SS 1, I couldn’t buy anything during break period.

In JSS 1, I had this friend in JSS 2 who always seemed to have a lot of money. At break time, he’d buy me a barbecue, which was a big deal then. After a few months, we found out that he was actually stealing the money. His parents beat him for it.

I’d say that was my first memory of “if you want to have friends or be cool or be popular, you need to have money”.

What was it like growing up generally?

The first time we travelled out of the country, my dad said, “This is the amount that you will have for the trip.” I took the money — I didn’t spend it on food or rides or any of those things that people spend money on to have fun when they travel — I spent it on clothes and shoes and a bag because I wanted to look nice at school.

My understanding of money was utilitarian: “There isn’t a lot of this thing, so when you get it, put it to good use.”

My first university allowance was ₦30k, and I went to one of these private universities where you only had to spend on food. I knew how to save towards my goals, and I liked to look good. I learnt to take that money, spend a little of it on food and essentials, then save towards the things that would make me happy: nice shirts.

So as early as my first year in university, I used to buy one shirt for like ₦5,500.

Ah, the TMs and H&Cs.

Exactly! That’s all I had money for. I never went to parties, bought phones or anything.

I bought my first smartphone in 2014, almost one year after I’d graduated. HTC. I loved that phone.

��Գٱ��–

I’ll add that before I left uni, things got significantly harder for us as a family. My dad disappeared. My allowance went from ₦40k a month to ₦5k when my mum could afford it.

Thankfully, my girlfriend at the time was an amazing person, the original glucose guardian, until she cheated and left me.

I –

About my dad, I can’t properly explain it because I don’t understand it myself. He was well-off, worked in an oil company. I think I noticed that things started to get bad just after he retired.

He was always complaining about money, even though I literally never asked for anything. One day he packed his things and left.

He came to school and told my brother and me that he would no longer be paying our fees or supporting us.

“Aired dfkm.”

Bruh.

My mum saw me through the rest of uni.

What did she do for a living?

She was a civil servant, so she was earning peanuts. But she’s an amazing person who’d done a lot of good in her life, so she called in a lot of favours.

In my final year, God blessed her with a well-paying job, and our story changed.

After uni, I was adamant about serving in Lagos, so I begged her help make sure I served in Lagos. My reason: I had to get a job and start working sharp, sharp so I could marry my wonderful girlfriend. My mum helped me get a job.

How did she get you your job?

She was walking down the street where she worked and saw this company She didn’t even know what they did. She just started talking with one of the people who she assumed was working there and told him about me. Anyway, he ended up asking for my CV. Turns out we went to the same uni, and that’s how I got in the door.

The pay was ₦35k. Working there throughout NYSC, ₦35k + ₦19,800, wasn’t bad at all at the time.

Anyway, I was able to save up enough to buy my first car. This was including all the money I’d saved up from uni.

Wollop. You bought a car?

The car plus shipping was like ₦700k. The good old days. The dollar was ₦150.

Fun fact, I still have the car, and it’s worth more now than when I bought it. Time to throw Nigeria away.

Hahaha. Okay. So after NYSC?

Immediately after NYSC, I got a job at an oil company. The starting pay was ₦350k/month. For the first time, I had more money than I knew how to spend. Anyway, I earned this for about 10 months before I moved jobs, another oil company, this time the pay was ₦500k.

I got a few promotions, and by the time I was leaving the company in 2019, I was earning roughly ₦1 million a month, excluding bonuses. I left to a bigger oil company and currently earn about ₦4 million/month.

You can’t be calling money like this and be rushing. Oya, break it down for me.

Hahaha.

In 2020, I landed a side hustle that generates up to 600k a month for me.

Wait, how does one add a side hustle in the middle of a pandemic that generates this much?

Well, it’s very capital intensive. I lend money to people who then lend money to folks that take high-interest short term loans. So if they’re lending out that money at 10% interest per month, they borrow from me at 4% per month.

Hmm. Is there like an app for this?

Well, none that I know of. I know someone who has a company that does this. He came to me about a year after he’d started looking for funding. It was high-risk, but it’s also high reward.

Interesting. So how does he find people in need of loans?

They find him. A lot of people live above their means, so he only loans money to salary earners who are in steady employment. Think of someone who’s been working at a bank for over 5 years.

This is fascinating.

Yup. Nigerians are amazing.

Back to the bag. What type of oil and gas worker do I have to be for my income to grow like this?

It has to be exploration, development and production; The guys who actually produce oil and gas, not servicing companies. That one na scam. Also, you’d have to get a job at one of the international oil companies. Some smaller indigenous ones pay well too sha.

Engineers and geologists typically earn the most, but everyone gets paid quite well. I’m a petroleum engineer, and I do production and completions engineering.

You’ve come a long way, man. How has this shaped you?

My overarching view of money is that it’s a means to an end. And that end for me is making certain that life is soft for my wife and children in the future. I experienced not being able to pay school fees growing up, and that’s something I never want my family to go through.

I save/invest about 90% of my income. I think I live very modestly, but this may or may not be true. I think I’ve also gotten used to being able to afford anything I need. Recently, someone pointed out that I don’t know how much the individual items I purchase at supermarkets or restaurants cost because I never check price tags. The things I check price tags for are extremely expensive.

I think something that also influences my savings culture is that I don’t ever want to not have money. I’m certain that I wouldn’t be able to deal with it.

How do you decide what to save and what to invest?

Nigeria has made it easy right now. First thing I do is convert all the money I want to invest in dollars. In the beginning, I had a financial plan that I called “The Road To $1 Million”. I’d subscribed to a blog by a Nigerian entrepreneur, and he shared financial tips on investing.

This plan was basically geared towards leveraging the power of compound interest. So I set up a spreadsheet and determined what portion of my salary I needed to invest (and at what rate) to meet this goal.

I started off with fixed deposits. Again, these were the good days so it was 12.5% I think.

Anyway, I shifted to mutual funds, then got some great opportunities to buy land in Lekki from some folks who were relocating.

These days, I’m not looking to invest in anything Nigerian except actual Nigerians. I buy forex and split between Eurobonds, crypto and stock via a private equity fund that’s managed by folks who know this a lot more than I do.

Interesting.

Nothing is in naira except monthly expenses, an emergency fund that’s in a liquid mutual fund and my side hustle.

I used to be a dollar sceptic and touted all that talk about the naira being undervalued blah blah. Well, the best piece of investment advice I got this year was from my fund manager. The dollar had just risen to ₦390, and I wasn’t sure whether to buy.

His words: “I can’t tell you if the dollar will be higher or lower next week or in a month, but if you’re in this for the long run – 5 years and above – then whatever price you buy dollars at now is a bargain.” 23% since then.

You have a fund manager?

Haha, I just realised that that sounded super bougie. I use two private equity funds and the folks who do all the portfolio management are the fund managers. Because it’s private equity, I interact with them directly. So there’s a personal touch.

If you’re rich enough, even the very popular financial institutions offer private wealth management services.

What’s your portfolio looking like these days? Combined.

Total value? I’d need to crunch some numbers, but back of the envelope, maybe $250k.

This is a #NairaLife record.

Haha. Plus, I still stay with my mom. That’s sure to be an interesting fact. I’ve never had an apartment of my own.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE NEXT PART. WHAT ARE YOUR MONTHLY EXPENSES LIKE?

Barely 100k a month. I spend almost nothing fuelling my car because I’m currently working from home. Before, it used to be ₦30k. Utilities take about ₦50k. Then I give a percentage of my income to my local church. Food and stuff take another ₦50k.

This amount only rises due to miscellaneous girlfriend expenses, and to be honest, I see that as an investment. I need to chook this in and mention that my girlfriend is amazing. She’s also super independent so I basically have to beg her to accept any of this stuff. And I typically get a gift back in return. So I don’t even know if it counts as an expense.

How much are you going to have earned by the 30th of this month?

This month is a bonus month, so it’s not very representative, but the amount is about ₦20 million.

Please break this down for me. From where to where?

It’s the way employment contracts are set up. You have an amount that you earn annually but you’ll get paid bulk of that at certain times.

That means a better way to measure your income is per annum.

Yeah. Best way really. So it’s around ₦42 million. It’s difficult to say exactly until the year ends.

I find it interesting that you said “rich enough” earlier. You realise you’re rich, right?

Rich enough for me means ensuring that life is soft for my wife and kids forever. I think about school fees, a house, vacations and those other miscellaneous items and I know this isn’t rich. It’s the middle class without the responsibilities.

I’ve never given this much detail about my finances to anyone ever.

I appreciate this a lot.

Random, but one of the things that have been super helpful along the way is that I pay zero black tax. We share bills for electricity and utilities, but I have zero obligation to any family member to send them money. No one needs it. I’m very insulated from the extended family because they all abandoned us when things went bad.

Looking at where you are in your career, how much do you feel like you should be earning?

Hmmm, that’s tough to answer. Up until last year, I was very convinced that I was being significantly underpaid. When I changed jobs, I believe the pay became representative of my experience level.

Everyone knows that the problem with earning in naira is that the value of your earnings are constantly being eroded. I’d say right now I should be earning about $130k per annum.

A segue, what’s something you want but can’t afford?

A big house in a particular beach estate that costs about 250-300 million.. To be honest, I’m a very content person. I only want a house because I’ve come to identify a family house as security. When stuff wasn’t going great, that was the one thing we had.

A bit further afield may be a really nice house abroad. Maybe you can give me a few ideas because the only things that have come to mind are luxury cars, planes and property. Is there anything else that’s very expensive that people spend money on?

Omo, I don’t know o. What’s the last thing you paid for that required serious planning?

…

Nothing I can think of. The most expensive thing I paid for recently was a MacBook. I just decided to get it. The only reason I may not be able to afford stuff immediately is that I’ve invested the money I’d have used to buy it. But my salary more than covers any wants or needs. Okay, maybe the car I bought in 2014.

When was the last time you felt really broke?

Really broke? fourth year in the university. Things were still very tough, I hadn’t had money in what felt like weeks. I remember my older brother showing up and pressing ₦5k into my hand, I cried. He was just as broke as me, probably broker, but there he was giving me what was almost certainly all the money he had.

What’s your biggest financial regret?

Not investing in dollars earlier.

Do you ever think back to one moment that might have changed everything and given you a completely different life?

Yup. I think if my dad had stuck around things would have turned out significantly worse. He was a terrible role model and just generally bad vibes.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?

I’d say 8. Money itself doesn’t make me happy. Being able to do stuff for the people I love with that money does. Right now, that’s well within my reach.

Do you ever think about retirement?

Nope. I’m too young. My career is super young. I’m not even 30! Although I’m planning towards it financially. The retirement age in my head is 45 sha. But if I’m a general manager, there’s no way I’m retiring.

How old are you?

28.

The #NairaLife Of A Rookie Journalist Cracking The Gig Life

Fu'ad Lawal — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 07:41:03 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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 the first thing you ever did for money?

I was writing my guy’s notes in secondary school. I didn’t even have complete notes for myself.

Haha. What were your going rates?

About ₦250 for the day’s notes, which was about six or so hours of classes.

Why did you do it?

I wanted more money to spend during break time. I was getting ₦50 from my father to spend at school, and I wanted La Casera, which was ₦100.

What could ₦50 get you?

Fruits mostly, sometimes biscuits and water. Anyway, I didn’t do any hustle again until after uni.

What came after Uni?

I got an internship position at a branding firm in Lagos in 2018. I’d just turned 20 and submitted my final year project in school, so I came back home to Lagos to hustle before NYSC. It was nothing fancy or stressful, just long hours and ₦30k at the end of the month.

Tell me about your most stressful day.

We were working on a project for a telco, and I had to work till like 7.30 p.m. Coordinating with painters, carpenters and all kinds of skilled workers. I still had to make the three-hour commute back home – I spent six hours commuting daily. Some days, it was longer.

Woah. Where?

I live with my parents on the outskirts of Lagos – my mum built a house there.

After a while, I quit the branding firm. I was working in the projects management department, but I wanted to write.

I spent the next two months waiting for NYSC.

Did anything happen in those two months?

Nothing o, just my mum trying to convince me to join the police. It was a nonstarter for me!

Wait, why the police? Was she in the police force before?

Her father was a policeman. She felt that with my BSc and young age, I’d be able to get favourable placement. I just ignored her and was passive-aggressive when it came up.

So, NYSC finally came.

I got a Lagos posting. Because I wanted to write, I wrote to a number of media houses to employ me. No bite. I eventually saw a job posting that said “media house.” I left camp for the interview and got the job. The man said he’ll pay me ₦20k monthly. And so began the hardest year of my life.

I’m listening.

It was generally just harder than normal. I was still commuting from Mowe, but I was working every day. Even on Saturdays and Sundays – it was a news aggregation site, and I was on the celebrity gossip beat.

I was miserable.

Man, I’m so sorry.

The ₦20k wasn’t cutting it at all, but my parents were angels. My dad almost always went out with me in the morning. So the morning costs were sorted. But then, I spent ₦600 in the evenings.

What were your daily deliverables?

I was writing 14 articles every day. About 200-300 words each. At a point, I was so good that I’d deliver 14 articles before 4 p.m., then my boss would be on my neck to deliver more.

Ah, I know this grind.

Hahaha. I’m sure you do. My formula was that I’d try to get into the office before 9 a.m., so that by nine, I’d be in the headspace fort writing. I was in charge of compiling our newsletter that went out by 12 p.m.. My goal was to get eight stories by then. Then I’d stagger the pace and write about six or seven for the next six hours.

Interesting. How long were you at that job?

One year – I spent my whole NYSC there. I wanted to leave, but I was stuck because of housing. I knew an even farther office was impractical. By the end of 2019, I finished NYSC.

So, that means throughout your service year, you earned from two streams eh?

Yes. Everything led up to ₦39,800 monthly. I tried to save ₦20k monthly, and my parents are the reason it was possible. By the end of NYSC, I’d saved ₦180k.

Impressive. What came after NYSC?

Another job, and I was determined for it not to be gossip. I applied to another company. I thought I’d get at least 80k, but to Jesus be my glory, I was offered ₦45k.

Is it just me or is this hilarious?

It’s funny now o, but back then I wan mad. I took it sha, but I knew I wasn’t going to last. It meant that I had to start squatting with family members, but I’m never truly comfortable around extended family, so it just hastened my decision to quit. I was there for six months – I quit when the pandemic hit.

Ah.

When it hit, I knew I wanted to be with my family for a bit. I didn’t expect it to be this long.

For how long were you not earning?

I was always earning haha. I was already freelancing – that’s what gave me the liver to quit sef. My first gig was like 150% of the 45k salary. I also discovered that music PR people always needed someone to write release literature for them.

Interesting. How much were you netting as a freelancer?

I was making ₦140k on two stories monthly and about ₦20-30k from writing copy for PR. Sometimes more. I considered a full-time gig but I’m a bit of a wallflower, so I didn’t have the connections or see any openings in the places I wanted to work at.

Breakdown the ₦140k per two stories. For the culture.

Haha! I was contributing to publications: I always target doing two or more stories monthly. Publications typically pay around $200 for stories. Or more. So the first month I left my work, I did three stories. One was $200, another was $250. There’s only been one month since April 2020 where I haven’t done at least two stories.

Walk me through how you secured your first forex gig.

2019 felt monumental to me for Nigerian journalists and content creators internationally. I saw Nigerian topics being covered contextually by Nigerians in international publications. That inspired me. I said to myself, a foreign byline won’t be bad. One day at the office, I got three British editors’ emails and pitched them an interview. I had just done it to see how it went. By the next Monday, I got emails expressing interest from two editors. That’s when I knew I had to pay some attention to this.

Love to see it. What’s your average income per month now?

Let me first add that I signed a retainer with a PR firm that pays me ₦80k per month. I took it because I was bored when I wasn’t working on stories. A conservative month will see me earn ₦190k/month. In my best month, I made about ₦300k, without factoring in this ₦80k – it was mostly a backlog of invoices coming through. My best invoice ever was for three stories billed together, and it had $750 on it.

How does the money go from your Abroad editor to your wallet?

It’s fairly easy. I submit an invoice with a whole bunch of details that I can pull up if you need specificity. It’s usually a 30-day wait, so in a way, it’s like monthly income. I once had to chase an invoice for like 60 days sha. But basically, it just comes into my bank account like a transfer or any fund will.

How has the general experience shaped your perspective on money?

I used to be so guarded about money because I worked hard and it was literally dripping like a bad tap. But this year, I’ve worked smarter, and it’s been a good year. Ultimately, I feel like money comes and goes jare.

What do you think about all of this in the context of other journalists like you?

I know a couple of people, but I don’t really talk about finance with them, though they hint that it’s not really encouraging. One guy I know worked as a writer with one of those first digital publishers. He was earning less than 85k and working seven days a week. He’s quit now though.

Now, let’s talk about your monthly expenses.

I have no serious black tax from the nuclear family, except that lockdown period sha. Also, I ensure that I have above 20k in my account at all times, just in case. I keep whatever is left inside Piggyvest.

What’s in your Piggyvest these days?

Close to a million. It’s all for my apartment set up sha. A quaint mini-flat somewhere on the mainland. Just one couch, a big ass TV and gaming system.

How much do you imagine your ideal set up will cost?

Uhm, realistically, ₦2 million, but I’ll never blow that on my apartment because japa bells are ringing at the back of my mind too.

Tell me about the japa part.

I was supposed to exit this year – I gained admission and my mum was going to take a loan to pay for the first semester. It was a very wuru-wuru plan sha, but I was gingered to go because nothing was happening for me here.

Then COVID happened.

Masters eh? Are you still as gingered now that you’ve hacked income here?

I’m still gingered o, #EndSARS even solidified my resolve to go.

I feel you. Back to income, how much do you feel like you should be earning at this point?

Make I no lie, 400k monthly. I’m presently netting between ₦140k and ₦220k monthly, which is decent. But between all my hustles, there’s still loads of free days that aren’t filled and could be put to productive use. If I hack how to make them productive, I’ll be on to something.

How many days a week will you say you’re productive?

Less than 50 hours. See, I’m young (and capable of putting in more hours), but this number is me being generous with the hours. I’m almost always in the constant process of ideation, and I consider that work. Core work hours are probably less than 25 hours a week.

Do you ever wonder why you have more productive hours working less, but still earning more?

Capitalism, chief. I know that being plugged into the global economy of content while residing in Nigeria is the simple reason for the change. I keep opening myself up to speak with as many people as I can. It’s a little gesture in the grand scheme of things, but I believe in multiplicity.

If I show A my pitch that got accepted somewhere or help B finetune an essay, they know what’s up and can help person c and d and so on.

Neat. And thoughtful.

Thank you.

When was the last time you felt really broke?

2019 December. Broke meant that by Christmas, I hadn’t been paid and didn’t have any money at all.

Ouch. Must have sucked.

I can’t even put it in words.

Do you have an emergency plan for weird stuff like health emergencies?

At all o. It’s vibes and in shaa Allah. I keep praying because I know myself. I don’t ever want to do GoFundMe.

Why?

It’s not pride;I just have never been one to put my problems on another person’s neck. So if it came down to GoFundMe or literal death, I truly don’t know.

Do you have any financial regrets?

Not starting to freelance as a university undergraduate. I would have had more reach, influence and financial safety by now.

What’s a purchase you made recently that improved the quality of your life?

A phone. It cost ₦95k and elevated me from worrying about my phone getting hot or not charging fast enough.

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

5.5. If I could afford the tuition for a sports management course in a European university, it instantly goes to 8.5. The remaining 1.5 is the residual discontent that gingers my hustle.

Sports management? Interesting.

I’d love to be a football coach someday.

Tell me more.

Growing up, I was football-mad. Of course, playing didn’t work in Nigeria because you must be a doctor or go to school. So I started throwing myself into tactics, football principles and all that. But to progress how I want to, I need to go to Europe to study. That’s the home of the best football.

How much do you think it’d cost?

Roughly ₦10 million.

Is there anything you think I should have asked you but didn’t?

No, we pretty much touched everything. Thank you! Talking about these things is therapeutic lowkey.

The #NairaLife Of A Moin-Moin Specialist Looking For Catering Gigs

Fu'ad Lawal — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 07:46:43 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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.

Do you remember how much your first job paid you?

Ah yes. My first job was at the Federal Palace Hotel in 1988. This job came after I finished catering school. My salary was ₦125; I also got an allowance that took my money up to ₦165. Back then, taking a taxi to work cost about ₦10.

Ah, interesting.

Yes. I started as a waitress working at the restaurant. Then, we used to entertain all these company executives and government officials. In those days, whenever there was an event at the banquet hall, I was usually picked to attend to them.

Do you remember how much you earned when you were leaving?

I can’t. I had all the documents, but everything was lost when my father’s house got burned in 1996. I think it was around ₦1,000 when I left in 1993. My older brother took me to a newly opened Ecobank branch to sell food to the staff.

Hmm. How much did you sell food at the time?

I can’t remember the actual amount, but I remember that the staff I was catering to used to buy my fried rice and plantain. I left there in 1995 — I had to go and give birth to my second child. Then my third child came some years later.

You already gave birth to a first child?

Yes, I did. I had my first child in 1991. In fact, I was working at the Federal Palace restaurant throughout my pregnancy. It was an easy pregnancy, so I could work. But when my second child was born, I was always sick, so I was at home a lot. After the birth, I started selling moin-moin and akara.

Do you remember how much your moin-moin was when you started?

Yes! It was ₦10 for plain moin-moin. Then later, I started putting eggs. Half an egg made the moin-moin ₦30. Moin-moin with a full egg was ₦50.

I have sold moin-moin since then. In fact, in the area where I used to live, they used to call me moin-moin special.

Moin-moin special!

I’ve been doing it for about twenty-four years now. Although, now I sell rice at my stand too. I’ve also been doing catering work for events. Remember, I’m a professional caterer.

Well done ma! What’s the most memorable job you’ve done since you started catering?

The Sports Festival in 2012. I was one of the people selected to cater to athletes and officials during the festival. My job was to cater to 100 people, thrice a day.

The festival lasted for 13 days. That’s up to 3900 meals.

The thing is I was even preparing food for more than the required every day.

The government paid ₦2.3 million before we started and paid another ₦2 million at the end of the tournament. A lot of that money went into buying things like freezers and equipment for cooking.

I imagine that you had some money after you’d settled all your bills.

Yes. I put it into a fixed deposit and spent from it till it got to ₦200k. There’s always something to spend on. That period, my last child was entering secondary school, so I bought him all the things he needed for school.

Another business I’ve done is cater to schools.

Tell me more about that

One of my friends was having a conversation with someone, and the person mentioned that they needed a caterer at their school. My friend introduced me to that person, and that’s how I began. I’d package the food and get people working for me to distribute it. At the height of it, I was selling food to four schools.

But I had to pause.

Why?

We moved to where we now live in 2018, which is very far from where the schools are. So when we moved here, I applied to another school here and started from there.

I’d like to understand how you think about the money you earn.

When you’re running a small business, the only thing you’re thinking of is your daily contribution. When I first moved to the area where I now live, I started ajo at ₦500 per day. But they can also run away with your money.

Ah.

Yes. One woman ran away with my ₦10k a few years ago. Another person has run away with my money too.

Do you trust them?

The thing is, you can’t do without them. They always come to you. Even when I did it with one bank, they sent someone every day. They said that instead of Alajo, they’ll help us keep the money, and we’ll collect it at the ATM.

There was one man that used to come here. He’d collect my money, and I won’t see alert. I found out later that they sacked him because he was stealing people’s money.

Wow. About your business. Since you’re thinking daily about earnings, how do you plan market runs?

Before, I used to buy in bulk, but now, the price of everything is high. A bag of rice is too expensive. Over the years, I’ve watched a bag of foreign rice go from ₦6,500 to ₦30k. The gains we used to make have reduced.

But in the end, we cook every day so we can get the money to pay for what we bought first, and ajo next. My current ajo is ₦7,500 per week. Currently, all the money I have deposited is ₦82k.

How do you manage to support your family and pay bills?

You know this life is not balanced. Sometimes, you’ll make the money. Sometimes, you won’t. One time, I had to pay school fees for my last born, and then I couldn’t afford to pay rent after. It was my other two children that are now working that helped me pay for it.

Do you have a sense of what your monthly budget is?

I can’t even say right now because you’ll be thinking of A and B will come up. For instance, I gathered some money to use for something, then a tap in the house went bad. Then the fan. Before I knew it, I’d already spent ₦6k. That wasn’t in my budget. The money from my ajo that I wanted to use to buy something I needed, I couldn’t.

Do you understand?

Yes, I do.

I also have to worry about paying my staff. I used to have four people working for me, but when business wasn’t moving, I reduced it to two. One collects ₦1k per day while the other collects ₦500 per day.

What’s a good day like money wise for your business?

It’s not been much, especially this year. In fact, when we were in lockdown, we had to live on our ajo contributions.

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

Moving affected me, and COVID-19 too. I need a better place to stay, like a shop (instead of selling from this small shed). If I can rent a shop, I’ll be able to buy freezers and stock up.

Talking about retirement, when do you think you’ll be able to retire or reduce the stress?

In this business, it’s your staff that will determine how much rest you get. Unless I get a food place that’s not small where people can now know you, it’s hard to retire. When you have a bigger place, you’ll get more customers so more staff. You’ll also be able to pay them well. One of my staff wants to leave in December.

Another thing that will help is if I start getting parties to cater for regularly.

Do you have any plans for emergencies? What do you do when you get sick?

No, I don’t have any plans. Last year, I was treating malaria, but I think it was stress. My children have told me to stop coming here, that they’ll give me money. But I tell them no, I’m not an old woman yet. The only thing is, I wish I had a shop where I can sit down comfortably.

Do you have any financial regrets?

One time, I wanted to buy a piece of land for about ₦80k, then one of my friends told me, “Ah, have you told your husband about it?” I told my husband, and he discouraged me, so I spent the money. I immediately regretted it.

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

I can’t even score it. I’m not happy about my business. This is not how I expected it. I’m just doing it because I have to. My day starts at about six in the morning and ends around eleven at night sometimes.

You know, there are some things that give you joy at the time you’re expecting it, but the joy is not here at all. I’m not really getting what I expected. There’s so much I want to pay for that I can’t. Yesterday’s own is not cleared, today’s is still here too.

The thing that will make everything better is when I can start catering again. A shop would reduce my stress. I’ll score it when I feel like my business is better.

The #NairaLife Of A Waiter At A Bougie-Ish Restaurant

Fu'ad Lawal — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 06:45:22 +0000

Every week, ��è��Ƶ 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 is the first thing you ever did for money?

Haha. Farming. The first thing I did was farming.

Do you remember the first money you made from farming?

I farmed about three plots of land and harvested two bags of rice and sold it for no more than ₦4,000. This was around 2008, and I was 21. I sold it in the market.

Oh okay, so this was after your secondary school?

No. I finished secondary school in 2014. I started in 2008.

When did you finish primary school?

2006.

Oh okay. Uhm, when did you start primary school?

I started in 2000.

What do you remember from before 2000?

I was helping my parents on the farm after school. We used to grow rice, yam, cassava, groundnut and maize. I told them that I want to go to primary school. I can’t remember, but the school fee was 1,000-something naira. After that was secondary school, which I finished in 2014. But I didn’t write WAEC till 2015.

What did you want to study when you wrote WAEC?

Petrochemical Engineering. Due to finances, I couldn’t even bother with admission. I still want to go back to school.

Ginger! What next did you do for money after that?

Before I started working again, I went to a computer institute for six months. I learned MS Word and all of that.

Did you use it when you finished?

No. I’ve forgotten some of the things I learned. Sha, after my six months course, I travelled to Oyo State. I went to work for a local government chairman. I was an attendant in his supermarket and did housework too.

How much did it pay?

I can’t remember, but the money wasn’t much. I think it was ₦15,000. This was 2015. I worked there for a year and half.

How did you find the job?

A job agent. When people need workers, they go to these agents. The agents get contracts from all these big people that give work. When they need a worker, they reach out to the agents, and then we apply for the job from the agents.

Oh, so that’s how you found the job from Benue.

Yes. I know the agent personally; we’re from the same place.

What type of job does the agent find? Do you know another person that uses this agent?

A lot of jobs, and a lot of people. There’s supermarket work, housework, dry cleaning, and even gardener work.

Oh okay, after you spent one and the half years at that supermarket, where did you go next?

I came to Lagos to look for work.

What was the first thing you did in Lagos?

I came through a friend I met when I was in the village – he was already in Lagos. I called him to ask him to let me know if there was any work in Lagos. He told me there was no work, but if I wanted one, I had to come and look for it myself.

I wrote my CVand started applying. I got my first job at a hotel.

Niceee. 2016?

Yes. It was paying like ₦30k.

What was it like, being your first job in Lagos?

I was amazed that there was a place where people gathered for the joy of doing all sorts of things. But it was my first experience sha.

How long were you there for?

One year. I travelled home in December 2017 because my dad was sick. I stayed at home for two weeks, and before I came back, they replaced me.

Eish. So what did you do when you came back?

I started submitting my CV again. I got a job as a waiter. That one also paid ₦30k. After one year, they promoted me to cashier, and I started collecting ₦40k. I worked there till the end of 2019. They were cutting down staff, so they told me to leave.

I was unemployed for three months and just looking for a new one throughout. I’m not sure how many jobs I applied to, but I remember that I printed my CV 10 times. Nobody responded.

How did you survive during that period?

My savings. I had two hundred and something in my savings. I spent about ₦70,000 from my savings. It was my friend that helped me find the job I finally got. It was a job as a waiter in a restaurant. The salary was ₦30k. I didn’t want to accept it at first, but they said they’ll give me accommodation, so I accepted it.

When I started, there was no accommodation, even till today. They also said that beyond my salary, I’d get a commission on service charges; nothing.

Ah.

Not too long after I started, we went into lockdown.

COVID.

Yes. When the pandemic started, we were hoping that the lockdown would be for just two or three weeks. But no, it continued. Everyone was at home, everything became expensive. In my area, pure water that was three for ₦20 has become one for ₦10. The rice that I used to buy for ₦1,200-₦1,300 became ₦2,400.

No money coming in during the lockdown; anything from your company?

Yes. They sent me ₦10k.

So, you resumed work after the lockdown ended?

Yes. They also increased my salary to ₦35k.

What’s it like working at a restaurant?

The best thing about it is that you meet so many people. For me, it’s the superstars. I meet them face to face and have the privilege to chat with some of them and make them comfortable.

Who’s the first superstar you attended to?

Davido. That day, he came with a small group, ordered light food and Hennessy. Then AY. Don Jazzy, Wande Coal.

Who’s your least favourite type of person to attend to?

Some people order things they don’t know. Even after explaining why they shouldn’t, they’ll go ahead and order it. Once their food is ready, they’ll say, “What’s this rubbish?” Then they’ll not take it.

So who pays for it?

Sometimes, it’s the company. They change the order with the hopes that the customer will come back again.

What’s your average order at your restaurant?

I don’t know, but the minimum order is mostly ₦10k. There are some restaurants with a minimum spend. That is, if your order is not up to ₦10k in some places, we might gently tell you to order more than ₦10k. I know one restaurant that has ₦20k minimum order tables.

What’s the biggest bill you’ve ever seen?

₦800��+

Ah, how did the kitchen react?

In most restaurants, the kitchen doesn’t know how much people are spending. It’s only the waiter that knows because they’re the ones attending.

But when a waiter sees it, you’ll just tell yourself, “Hmm, I wish I had that kind of money to spend.” You’ll see someone spend all the money you have in thirty minutes. But also, the salary is not why I work at the restaurant. The salary is small.

Why?

It’s the tips. Last month, my salary was ₦35k. But if you add tips, sometimes it’ll be up to ₦50k. The highest I’ve made in a month is ₦120k. In September, I made ₦90k, including my salary.

Interesting that tips are how you actually make a living. How many people do you serve in a day?

I can do like 5 tables in one hour, and I work for 9 hours, 6 days a week. I have one day off.

Busy week. Let’s break down how you spend monthly. How much do you save?

I try to save up to ₦50k per month. It’s from those savings that I pay my house rent – ₦150k per year. Then I try to send money home from the rest. It’s not fixed sha.

Do you ever think about your life and wonder what small decisions you could have made that’d make things different?

I should have left the village since. My parents don’t like their children being far from them. When I had to travel for my first job in Oyo, I left by force. I told them I could not live with them again.

If I know, I for don commot house since.

Hmm, okay. What’s something you want now but you can’t afford?

My education. I had a revelation — I get them about five times every month. And it’s always about education.

Tell me what you see.

One day I was fasting, and I just lay down on the rug. I think I fell into a trance, because I was awake. I saw myself in a very big school, I don’t even know the school. As I walked in, I heard a voice tell me to go left.

On the left, I saw a staircase. As I tried to climb the staircase, something was blocking me. I don’t know what it was, but I struggled till I made it.

I met one woman past the stairs, and I told her I came to get admission forms. She gave me one.

The second time, I found myself sitting in a class, listening to a lecture.

That’s powerful. That’s what your mind wants.

Actually, I want it.

I understand that education is generally important, but why is it so important to you?

The Bible says the gift and the calling of God are irrevocable. But when you have a calling from God, and you know you have it, you have to press towards it for a better understanding.

For me, education is how I can begin to fulfil my calling.

Hmm, I feel you.

You know, when I was a child in the village, people used to bring things to me to help them fix. I’m not sure how, but I helped them fix a lot of things. That’s when I started developing some interest in engineering. But that had to wait.

Do you ever think of where you will be in five years?

In five years, I don’t want to be in Nigeria again. My choice is Canada.

Do you know the process of going to Canada?

No, I don’t know the process. See, if I have a good job in Nigeria, I can stay.

What is a good job to you?

A job that pays well.

How much is well for you?

Hmm.

Say it with your full chest.

₦300k a month.

What’s something you bought recently that made you feel good?

Recently? I’m not sure. One day I wanted to buy a new phone, one fine Samsung. I looked at my account and said, how will I use this money to buy only a phone?

How much was the phone?

The phone is ₦135k. I would have been happy if I bought that phone, but I just can’t drop the money.

I feel you. On a scale of 1-10, how will you rate your financial happiness?

1. I appreciate my current job, but I want a better one that pays me more. To tell the truth, I really appreciate this conversation.

I appreciate you too, man. One more thing, have you ever considered going back to farming?

Hahaha, not for now.

Ah, why?

It’s not only that the stress is too much, but produce for the work is low.