Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
When did you first realise the importance of money?
I was returning from school with my aunt one day — I was in Primary 4 — and we passed a store that sold toys. I saw a toy that I liked and refused to leave until my aunt got it for me. I kept shouting, “I want it. I want it,” while my aunt insisted she had no money.
At some point, the seller told my aunt the price, and my aunt said, “Don’t mind him. I don’t have money.” That was the first time I realised people used money to buy things.
What was the financial situation at home like?
It wasn’t bad. My dad was a printer, and my mum was a government school teacher. I never lacked basic things, but it was also clear we had no money to spend on unnecessary “wants”. My dad was very strict in that regard.
For example, I wanted a PlayStation because all my friends had one. But my dad said, “Pick one. It’s either I pay your school fees or get you the game.”
I liked school, so I picked education.
Fair enough. When was the first time you made money?
I spent my primary school holidays with my much older cousins, and they would pay me to do their errands for them — ₦20 or ₦25 every time I washed the dishes.
One time, I returned home after the holidays with ₦700, which I’d made from errands.
Another experience I remember wasn’t money I made for myself. When I was in JSS 1, my church was raising funds towards a university building project, and they gave members a card to help raise money.
It was like a promise card; we got people to pledge donations and make sure they redeemed them. I did that for about two months and made over ₦1k. When I took the money to the vicar, he was so shocked I’d made that much money.
The next time I did something to earn money was in university.
Tell me about that
One day, during my final year in 2015, I went to my friend’s room and noticed he was charging people ₦5k to do the statistical analysis for their projects. I thought it was interesting and decided to do the same.
Another friend had SPSS — the software we used for analysis — on his laptop, so I asked him to walk me through it. After I learned it, I started charging people. I got five clients and charged them ₦3500 each. I also received money from my parents to pay for my statistical analysis, but I ended up paying myself since I did it myself.
The gig was just a one-time thing. For most of my time in school, I relied on the ₦5k – ₦10k pocket money and foodstuffs I received from home, until I left university in December 2016.
What came next?
I studied medical laboratory science, and like other medical students, I had to do a compulsory one-year housemanship.
Securing a posting was quite difficult, and the Nigerian system played a significant role. People seeking housemanships had to write exams at different medical facilities, and there was no public scoring system; so there was no way to know if you passed or failed. The facility would just release the names of people they’d accepted. If your name was there, fine. If not, sorry for you.
I waited over a year and wrote five exams before I found a spot in a teaching hospital in 2018. My salary was ₦122k/month.
Typically, when people are employed in a government facility, their salaries are delayed for three months due to confirmation delays, and then the government pays all the arrears at once.
Mine was delayed for five months because I didn’t complete some registrations on time. When the accumulated arrears finally came, it was the largest amount of money my account had ever seen — ₦592k. I felt rich. For a moment, I even wished they had delayed the salary for a year, so I’d get a bigger windfall.
Screaming. Do you remember how you spent the money?
Oh yes. I visited Computer Village the next day and bought a Samsung phone for ₦82,500. Then I sent ₦100k to my dad, ₦50k to my mum and ₦30k to my brother. I also sent my aunt some money, but I can’t remember how much.
Then I went to a supermarket with a couple of friends and spent ₦25k on a few items. After that, I settled my hostel porters. Since I graduated from uni, I’d been living in the school hostel illegally and had promised to settle the porters once I got posted for housemanship. So, when I got paid, I gave them ₦30k to split among themselves.
At the end of my spending spree, I had about ₦150k left, which I put in a savings app. The app I used had just launched, and my friend was sceptical of me putting my money there, but I couldn’t just leave it lying around.
In addition to the ₦150k, I saved ₦50k from my salary there every month. By the end of housemanship in 2019, I’d saved ₦770k.
Did you have any plans for the savings?
I wanted to buy a laptop, but NYSC posted me to a state that didn’t have many opportunities available. I thought it’d be a waste to take a laptop there. I even transferred my savings to my mum to keep for me until I left the orientation camp because I was concerned my phone could get stolen.
My Place of Primary Assignment was a general hospital that paid me a ₦28k monthly stipend, and NYSC paid me ₦19800/month. I lived on the latter throughout my service year and saved the other ₦28k every month. By the time I finished service in 2020, my savings had grown to ₦906k.
Then the pandemic happened, and I had to stay home due to the lockdown. Thankfully, I was with my parents, so I didn’t spend any money. It was also the same time I started my crypto journey.
How did you get into crypto?
A friend posted online about how his “ETH” was now ₦89k. Curious, I asked him, “What is ETH?” and he said it was a cryptocurrency called Ethereum. He explained how it worked, and I also did my own research.
When I made up my mind to buy, one ETH was about ₦270k. So, I put in ₦180k and got 0.94 ETH. I also bought ₦55k worth of Bitcoin, which was a very negligible amount, and I later sold it to increase my Ethereum holdings to about 1.2.
I was making all these moves, but I didn’t know how wild crypto cycles — bull runs and bear runs — could be, or what they even meant. I just logged into my app one day and saw that the value of my Ethereum had dropped to ₦50k. I panicked o.
I mean, anyone would panic. What did you do?
I called my friend, and he encouraged me to wait it out. At some point, the whole thing crashed, but my friend reassured me that things would get better. So, I just forgot about crypto for a bit and went on with my life.
I didn’t forget it for long, though. After the lockdown, I secured a ₦120k/month job at a medical lab facility. Some months into the job, the same friend introduced me to BNB. One BNB was $90, so I invested ₦130k and got 1.3 BNB.
The crypto exchange we used for this purchase allows users to stake their cryptocurrency. It’s like investing; you lock your crypto and receive rewards through airdrops, as well as access to blockchain programs when new projects emerge. Once, I received a 43 USDT reward from a coin, which I used to buy more BNB and increase my portfolio to 2.3 BNB.
So things were going well
They were. I mostly left the tokens (with my Ethereum) to increase in value.
Back to my job; I worked there for a year before I left for another lab that paid me ₦156k/month. It wasn’t a significant income jump from ₦120k, but it was less stressful and had a shorter commute.
By then, I was squatting with a friend, who I ended up staying with for a year before getting my own apartment in 2022. Then, my rent was ₦350k/year. It’s now ₦700k.
Damn. A 100% increase
It’s even reasonable. Plus, my landlord doesn’t stress me and I get along well with my neighbours.
I still work with the same laboratory, but my salary has grown to ₦405k/month. I’m actually trying to change jobs and earn more, but it hasn’t materialised yet. I’ve also been trying my hardest to further my education abroad, but I keep facing roadblocks.
What kind of roadblocks?
Mostly funding. I applied for a Swedish Government Institute Scholarship twice, but I didn’t get it. I even got on the waitlist once — a backup of people that could get promoted to receive the scholarship if any of the awardees dropped out. Unfortunately, no one dropped out, and the tuition for the course I want to study is about $25k, which is quite expensive.
Besides tuition, Sweden expects you to have at least $1k/month for living expenses for the duration of your course. Most master’s programs have a 24-month duration, so I’ll need around $50k in total. I can’t do that without a sponsor.
I eventually sold off my crypto portfolio a few months ago. I’d been keeping it, hoping it’d go a long way into funding my tuition plans. But with the naira devaluation, that didn’t seem likely. Plus, the crypto market entered another bull run, and I didn’t want to risk losing my money.
How much did you make from the sale?
$6000 – approximately ₦9.9m. Very impressive profit compared to what I invested. I locked the full amount for a year in a savings app. The locking came with an interest of ₦1.9m, which I still saved.
I also save ₦200k from my salary every month. I estimate that all my savings would have grown to at least ₦14.5m by the end of 2026. With that, I plan to resume pursuing my graduate school dreams.
Planning to try Sweden again?
Not just Sweden. I also have countries like Poland, Belgium and Denmark on my mind. Belgium, especially since tuition is around 5,000 euros, which I’ll be able to afford. I also have a friend there who can stand as my sponsor, so I don’t have to worry about proof of funds.
I’ll still try the Sweden scholarship again this year, but this time, I’ll pick a different course. I noticed they didn’t award anyone in my chosen course a scholarship, so I’m not sure if there’s a course bias or if it was mostly Europeans (who don’t have to pay fees) who picked the course.
I’m also speaking to a South African professor who said she’d love to have me in her laboratory for my studies. However, the US recently cut major aid that affected her, and she might not be able to pay me an assistant stipend. I was considering it, but a friend who studied in South Africa told me it’d be difficult to get a formal job in the country as a student. So that route is dependent on whether the professor confirms she’ll pay me or not.
You seem pretty focused on leaving the country
On the one hand, yes, I would like to leave the country. I’m tired of Nigeria; the economy and security situation don’t give much hope.
On the other hand, I’m not satisfied with my career trajectory because I’m limited by my BSc qualification. I earn better than I did a few years ago, but my minimal career growth makes me really unhappy. Most of the roles I want straight up specify that the minimum requirement is a master’s degree, and I don’t want to do a master’s in Nigeria. Our research output is too poor. I once applied to a school in America, but I knew I wouldn’t get in because I didn’t have any research papers published anywhere, not even my undergraduate thesis. Yet I was competing with students from all around the world who had standard research work.
There’s one school in Nigeria I could consider attending, but I’d have to leave work for some time, and I don’t think I have the financial capacity to do that. So, right now, I feel stuck academically and professionally.
Out of curiosity, what do long-term plans look like for you, after postgraduate studies?
One reason I’m particular about studying abroad is that I want to be exposed to new technologies in genetics and genomics, as I want to pursue a career in precision medicine.
I decided on this path a few years ago when I realised there’s a space for it in Africa. For instance, many drugs produced by big Pharma companies and even their research tend to people of European ancestry. The African gene is more diverse than any other in the world, and my work in precision medicine can help people understand themselves better and tailor their lifestyle to prevent diseases.
In summary, my long-term plan is to run a genomic startup. We used to have one in Nigeria, but I think it shut down. After my master’s and PhD, I’ll likely attend a business school because I don’t know how startups operate. I may end up not setting up business in Nigeria. It could be another African country; I have a few in mind. I don’t know how I’ll do it yet, but I’ll figure it out.
Rooting for you. Let’s come back to money. Is there an ideal amount you think you should be earning now?
At least ₦800k/month. That way, I can save ₦500k and kickstart my study plans a little quicker.
You live on half your salary now. Does that get difficult?
Not really. I think it’s because of how I grew up. I didn’t grow up having extra money to spend, so it’s easy for me to survive on the basics. I understand the comfort that money brings, but I have no real desire to spend a lot of it.
The major reason I want more money is to save towards my academics. If not, I’m fine. The last time I bought clothes for myself was early this year. Maybe I’ll buy some more in December, and that’s it. I’m perfectly okay.
Interesting. Can you break down what your expenses look like in a typical month?
In the months when I don’t get money requests from my family, I channel the ₦50k to my savings for rent.
Besides your academics, is there anything you want right now but can’t afford?
My girlfriend and I have been dating for nearly two years, but I can’t take our relationship to the next stage yet. I believe I need to have a more stable source of income or even some career progress before getting married. So that’s something I can’t do yet.
How about the last thing you spent money on that made you happy?
My brother got married early this year, and I supported my parents with ₦700k. They weren’t expecting that amount, and I was happy I could do that for them.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?
6.5. I don’t think I’d be where I am now if I hadn’t invested in crypto, so that’s something to be grateful for. I’ll most likely return to crypto in the future. I’m not where I want to be yet, but the future is bright.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
Find all the past Naira Life stories here.
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