“On These Corporate Streets: Vox Pop Edition” seeks to hear the voices of young career professionals who share their individual experiences on subjects many can relate to. In today’s edition, four young Nigerian workers tell us how they handle earning less than N100,000 income monthly.
Making and handling money is one of the challenges of being young and skilled in Nigeria. The struggle seems endless: sourcing for jobs, negotiating payment, making monthly budget on how to spend your income, getting side hustles, and seeking for a higher pay. It gets even more difficult for a country like Nigeria where the value of money seem to diminish by the day.
But young professionals and business owners are thriving in spite. Among these people are those whose basic salary is a N100,000 or less, and it makes the conversation even more interesting. How are they doing it?
In this article, Ridwan, Emmanuel, Lola, and Efe* shared with me, how they cope and navigate life on less than a N100,000 income.
Ridwan/Teacher/N70,000
I get something little from occasional home lessons, but it’s not constant. My 70k salary is the only sure monthly figure. That being said, it’s not easy but I’m managing. And I think one of the reasons I can still cope is because I don’t live in you people’s Lagos, plus I don’t really spend on T.fare and I live with a relative. Am I comfortable? Hell no! Teaching is not even want to continue, and staying with a family member who covers 80% of expenses isn’t honorable for me. But I’m not in that place where I have to spend so much more than I earn. I think it will be harder for people who earn something similar and are living very demanding lives. I wish them the best though.
Emmanuel/Admin Manager/N90,000
My job description is not from here, but it’s “admin manager” they wrote on my offer letter. I manage a co-workspace and I’m basically the receptionist, janitor, assistant to the boss, supervisor to over staff members, marketing manager, public & client relations manager, and whatever they bring to my table tomorrow. All of these for ninety thousand isn’t cool, to be honest, but what can I do? I live with my sister and her family, so rent is out of it. The office has quarters for staff so I sometimes stay there during the week, but it’s so inconvenient because you can’t even cook. Earning this amount and surviving these nine months of employment has just been God’s grace. And it’s not just the money, it’s also the feeling of unsatisfaction that comes with it. I’ve been out of school for a couple of years now and imagine this is what I’m still making. I’m lucky I don’t pay rent though, but rent is only one of the many things that suck your income in this country. To your question; how do I cope? I don’t know. But planning and micro-spending has been helping me. I know how much to spend and I try not to go beyond that.
Lola/Telesales agent/ N100,000
I did not use to have savings. That’s the first thing I think you should know. I tried to, but I ended up borrowing money to survive, hoping to repay with the little savings I had. So, what’s the point? I knew I couldn’t continue that way and had to do something about it. I applied for other jobs and none was forthcoming. I started sourcing for side hustles rather than spending all my energy in searching for another job. What I spend on the most are data and food, among other things, so the plan was to have those side hustles take care of that part. It wasn’t all rosy though cause my side hustles sometimes felt like main jobs on their own. At a time, I stopped then picked them again.
Now, it’s better. I have a new job —still a telesales agent— but with better pay, and I have more time for my business. The key is just to have multiple streams of income, because even if you’re earning high with just one job, it would still be like you are earning very little.
Efe*/ Travel agent/ N80,000
Here’s how my job works; you get a basic of 80k, and if you are able to bring in paying clients and great sales, you get a bonus. Every day, we hear of people leaving the country in numbers but I don’t understand why it’s been hard for me to hook a high-paying client. I really don’t know how much I spend on feeding, transportation, and other basics, but I can’t afford the extra good things I want. I don’t want to have to only spend on basic necessities, I also want to indulge in a few luxuries. Last month, I started learning how to write SOPs, Cover letters, and application essays that clients would need. That way, I could become more valuable and get more clients. The idea of copywriting just flashed recently too, and I’m taking courses on it. I was never the type that liked writing, but if it will grow my income, why not.
Bottom Line
One of the strategies to coping with a low pay might be to cut down on expenses, but that may be quite difficult as needs arises each day. A better measure would be to skill up and position yourself for a high paying job or get side hustles that would augment your monthly earnings.
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