MoneyStory: This 300l Unilag student invests in his girlfriend

Are you being sponsored in school? If yes, how much is your monthly allowance?

Yes. I’m being sponsored by my mom. She sells fabric at Balogun Market. It looks like a big deal, but I’m not her only responsibility. I have three siblings after me and one before me. Shoutout to her because it’s not easy. My monthly allowance is ₦30,000. I know It’s small but that’s the best she can do, and I understand that. I do one or two things to support myself in school, so I’m thriving, I guess.

Can you shed more light on “one or two things”?

I organize paid tutorials for my coursemates. It’s nothing big, but I could get about ₦15,000 per session, depending on the number of students. During exam periods, I earn more, close to double that. Bills are plenty, and that includes my girlfriend. I also have to buy data. I have to hold body and soul together.

With your monthly allowance, your girlfriend must be an understanding one

Poor man deserves love too. When my monthly allowance comes in, I send ₦15,000 to my babe. I spend about ₦10,000 on foodstuffs. By foodstuffs, I basically mean garri and maybe spaghetti sometimes. I don’t cook; I share a gas cylinder with one of my friends. So we eat from one pot, share resources you know how boys roll. We can survive on anything. I stay on campus, so rent is not my problem, and I spend little or nothing on transportation. The remaining change is for little things like maintenance here and there.

₦15,000 is basically half of your allowance. Isn’t that too much to give your

girlfriend, considering other expenses?

Absolutely not! My babe is literally my life, and I can do anything for her. I still give her from the little money I get from tutorials. She needs to make her hair, do her nails, and eat too. I know the money I’m giving her is not enough. She complains sometimes, and I step up by taking on more tutorials, just so I can satisfy her needs. I love her very much, and that’s the only way I can show it. It’s her love language, so I have to step up. She’s very beautiful and I don’t want her to be snatched away.

Interesting! Have you ever experienced financial crises or debt? What happened?

Yes, I have. But I would do it all over again. Sometime last year, around February, I needed a lot of money to satisfy some needs on my babe’s wishlist. I already promised her. February 20 is her birthday, barely a week after Valentine’s Day. I also had to give her a gift for Valentine’s. It was a lot, but I knew I was going to come through no matter what. I already promised her, and I didn’t want to look incapable. January allowance could not cover it at all, so I borrowed money from three friends: ₦30,000 each from two who had businesses, and ₦40,000 from another friend. I lied that it was an emergency from home and promised to pay back in two months or less. The plan was to take on more tutorials, even at night, to repay. But as life would have it, things didn’t go as planned. When it was time to pay back, I could only settle one person, and not even completely. I gave him ₦20,000, leaving the rest. They kept disturbing me. I had sleepless nights for weeks. I almost got into trouble at the Students’ Affairs. I had to call my elder sister to bail me out bit by bit. It took me a while to bounce back. But I was serious when I said I would do anything to make my babe happy.

Have you ever felt ashamed or judged because of your financial situation?

I don’t like to talk about this but I’ll give very little details. A friend of mine, whose girlfriend is also a friend of my girlfriend, told me that my babe and her friends were having their random girls’ talk and I came up, they were laughing about the amount I usually spend on allowance. What hurt me most was that she didn’t defend me in the conversation. she even laughed with them. It took me a while to confront her. She denied it and said it wasn’t the case. I love her very much, so I just let it go. I really don’t like her friends; I’ve told her to stay away from them as I think they are a bad influence.

So are you looking to be in another relationship, or do you want to be single and probably manage your finances better?

I never said we broke up! Every relationship has its ups and downs. We have worked it out and moved on.

What is your biggest financial regret?

Late last year, I put about ₦60,000 into crypto blindly. One of my friends just cashed out big time. I thought it would work for me, so I went in blindly. Lost everything. It was painful because it took me about three months to come up with that amount. I wish I had studied more about the crypto market before going in. But it is what it is.

If you had ₦500,000 today, what would you do with it?

I want to start selling shawarma. I would first drop like ₦100,000 for my babe, set aside ₦100,000 to invest in crypto; after I am knowledgeable about the market, would use ₦200,000 for my shawarma business, then use ₦100,000 to hold body and soul together. I really want my finances to level up this year. I go soon graduate. I have to get something doing. I’m not sure what “Yoruba Education” will do for me.

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

Financial happiness! Lol. I don’t even have finances, not to talk of happiness. I’ll say 1/10.