Money is important in all spheres of life, even more so as a student in a Nigerian university, where everything is designed to suck your finances away; from small proportions of food to buying handouts or having a dating life. Having extra cash as a student can be a lifesaver, especially when it comes in consistently, alongside your allowances.
Here are 10 ways to make money legitimately as a student in Nigeria:
1) Become a makeup artist:
Some people need training while other are naturals when it comes to makeup artistry. Figure out which one you are and get started. Word of mouth is the best way to get customers as a makeup artist, and a great face beat, of course. You can partner up with photographers; making up for their shoots.
2) Sell clothes:
Shirts, jeans, skirts, bedsheets, any clothing item really. This is a great way to get quick cash. Go to a market, buy clothes in bulk, sell them off for really low prices but ensure you get your money immediately because you really don’t want to be going around school looking for your debtors.
3) Freelance writing:
This should work if you love writing and can balance meeting deadlines with school work. Try not to take on too many writing projects so you don’t get overwhelmed; losing a grip on school and work at the same time. Sign up to platforms like Upwork, Fiverr; offer to ghostwrite for someone for a fee or just become a contributor for blogs. There are many Nigerian companies willing to hire a student writer, if you pitch yourself well.
4) Take up photography:
We all love to freeze some memories in time and what’s the best way to make money than being the go-to person for such services? Get a camera, start small–it doesn’t have to be a DSLR– and offer your skill for seeing the details that everyone misses. Matriculation and convocation periods are the best times to make money. Oh, and birthdays too, some people LOVE to celebrate every birthday with a studio session, even if there’s no cake; take advantage of that.
5) Do tutorials:
So you’re an efiwe (bookworm) who remembers the methods of numberline from JSS classes and advanced chemistry courses? Well, there’s an opportunity there; become a teacher at a Jamb/Waec tutorial centre or spread the information by word-of-mouth that you are available to guide another student in your university through a difficult course. You’ll be learning and earning as you teach others–best of both worlds
6) Sew clothes (fashion design):
Got mad tailoring skills? You should utilize your hobby and make cool cash out of it. Again, word-of-mouth advertisement and evidence of your great skill is your best bet for getting clients that are willing to pay.
7) Help other students with projects:
We all know those students that would rather cut off their arm than lift a finger to do their projects. Offer to help them out for a fee and they’ll run towards you in gratitude and more jobs than you can handle.
8) Graphic design/Website development:
This will require technical skills that you might have to pay someone to get or take the cheaper and better route of learning –YouTube. Because, odds are, that person teaching you is also checking YouTube for some tutorials. Offer to design or build someone’s website once you’ve garnered enough knowledge about the whole thing. Charge a small fee and go from there.
9) Online registrations:
Admission period is one of the best times for this. You can help new students navigate the student portal; apply for admission, apply for hostel, check their results and more, for a fee.
10) Ushering:
Ushering at seminars, workshops, concerts, parties and more for a few hours (or days) gives you access to money, food and a social life without encroaching on your school life and schedule. The flexible hours of ushering makes it easy to balance your work life with school activities
What’s your best thing to do in university to make money? Drop your comment if it didn’t make this list, we’d like to know what it is.
