Kike* (27) is no stranger to the loan system. She’s been at it since she took her first ₦50k loan in 2019. It’s 2024, and she just unlocked a whole new risk level — taking out almost ₦80m in student loans to pursue an MBA. How’s that going?
As told to Boluwatife
I took my first loan in 2019. I was fresh out of university, earning ₦67k at my graduate trainee job, and shouldn’t have had money problems, especially since I had minimal financial responsibilities. Still, I somehow found myself on the loan path. Loan debt and I have been together ever since.
A little backstory: I didn’t exactly grow up with money. My dad wasn’t in the picture often, and my mum supported the family with her petty trading business. My mum’s a private person. Even though things weren’t great, my mum hardly talked about our financial limitations or sought help from people. She just did what she could, which was mostly enough to get us by.
I got by in university, even though I only received a ₦15k monthly allowance. I also got by during NYSC. In addition to the government’s ₦19,800 stipend, I received an extra ₦20k salary from the school I taught at for my PPA. Things were going pretty well until I landed that graduate trainee job at a Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company in 2019.
I’m not sure why my employer even tagged it “graduate trainee” because we were more like distributor managers. In addition to selling products to distributors and meeting sales targets, I also had to manage distributors and field executives, coordinate the van drivers, and ensure they had all the tools to work.
Most of the time, I spent out of pocket to repair one van here and one keke napep there. I even sometimes gave these drivers transport money just so there wouldn’t be distribution delays which would affect my targets. My salary wasn’t enough to cover those extra expenses, and that’s when I turned to loans. The first one was a ₦50k loan to float me until my salary came at the end of the month.
Looking back, I could’ve asked my family for help, but I was ashamed. I was a first-class graduate hustling in the market to sell FMCG products, and felt like a let-down. Also, my siblings most likely wouldn’t have given me a loan. My mum taught us not to ask for money and to stay contented with what we had. So, it would’ve been a whole thing trying to explain why I needed money.
The “Don’t ask” mentality extended to my friendships and relationships; I just had to sort out my needs myself, even if it meant taking loans.
In 2020, I left the FMCG for a bank job, and my salary bumped up to ₦75k for the three-month training school period. After training school, my salary increased to ₦300k. It was the first time I ever earned enough to save money.
The pandemic also hit during that period, and I worked from home for a couple of months. Since I didn’t have to spend on transportation, I could afford to keep money aside and even dabbled in stocks here and there.
But then the lockdown lifted, and after navigating Lagos Island traffic for several months, I realised I needed to get an apartment closer to my workplace. So, I took another ₦300k loan to meet the ₦950k rent I needed for a bed space in an apartment in Lekki.
To be honest, I shouldn’t have needed that loan. It’s just that my lifestyle sort of changed with the higher salary. I went from managing to prioritising my comfort, taking cab rides, and just generally having a good time. I still had to spend money on feeding, utility bills, and basic living expenses. So, though I was getting a decent chunk of money, I often returned to broke levels.
In 2021, I decided to learn software development. I thought it would be a good opportunity to earn extra money while working remotely. I needed a laptop for that, so I took another loan and got a Mackbook for ₦730k. I learned HTML and CSS for a bit, but I never got to finish my classes as I was almost always busy with work.
A few months after getting the laptop, I took another loan for eye surgery. That one cost ₦2m. By then, loans had become really accessible to me. I worked in a bank, so it was very easy to get them. I tried to only take loans for major projects, though. It was just a way to get quick financing.
Of course, the downside was that I couldn’t really stop taking the loans. With the monthly repayments and the interest rates, I rarely got my entire salary at the end of the month.
I started dreaming about japa in 2023. Actually, the dream came about a year before that. I wanted to explore my career potential and increase my earning power, so I decided to get an MBA in the UK. I didn’t have the money, but somehow, I knew the money would come. I just needed to get admission, secure a visa and leave Nigeria, and the rest would fall into place.
I got admission in 2023 and needed to pay a £2500 deposit. At the time, a pound was about ₦795, but everyone kept predicting the exchange rate would go down, so I delayed payment by about six months. When I eventually paid, the exchange rate had increased to ₦1k+. I ultimately paid almost ₦3m, which was like the entirety of my savings.
Next were visas and flight fees. I took a ₦2.5m loan from my bank in July and got about ₦2m in financial support from my family and friends — I haven’t repaid the bank loan. In total, I spent almost ₦7m on japa and related expenses and moved to the UK in September 2024.
At this point, you’re probably wondering how I’m funding school fees. Well, I took a student loan. I found a private company that offered the loan while watching YouTube videos about japa. This was just around the time I secured admission. I only needed to provide proof of admission, and I got the £36k loan (almost ₦80m).
This is how it works: The company pays the balance of my school fees, which is about £24k+. Then, they’ll give me a £10k living allowance for my one-year study — the company will pay this throughout my study in stipends. They’ll also keep £1,400 for administrative charges.
My MBA program will end in September 2025, and I’m supposed to have gotten a job by January 2026 so I can start repaying at least £400/month. The repayment should span 11 years. I’ll be repaying about £70k (with interest) and should be free by 2037. The amount and repayment time will increase if I miss any payment.
Honestly, I know it’s a big gamble, but I’m willing to bet on myself. I’m not worried about the loan because I’m not in the UK to play. Aside from the stipends from the loan company, I don’t have any income right now, but I intend to find part-time jobs and internships as soon as I can. It would be even better if I could get these opportunities at top companies because they offer students as much as £20k/year.
I’m trying to avoid the temptation to apply for care jobs or other menial jobs here in the UK. They’ll pay well, but I need jobs in my field of study to increase my career prospects after I get my degree or even meet people who could form a vital part of my network.
After all this, the goal is to become a consultant for financial institutions. I hear they earn up to £100k/year. I’m keeping my options open, though. Who knows if I’ll find better career opportunities?
I’m trying to remain as positive as possible, considering the circumstances. I’m neck-deep in debt right now and it’s easy to worry, but I won’t do that. I just need to focus on achieving my goals. Maybe then I’ll finally be comfortable enough not to even think about taking a loan.
*Name has been changed for the sake of anonymity.
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