"When my mum insisted I join her in hairmaking business after I finished my senior secondary education, I was not happy because I wanted to do something else, like go for computer training classes or work as a sales girl to make my own money," said Opeyemi Adeoye.
Adeoye said her mum forced her to report at her salon daily after her morning chores at home.
She said: "I started by helping her to finish the braids as she makes it halfway and later I started making children's hair and perfected it, and later I started braiding as well."
After gaining admission into a university in Ekiti State to study accountancy, Adeoye said she felt very happy and relieved that she had to abandon the salon work to face her life, unfortunately, life had its own plans, "I could no longer live on what I get from my parents as it was barely enough and things got harder and I had to think of a way to survive."
She said: "I got motivated when I saw one of the students in the hostel selling second-hand clothes and making some little extra cash. So I started advertising that I could make hair.
I got my breakthrough when I braided the hair of one of the students in my corner, and the hair attracted many people. That's how I started what I didn't want to do."
While noting that it was helpful as she got N3000 to N5,000 every week, which helped to her foot the bills of her little needs in addition to what she gets from home, Opeyemi said so many students now no longer stayed ideal but engaged in different trades to augment what they get from home.
She maintained that learning a skill or having a talent is something many take for granted but that she has seen students who do not get anything from home and rely on what they earn to pay their way through school.
However, Opeyemi is not the only student in this category as the current economic hardship in the country has made it difficult for many Nigerian homes to live a comfortable life and more difficult to meet the demands of their wards.
In recent times, the prices of goods and services have gone so high that many can no longer meet up with their daily needs.
Daily Trust gathered that aside from transportation fares which have doubled, students also complain of increase in charges across campuses.
A student of NSUK, Stephen Catherine, said surviving in school hasn't been easy lately, especially with what is happening in the country.
"The country isn't making it conducive for us to concentrate on studies. Some of us are actually more focused on business than academics," she said.
"What we used to buy for N1,000 is now N3,000 and lack of money is affecting our parents and how they send help to us. So we are affected directly; we need to buy books, pay for one thing or the other and feed."
According to her, typing and printing a page is now N300 and even higher outside the varsity campus and printing also increased from N10 to N50 per page.
She said to cushion the effect of the prevailing hardship while studying, she had to engage in entrepreneurship.
"I make liquid soap for shops and sell in wholesale and retail and use the little profit to argument what my parents give me yet I can tell you, it's still not easy. The government can do better, especially for youths; it's no longer funny," she said.
An engineering student in a federal polytechnic in Nekede, Chibunna Egbu, said after his parents paid his fees, how he survives in school is solely dependent on his hustle.
"I join my friends who are into real estate and agent work, I teach people driving, I also do installation of cable TV like DSTV and any menial jobs that can fetch me some money," he said.
He said it is not easy to survive in school if you are not from a wealthy family.
"We that know how our homes are, we have to hustle. Whenever I ask my parents for money, if they can't give it me, my mum will be crying. I hate that scenario and I have to help myself out but it is not easy because at times, you may stay long without getting any offer because you are a student and some people will not trust you with work," he said.
He said many students now no longer wait for their parents to send money or food to them because of the economic hardship, so they engage in different activities to make ends meet.
"I know many girls who make hair, trade and render different services and also many boys who are involved in Yahoo Yahoo to meet their needs, in fact those ones even send money home to their parents," he said.
Another student of University of Abuja, Sophia Michael, said the hardship is causing many students serious distraction from their studies because many are now striving to survive and some have to even look out for their parents, who can no longer make ends meet.
"I make snacks and also braid hair on campuses and outside campus. If you will pay for my transportation I can come to anywhere but I do it on the days that I don't have lectures or when I finish on time," she said.
Sophia said from the little profit she made, she saved money to take care of her studies and most times asked her parents not to send her money so they could take care of her younger siblings.
"The hardship and also lack of employment after graduation have been pushing many students into relegating studies to the background just to search for a quick solution to survive the hardship," she added.
According to her, she has no plan to collect any loan from government but will continue to strive until she graduates, saying, "I have just two years to graduate but I pray things get better, like prices of goods and services to come down."
Another student, Ferdinand, said he works as an assistant in a cyber cafe and as a research assistant to anyone doing research to help him earn a living.
"Sometimes it affects my studies, especially when I have a timeline to meet and I think of what the payment can do for me. So I will miss class and complete the work," he said.
He said the hardship is biting hard and for them, from a humble background, they do not have the luxury of just studying and waiting for their parents to provide for them.
"Also, considering that we do not have opportunities like students abroad, where jobs and time to work are provided for them; we make our decisions because we got to survive," he said.
While noting that he is aware of the student loan scheme, he said the N20,000 that is said to be disbursed to students won't be enough to stop students from looking for a side hustle. He said, after all, many who have already graduated are still not employed and as a result, many have resorted to being content creators.
Meanwhile, the federal government is working towards introducing a work-and-learn scheme across campuses.
The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arch. Sonny Echono, who disclosed this recently, said the "learn to work" scheme in Nigerian campuses will be done in collaboration with industry partners to provide outsourcing employment opportunities for Nigerian students while studying in schools.
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The scheme, which will link qualified students with industries globally, could guarantee their employment as soon as they graduate from tertiary institutions.
Echono, who described the scheme as "A big programme coming to students in campuses while addressing the leadership of NANS also stated, "This programme will ensure that while you are doing your own academic programmes in various subject areas, you would be given an opportunity to be trained in various areas of ICT, technology, and also be attached to global companies so that you can get outsourcing work while you are in school and you will earn significant income."
He said: "So for the students who are going to key into this programme, which will be launched very soon on a national scale. We are supporting all the institutions to be able to create the conditions where these students are learning.
"Learn to work will provide opportunities for Nigerian students to be able, even in the course of their work, to earn a living and be guaranteed employment immediately they finish their school," he stated.
Also, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has stated that a skill programme will be implemented across board to ensure that Nigerian graduates become self-reliant after graduating from different level of education.
Prof Mamman, at the inauguration of the National Council on Skills (NCS) committee on coordination of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as state programmes on Skills to tackle critical issues in the skills development sector, noted the importance of integrating skills into the entire education sector for Nigeria's true transformation.
"The whole idea is to bring skills into the entire education sector if Nigeria is to be truly transformative," he said.
