Students Leaning to Side Hustle for Survival

Securing professional jobs seem to an illusive dreams, side hustle has taken the central stage for most students. It is alternative route to quench economic hardship and keep up with financial responsibilities. Parents are finding it difficult to stomach all the financial needs of their children. It is an economic trend specifically among university students, who have to raise money for textbooks, feeding and house rent and all miscellaneous which adds to daily living. The market structure doesn’t necessarily require physical stores for them to work from, they can easily reach out to prospective customers through their WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, X, or Tiktok, creating customer relationship for business.

The future of professional job is at stake, students are fast embracing their side hustle, this is the reality of the situation in most public universities in Nigeria. The case might be lower in private universities, as those who attend private universities can be said to be financially okay. The side hustle is dominated with selling of clothes, shoes, handbags, cakes, event planner and phones accessories just to mention a few, students survive on the sales they make from these products and add it up from the ones already given to them by their parents. They invest so much time in it, travel out of town to receive their products, as they slowly abandon their career, side hustle has proven to be quicker means of taking care of financial responsibilities for students.

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Students are swapping the main hustle for side hustle, the two hustles create interconnectivity, without the other one will not work. Students need side hustle to sustain main hustle, while waiting for main hustle to come with its big expectations, side hustle provides sustenance. The economic situation has created survival mode for most young people in Nigeria, it is no longer about what you like, it is about how you keep up with your financial obligation. Which is a dangerous direction, economic realities are pushing young people to the limit, they want to be able to find a way to stay in touch with their main hustle while they keep growing their side hustle.

As high level of unemployment soar, to secure office work for ordinary Nigerians, become very difficult, if you don’t know the person that is giving the job or ready to take what he offers in exchange for the job, you can rule yourself out. Majority of the graduates have abandoned the idea of looking for employment opportunities, they rather rely on their side hustle and expand it. The cost of running it, is quite lower, you don’t need to pay rent for the business, as prospective clients are found on social media.