When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world from late 2019 through 2020, many people were scared and it sucks. As much as we were all forced to maintain social distancing, it was such a scary thing to see big multi-million dollar companies around the world close up for months.
Fortunately, long before the COVID-19 pandemic, companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Amazon have long implemented remote working policies for many of their employees around the globe.

Amidst the pandemic and lockdown that lasted almost a year, the company services’ were still in progress. And this, amongst many others, is a benefit of having a remote workforce; most companies are by far incorporating the tele-workforce into their everyday work-life.
While staff might work a full-time job in office space, others do remote roles; some others work both on-site /full-time and remote, and this is called “hybrid.”
Comparison between On-site and Remote Jobs
After I left secondary school, I worked as a class assistant in a nursery/primary school; as much as the job was challenging, one thing was sure – the expectation for me was to work from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm from Mondays to Fridays (that was about 40-45 hours weekly).
Whenever I was at work, I did all the responsibilities given to me; once I left the school premises, I was free till the next working time. In addition, as a teacher, I was free to enjoy all the public holidays the school children observed – weekends were free for me as a teacher; additionally, vacation lasted for a month plus at every end of a session.
It was very different when I started working a full-time remote job as a content writer at a Tech company based in Canada. I was in Nigeria, expected to turn in at least three search engine optimized blogs of about 1200 words weekly, and do any other content needs the company had.
This hit differently, and it sucks. I could see how much working remote jobs differ from an on-site job.
Benefits of working remotely
I won’t say working from home doesn’t have its benefits:
- At least, you don’t get to show up every day to grumpy managers or gossipy colleagues.
- You don’t get sub-charged or have money deducted from your pay when coming late to work or other irrelevant things.
- One don’t have to wake up so early (say 4 am) to beat traffic or get to work early, (people living in Lagos Nigeria can relate!)
- You don’t have to get supervised by a superior at work; you are expected to perform your task and turn in your results.
- One is in charge of their time as a remote worker (except your time management skills are wack); all they need to do is set a time frame in line with your company’s targets or expectations from you.
- Once you have your PC and other IT gadgets you use, you’re free to travel at any time, once you deliver all your tasks.
The Downsides of Remote Jobs, especially in Nigeria
As much as Remote Jobs sound like a great idea, working remote jobs in Nigeria can be such a cumbersome task. For all people who work remotely in Nigeria, there’s a very high probability they work for foreign clients and not Nigerian companies.
These foreign clients do not understand all the nuances and crazy state of things in Nigeria. I mean, in the last couple of months as a remote worker, I’ve experienced this first-hand; if you’re a remote worker living in Nigeria, you can relate too.
So, here, in my opinion, are my top 11 reasons why working remotely in Nigeria sucks:
1. It could be very distracting and it sucks:
Because a whopping 70% of our online time is spent on the internet; being on the internet and ignoring social media could be very challenging. It takes a great deal of self-discipline to ensure you don’t fall into the temptation of check-in out social media instead of spending quality time on your job.
For mothers working from home with children, it has been reported that there’s a decrease in their productivity by 2%. Many cultural and societal barriers have been imposed on the woman that it’s solely her responsibility to cater to their little ones. It can be very distracting as a remote worker.

2. To set up a workspace can be financially draining:
They said that, for remote workers to succeed, they must wake up every morning, take their baths, dress up and sit up at a portion of their apartment designed as a “workspace”.
The workspace should ideally contain your PC, bright lights or light rims, bookshelf, work desk, comfortable office chair, writing notes, pens, an internet router, bookshelf (in some cases).
If you were working in an office, this setup is entirely the company’s responsibility. Meanwhile, as a remote worker who wants to be productive, it becomes your responsibility.
3. lack of electricity will fall your hands (or you’ll spend a fortune generating electricity for yourself):
For me, this is the hardest part about working remotely in Nigeria. Is there a possibility one become a competent remote worker without a steady power supply?
Moreover, this has become a tale told in the past. The Nigerian government is scarcely worried about its epileptic power supply. The low power supply sucks. Hence Nigerians have resorted to helping themselves by buying power-generating sets; then fueling them every day. It is not like petrol is readily available and affordable to all, but I mean, what can be done?
4. Be ready to spend handsomely on data supply(very annoying and sucks):
Trust me, you do not know how floppy the internet in Nigeria is till you’re working in a distributed team with workers from all over the world. You would have discovered that every one of our local network providers in this country is whack. I mean, why would I be the only one they don’t get to hear whenever we’re on zoom calls?
Why are my colleagues from India, Kenya, Cameroon, and other places heard clearly, but I’m not? Yet, I spend a minimum of twenty thousand nairas every month and get heartbroken every time I speak up in meetings. This is very disheartening!
5. If you’re self-disciplined and self-motivated, remote jobs are not for you:
As I mentioned earlier, there’s no superior at work giving you orders. Nobody is telling you what to do or what not to do. You’re your boss! All your bosses are looking for is results, not the process that they gave the results.
And if you’re not self-disciplined and motivated, and if your time management skills are weak, you could spend the entire day sleeping or doing irrelevant things while you should be at work. The truth is, some people naturally work best under pressure or supervision. For such people, remote jobs are not an option at all.

6. You eventually end up working all day, not just 9-5:
When I secured my job as a content writer, they told me I would work 40 hours per week; I was like, “Good, it is easy!” Immediately, I thought I had the remaining one hundred and forty-eight hours to myself. After certain calculations, this job should take just 1/4th of my time every week. “I still have enough time to do other productive things I want.”
Such a big myth!
I discovered the hours I spent on getting the job done were very inconsequential. What mattered was delivering the job well. I found out I spent most of the day from dawn to dusk doing this down, and most weekends too, It sucks. But 9 to 5’s are very different. Anywhere you stopped on Friday, you continue on Monday.
Part two of why working in Nigeria comes up tomorrow. Don’t forget to subscribe to Techtrend africa to get updates on part two(2).
Keep tuned for more updates.