Are you indeed ready to relocate to the United Kingdom? Have you counted the full cost? You got to read this article first!
I paid my monthly council tax (£150) today in Scotland and that’s roughly N120,000. I must pay every month. My monthly council tax in Scotland will pay 1 year house rent in some areas in Nigeria. That’s the bitter truth.
This is not my house rent or mortgage. This is just council tax payment(on my property!) to Glasgow City Council(GCC)
If I cannot pay for whatever reason, GCC will start sending red letters to my address and I need to quickly inform the authority or likely to be dragged to court. Can I repeat it again? Go online to research this matter. Knowledge is light. You can even earn a criminal record (and prison!) for non-payment of council tax.
Anytime council tax letter arrives, my wife will quickly alert me, “Gani, let’s quickly pay this council tax bill to avoid GCC red letters.”
Some people are paying as high as £500 on their properties but mine is just £150 monthly for now.
To be honest, a one-bedroom apartment in East London is about £850 per month but in Glasgow or Edinburgh (Scotland), you can still see for around £350 per month depending on locations.
For example a room(in a shared apartment with total strangers/co-tenants) in South London is roughly £500 per month. Ask Londoners.
Nothing as sweet as your privacy in your own apartment, not sharing toilets/bathroom and kitchen with co-tenants or total strangers.
Are you indeed ready to relocate to the United Kingdom? Think Again!
I have explained to many Nigerians (planning to relocate to the United Kingdom) that this country is very expensive to survive, not to talk about some of us still helping total strangers we met on social media platforms with our personal money and some “sick” souls would tag this kindness as cheap popularity bla bla bla yen yen yen or a show off.(Show off to win elections, Abuja contracts, or to become a celebrity?). Aye ti n se gbogbo yin.
Let me go straight, while still living in London, I shared apartments with total strangers and co-tenants but in Glasgow, Scotland, I am a landlord. I am not sharing apartment with anybody except with my wife and children. E ba mi gbe Olorun Oba Tobi. Allahu Akbar.
Most Nigerians in the UK love privacy, not ready to allow people (fellow Nigerians) to live with them for so long without payment.
As a new arrival in the UK, if you’re so lucky, you will enjoy a free accommodation for 3 months from old friends or relatives. Quote me today. You need to be financially strong to really enjoy United Kingdom. Bo se wa ni yen.
As a bachelor in London, I was once “technically” homeless, sleeping in many places because no money to rent a single room(£70 per week!).
One Nigerian “Christian” friend(also a single man) also suggested I can sleep under the Elephant & Castle bridge with drug addicts. I only met him in Peckham library but I followed him to his house one time. Tanimola anybody?
During my struggling years in London, I did not have blood relations or trusted friends to offer me a free accommodation. Eyes don see plenty sh*t before this breakthrough.
I was even planning to return to Nigeria because of the hardship was too much for me but my late sweet mother strongly advised me not return to Nigeria with nothing.
“Gani, you’re the only hope of the family, God will surely open ways for you in London. Just stay there for now, endure the hardship, breakthrough will come one day. Believe me.”
No shame to write this story on Facebook. Old story but just to educate fellow Nigerians. I struggled against all odds to get to this stage in life. I can proudly blow my trumpet from Abeokuta to Australia.
I once met one beautiful Yoruba lady(older than me!) on the street (Camberwell road in South London) and I followed her to Woolwich Arsenal to sleep for 2 nights. She pitied me.
Sad enough, I saw this “Sisi Mama” 10 years later in North London, unable to recognise me but now suffering a partial stroke. Aye Toto.
Anyway, plenty of words cannot full a basket, read this story again and again, think along with me and accept that there is no easy way to breakthrough in life except if you wish to engage in unlawful acts. It’s your choice. It is a free world. Enjoy your weekend. Thank you.
*Dare Lasisi writes from Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
