‘At A Point In My Life I Had Only One Shoe And It Was A Fake Designers’ – Joeboy Recounts Struggles

Nigerian singer cum songwriter, Joeboy has recounted how he got through life while growing up.

In a chat with media personality and Journalist, Chude Jideonwo, Joeboy gave details of some of the challenges he had to pass through as a young boy.

The music star narrated how he got embarrassed for owning school fees in his secondary school days and how that affected his self-esteem.

He also narrated how he worked under the heat of the sun promoting products for a company in Ogun State with a weekly pay of N5, 000.

He added that there was a time in his life that he had only one shoe, which was a fake designer shoe, and that was what made him vow to always buy shoes whenever he becomes successful.

In his words;

“Sometimes I felt everything should just end because it was difficult.

“I remember after secondary school, I didn’t have money, I was looking for a job. I remember going for a full month looking for a job.

“I would prepare my CV. There was a time I trekked from Ilaje to Sabo in search of a job with my friend. We submitted our CVs but didn’t get the jobs eventually.

 “I eventually got a job to promote products for a company under the sun. They took us to redeem camp in Ogun state, it was difficult. We were paid N5000 a week.

At that point, life was hard, I remember I only had one Nike shoe and it was fake. So, one promise I made to myself was that when I finally blow, I’ll always buy shoes.

“So, these days, when I’m down, I just step out to buy shoes. Life was more difficult than failing an exam or owing school fees.

 “There was a particular time this happened to me. I’ll just say when a child is owing school fees, don’t call the child out. Just tell the child not to go to school.

“Don’t flog kids for owing school fees, the child doesn’t have money. School owners should not embarrass a child for owing school fees.

It was really embarrassing for me at the time because it affected my esteem at that point.”