CELEBRITIES.NG
2 min readDec 29, 2021

Don’t call a child out whenever they’re owing school fees, just tell the child not to go to school — Joeboy recounts childhood struggles — {link} ======== Nigerian singer and songwriter, Joeboy, ha shared a touching story of how he faced hardship in his life while growing up. In a recent chat with media personality, Chude Jideonwo, Joeboy narrated some of his struggles and challenges he faced. He also talked about how pooe his family were that they could not afford to pay school fees, and the constant embarrassment from school management tampered with his self esteem. He added that there was a time he had just one shoe and it was a fake designer shoe, which spurred his decision to always buy the main designer shoes whenever he became 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.”