How to work remotely in Nigeria.

If you know anything about Nigeria, you should know that solutions never work off the rack here. We always have to tweak things and make provisions for what we should have but don’t.

In this article I’m going to try and give pointers on how to successfully work remotely in Nigeria without getting fired for not delivering enough.

Know your ISPs

This is the most important bit so I’ll start with it. Internet service is still below par around here. If you worked from the office, you could blame an unproductive day on bad internet access. After all, everyone had bad internet too. You can’t do that when working remotely, twice in a row without sounding a little stupid.

To stay on top of your game, you need to have atleast 3 ISPs handy, at every time. If you work from home, you need to be using the network with the best internet. This is often influenced by the efficiency of the closest mast to your house. Unfortunately, that same network may not work well when you need to use a co-working space or work from a cafe/restaurant. You see where I’m going with this?

Also, when you travel to a new place you’ll need to work from, your first question should be “Which network has the best internet in this place?”.

Get alternative power sources

You know how it is around here, today fuel scarcity, tomorrow transformer exploded, next week a trailer ran into an electric pole blah blah blah. When you work remotely, your electricity becomes solely your business. You’re not at the office, so nobody is going to que for fuel or install a solar panel/inverter on your behalf.

I don’t advise hoarding fuel, infact the noise from the generator can be very distracting and will often give you a headache. It still comes in handy every now and then though. If you use a Windows PC, you should get a backup battery that you can interchange. You can also install an inverter/solar panel, this can be quite expensive though but MTN offers a cheaper alternative in the form of MTN Lumos Solar Inverter.

Set up a home office

This will save you money in the long run, trust me. While co-working spaces/cafes and restaurants are great to work from, there are times when you need privacy or just don’t feel like getting up from your bed. Your home office could be seperated from your bedroom or be right in it, whichever works for you. But it needs to be where your relatives/friends can’t easily see and distract you.

Invest in a comfortable chair with adjustable height and make sure the room is well lit. Staring at your laptop screen for long hours under low light will take its toll on your eyes, not everybody likes to wear glasses.

Know your highs and lows

I don’t think it’s possible to be equally productive throughout the day. There are times in the day when it’s easier for you to concentrate and work better and there are times when all you can really do is read a book. As an example, I am more productive the first 3–4 hours after a good sleep and immediately after a meal (yeap, my productivity is tied to food and sleep 😴😋).

If you’re a freelancer, it’s much easier to set up a work schedule around your peak period and do more menial work during the lows. Take full advantage of the control you have.

Get enough rest and have fun

You can easily forget to do both these things. When you work remotely, you don’t get exhausted from the daily commute or quickly burnout and this can easily make you work too much. The burnout can still sneak up on you, this is why you need to put in time for yourself, watch something funny, play a video game, get some sunlight and talk to real people, not Slack faces and email address all the time.

Do you have any tips on working remotely here in Nigeria? Drop your tips in the responses. Thank you, have a great week!