I Worked in Accounts at a Small Company in Abeokuta. I Embezzled 1.2 Million Naira Over Two Years.

This story begins in 2021, just after COVID. I was 27, a graduate of Accounting from a state university, and I had just gotten a job as a junior accounts officer at a small logistics company in Abeokuta. The pay was 65,000 naira a month. My rent alone was 40,000. I was surviving on garri and groundnut for breakfast and lunch most days.

It started small. A supplier invoice I padded by 5,000 naira. I transferred the extra to my personal account. No one checked. The MD was always travelling, the senior accountant was lazy and barely looked at the books. So I kept going. 10,000 here, 15,000 there. I got bolder. I created fake vendor accounts. I approved payments to myself under a different name.

By the end of the first year, I had taken close to 400,000 naira. I bought a used car , a 2004 Toyota Corolla. My colleagues wondered how I afforded it. I just said my uncle sent money from abroad. Nobody pressed further.

The second year was worse. I started taking bigger sums. 50,000, 80,000. I remember one day I transferred 120,000 naira in one go. My hands were shaking as I clicked the confirm button. But the money landed in my account and nothing happened. So I did it again.

In total, I stole 1.2 million naira over 24 months. I used it to pay my younger sister's school fees, to help my mother with her high blood pressure medication, to buy myself clothes I had never been able to afford. I told myself it was a loan. That I would pay it back when I got a better job. But I never did.

I left the company in 2023. The senior accountant retired. A new one came in, did a full audit, and found everything. They didn't call the police. They just fired me and said if I ever showed my face in Abeokuta again, they would report me. I moved to Ibadan. I have not worked in a proper office since. I do freelance accounting for small businesses, cash only, no records.

Omo, I am not proud. But I am not sorry either. That money kept my family alive during a time when nobody else was helping us. The company was making millions anyway. They didn't even miss it. I just wish I had been smarter. I wish I had saved some of it instead of spending everything. Now I am 30, still struggling, and I cannot even apply for a proper job because my name is probably on some blacklist somewhere.

The lesson? If you are going to steal, be ready for the consequences. But also , if your company is paying you 65k and expecting you to survive, they are the ones who started the stealing. They just didn't know it yet.