My mother called me yesterday to ask if I've started saving for my wedding. I'm 21 and my daily budget is 2,500 naira.

My mother called me yesterday evening, right when I was calculating if I could afford beans and plantain from Mama Nkechi's buka. She start asking when I will bring a wife home. I told her Mama, I am still in 300 level, I don't even have a girlfriend, and my current budget cannot even carry a proper date to Mr Biggs. She just sighed and said, 'Your father was your age when we had your elder sister.'

I laugh but inside I am thinking... the math for marriage in this economy is not mathing. Between school fees, accommodation, feeding, and trying to learn skills for japa, where does wedding money come from? My friend Chidi spent 2 million naira on his traditional wedding last year. Two million. That is like 1,470 dollars at current rate. I cannot even afford a new phone.

Sometimes I wonder if our parents understand that the Nigeria they married in is not the Nigeria we are living in now. The ground has shifted completely. I am not even sure I want to marry in this country at all.