I caught my own mother stealing from my savings since I was 15

I started working at 15, selling pure water and sachet gin for my uncle in Mushin. Every kobo I made, I kept in a wooden box under my bed. By 17, I had saved ₦120,000. My mother knew about the box. She always said she was proud of me.

Then one day I came home and the box was lighter. I counted and ₦45,000 was gone. I asked my mother, she denied it. I asked my siblings, they said no. I cried that night, thinking I had been robbed. But I found the key to my box in my mother's purse the next week.

I confronted her. She said, "Na your school fees I take, you think say I get money?" I was 18 then, and I just went silent. She had been taking money from that box since I was 15. She thought I wouldn't notice because I never counted. But I did. I just never said anything because she was my mother. After that, I started hiding my money at my friend's house. It taught me that even family can take your trust, and you have to protect what is yours, even from the people you love.