By Yisau Babatunde
At 22, Zakariya, not his real name, believed his life was finally changing. In a crowded hostel minimart inside Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS), his struggle for survival met what sounded like an answer to prayer.
For a full year, he endured scorching heat, sleepless nights, hunger, humiliation and relentless pressure, all in service of NeoLife and Faith Heroic Generation, FHG, a global health and wellness business he was convinced would lift him out of poverty. By December 2024, that belief collapsed.
When his academic results for the session were released, they showed the damage. Zakariya’s grades had dropped sharply. But instead of concern, his team leader, Wale, dismissed the setback.
“How can you allow your results to define your success?” Wale asked. “There are thousands of people who succeeded with little or no grades. Now, you should give your entire time to the business.” That moment marked a turning point for Zakariya.
“That was when I realised they didn’t care about my future,” Zakariya told Digest Press. “They only cared about themselves, not the progress of their members.”
A chance encounter
Zakariya’s journey into what he now describes as a carefully crafted exploitation scheme began in September 2023. He was bargaining with a tomato seller when a man, later identified as the elder brother of a friend, interrupted.
“Why are you dragging N200 tomatoes,” the man asked, “when you can buy the entire stall in two or three weeks? Don’t you need money?”
“Yes, I want to make money, plenty of it,” Zakariya replied.
The man, Wale, immediately presented what he called a life changing opportunity for Zakariya. “Our company needs agile, focused people to boost sales, the pay is good,” Wale said. Unfortunately, what followed was not a job interview.
A seminar disguised as opportunity
Driven by desperation and the promise of quick financial freedom, Zakariya went to the address he was given, an abandoned primary school in Gidan Yaro. Instead of a formal interview, he met more than 25 people clapping, writing and chanting motivational slogans.
A senior manager stood at the front, delivering what Zakariya later described as psychological conditioning disguised as business training.
Neatly dressed men took turns mounting the podium, narrating stories of instant success and massive earnings. Philosophers like Karl Marx and Niccolò Machiavelli were cited out of context to justify sacrifice, discipline and unquestioning loyalty.
“What started as a job offer turned into a wealth creation symposium,” Zakariya said.
One speaker claimed to have earned N350,000 within two weeks. Another boasted monthly earnings of N400,000. “My desire for money exploded,” Zakariya recalled. “I believed if they could do it, I could too.”
Participants were told that traditional trades, shoemaking, tailoring, selling suya, were traps that kept people poor for life. Education, they said, was optional.
“They told us this business didn’t require schooling, once you follow instructions, you’ll succeed,” Zakariya said.
Life inside the system
Registration was deliberately easy. No fees. All that was required was a smartphone, an exercise book and absolute obedience. “They brainwashed us,” Zakariya said. “From that day, I spent almost every night at my team leader’s hostel, working till morning, even when I had 8am lectures.”
Leaving, he said, was difficult, not because of physical force, but because of their sweet mouth. “Their words are carefully crafted. Once you are inside, you’re always hooked.”
Punishments were routine. Zakariya witnessed members slapped, humiliated or deprived of personal belongings under what leaders called discipline tactics.
“One guy came late because he was sick,” he said. “They slapped him three times before forgiving him, and he still served punishment.” Money generated by recruits rarely reached them.
“When I made close to N900,000, the money went directly to them,” Zakariya said. “They bought me a phone and clothes, then gave me N20,000 for upkeep. The rest, they said, was used to buy drugs to boost my promotion points.” The drugs, he said, were often unnecessary.
People are the money
Adam, not his real name, who spent two years in the system, explained the structure to Digest Press.
Each leader controlled a group. Every Wednesday, members gathered for grooming, recruitment training and product sharing. Students were the primary targets.
“They believe students are desperate,” Adam said.
Ranks progressed from Distributor to Manager, Senior Manager, Director, Emerald Director, Sapphire Director, Ruby Director and Diamond Director. Higher ranks were portrayed as tickets to unimaginable wealth, including foreign travel.
“They told us top people earn hundreds of millions monthly,” Adam said. “They even mentioned names of people flown abroad.”
“To be a manager, you must generate 250 points, about N250,000 monthly,” Adam explained. “A senior manager must make N500,000. A director must generate N4 million.”
Tuition sacrificed for targets
Adam’s breaking point came when he faced a deadline he could not meet. “I had eight days left in the month,” he said. “The only money I had was my tuition fee.”
Already a manager, he didn’t think twice to use his school fees, and borrowed money through lies, to meet targets. The reward was devastating.
“After investing N250,000, I was paid N6,000,” Adam said. “That was when I started questioning everything.”
Despite the warning signs, motivational quotes and peer pressure kept him going.
“There is no off day,” he said. “Daytime is for training. Night is for execution.” Food, health and academics were secondary.
“If your parents send money, the first thing you buy is NeoLife products,” he said. “Even when sick, all you think about is points.”
These points couldn’t save Adam’s grades as they all collapsed.
“I had more than six E’s in one session,” he said. “I was angry at myself.”
The business behind the promise
Usman, another former member, explained the operations.
NeoLife functioned as the offline arm, selling supplements and plant boosting drugs. FHG handled online transactions, targeting mostly foreign clients.
“We create Gmail accounts, access foreign platforms and promise to boost sales for companies,” he said. “Sometimes we get paid upfront in dollars.”
The money earned was then used to buy NeoLife products, boosting personal point value.
“I spent at least N300,000 monthly for buying drugs I didn’t need,” Usman said.
Control extended beyond finances.
“They know everything about you, your family, your struggles, so they know how to manipulate you.”
He recalled a shocking moment when he traveled with his senior manager to attend a general meeting of Neolife members at offa. The sight of what he experienced left him to question where the entire money being exploited from them went to.
“When we get there, it is already getting late, we meet other members, working – since we go to another head office for the gathering. Shockingly, during dinner, we are offered garri, a sachet of water and some peanuts including their members too despite millions of naira that was made right in my presence that evening.”
“The minute they know you are trying to run away or quit, they will seize your phone, laptop, power bank and other electronic accessories including all the fine clothes and shoes you buy during the process of working with them. If not careful, such a person will end with nothing but tears in the end.”
Beyond UDUS
The experience is not only a UDUS phenomenon.
On social media, students from other universities shared similar stories after an X user and a journalist, Arojinle posted about NeoLife.
A user, Alarape Sadiq (@AlarapeSadiq) said he sold his phone to buy a starter kit. Another said his roommate nearly dropped out. At the University of Ilorin, students reported academic collapse linked to involvement.
“They hijack young people’s dreams and dress it up as quick money,” one user wrote.
A Deeper Reflection – Expert Weighs In
Dr. Akinwale Adeyemi, an education consultant and policy analyst has warned that the growing presence of network-marketing businesses such as NeoLife within Nigerian tertiary institutions poses serious risks to students’ academic focus, financial stability, and decision-making capacity.
Often campuses were increasingly becoming soft targets for aggressive commercial recruitment because students are young, economically vulnerable, and eager for financial independence.
“Universities are designed as learning environments, not marketplaces,” Adeyemi said. “When profit-driven schemes embed themselves within campuses, they blur the line between education and exploitation.”
Adeyemi also expressed concern about the academic consequences of such involvement, citing reports of students missing lectures, prioritising recruitment meetings over coursework, and diverting school fees into business registration or product purchases.
“Once academic time and resources are redirected towards commercial activities, the primary purpose of higher education is undermined,” he said.
He called for clearer campus regulations, mandatory disclosure of financial risks, and stricter oversight of commercial activities within educational institutions.
“If an opportunity cannot survive full transparency without hype, then it does not belong in a learning environment,” Adeyemi concluded.
Neolife Dismisses Allegations
Mr. Toheeb, a Neolife correspondent in UDUS who is also a current student of the university, has rejected the allegations of using dubious ways to recruit members, putting members in a tight angle to meet up with sales targets within the school environments, citing that such behaviors contradict Neolife’s set out missions and goals.
“Most of the people saying Neolife is causing their dropout, academic failures are those who quit because they are lazy, can’t do what it requires and stay committed till the very end.”
Toheeb emphasized that before they can allow any member to start, he or she must pass through one or two month training in which a series of lessons, guidelines and skills would be taught and assessed the final result through a test before they can stand on their own by looking for clients.
“Often, new members thought, they will start making money just after one or two weeks they start, which is not possible. They are comparing this business to illegal ones like yahoo-yahoo which is a real quick money making. Neolife and FHG is a gradual process which requires commitment and focus.”
According to Toheeb, in UDUS they focused more on FHG and used the money generated to fund and boost Neolife to get more point value.
“At office, we educate our members on how to balance business with their academic pursuit, but most of them didn’t follow the guidelines. Basically, they are not serious about their academics from the start, no lectures, no reading. No doubt if they don’t join the business, they will still fail.”