Auchi Polytechnic Students: What to Buy and What to Skip

You have school fees to sort, rent or hostel money, handouts, transport, food. Then your phone screen cracks, or the battery starts dying by noon. Money is tight, and every naira spent on a gadget is a naira not spent on something else.

So this is not a list of nice things. It is what I would tell a younger cousin starting at Auchi Polytechnic: buy what keeps you going in class and through NEPA wahala, and skip the stuff that only looks good on someone's status.

Start with the phone you already have

Before buying anything, ask one question: is your current phone actually finished, or is it just slow and full? A lot of phones feel dead because storage is packed with WhatsApp videos and old downloads. Clear it, update it, and see how it behaves for a week.

If the battery swells, the charging port is loose, or the screen is going black in patches, then yes, it is time. If it is only old, a power bank may solve your real problem for far less money.

Phones by budget

Here are phones from our list that make sense for a student, from cheapest up. I have left out the very expensive flagships on purpose.

What I would actually buy

For most students, the Infinix Hot 70 is the sensible pick. You get 128GB, a large screen that makes reading slides less painful, and you are not carrying a phone so expensive that you are scared to bring it to lectures.

If you are set on iPhone, think hard about the 64GB iPhone 12. It is cheaper, but 64GB fills up fast once you add class group chats, recorded lectures and photos. You may end up paying for cloud storage or deleting things every week. The iPhone XR or iPhone 11 with 128GB gives you more breathing room.

The Camon 50 is a good phone, but it is a lot of money for a student. Buy it only if the camera earns you something, like selling clothes or doing small shoots.

What I would skip

• The top flagships. Phones like the iPhone 17 Pro Max at ₦2,000,000 are lovely, but that money can cover a laptop, a phone and a power bank with change left. On campus, an expensive phone is also more worry: theft, cracked screens, borrowed chargers.
• Phones with big-brand names and tiny prices. If a phone's name sounds like a flagship but the price is very low, read the full specs before you pay. Ask about RAM, storage and battery. Do not buy on the name alone.
• Buying on impulse after seeing it on someone else. Your coursemate's phone suits their pocket, not yours.

Power bank: the one I would not skip

In Auchi, like everywhere else in Nigeria, light can disappear right when you have an assignment due or a test to read for. A power bank is often the most useful thing a student can own. It keeps your phone alive for calls, bank alerts, class group updates and data for research.

Look at our power banks and keep it simple:

• Pick a size that charges your phone fully at least two times. That covers a long day without light.
• Check the output. If your phone supports fast charging, a power bank that also supports it saves you waiting time.
• Do not buy the cheapest unbranded one at the motor park. Fake power banks can be weak, and some heat up badly.

If you want more on this, we wrote about power banks for NEPA wahala in Edo.

Earphones: cheap is fine, very cheap is not

You need earphones for lecture recordings, YouTube tutorials, calls in a noisy hostel, and keeping your music to yourself. You do not need expensive ones.

Wired earphones are hard to lose, never need charging and work when your phone is the only thing with battery. Wireless earbuds are nice, but they are one more thing to charge during a power cut, and a single bud is easy to drop on a keke. If you go wireless, get a pair with a case that holds charge well. Check our accessories section on the site for what is in stock.

Skip earphones with no brand and no box sold for small change. They often die within weeks, and you end up buying three times.

Laptop or not?

This is the big question, and the honest answer depends on your course.

You probably need a laptop if

• You study something with lots of typing, spreadsheets, design, programming or drawing software.
• You will write a long project and do not want to pay a business centre every time you edit a page.
• You do freelance or online work on the side.

You can likely wait if

• Most of your work is reading and handwritten notes.
• You can use a business centre or a friend's laptop for the few typed assignments.
• Buying one now means skipping something more urgent, like rent.

If you do buy, focus on battery life (because of NEPA), an SSD instead of an old hard drive, and enough RAM to run a browser and Word together without freezing. Look through our laptops and compare. A decent phone plus a laptop later is often smarter than a very expensive phone now.

Small things that help hostel life

Not everything is a gadget. A 4-in-1 foldable silicone lunch box at ₦15,500 means you can carry food to school instead of buying lunch every day, which adds up. If you are thinking of any cooking appliance for your room, like a hot plate, check your hostel or landlord's rules first, and think about how often there is light to use it.

How to pick up at Shop 51

If you are in or near Auchi, you do not need to wait for delivery. Order on vanfleek.com, choose collection, and come to Vanfleek Shop 51, Auchi. Orders are typically ready about 2 hours after confirmation. Bring your order details, and test the item before you leave: power it on, check the charging port, make a call.

For students outside Auchi, standard delivery is currently ₦3,500 for eligible orders, but it changes with the items and where you are, so trust the amount at checkout. Pickup steps are explained in our Shop 51 pickup guide.

You can pay by card through Paystack, bank transfer, or pay on delivery where eligible. If something is faulty, you have 7 days from delivery to return it and we cover the return. Change-of-mind returns must still be sealed, and you pay the shipping. Questions? Call or WhatsApp 08166749367 before you order, not after.

Prices were checked in November 2026 and can change. The product page always shows today's price.