10 Nigerians Share How Current Hardship Is Affecting Them
Vanguard did a powerful walkthrough of the nation asking people from different states about how they’re seeing the state of affairs and how it’s affecting them. Honestly, the stories are HEART WRENCHING. If you’re an emotional personal like myself, I employ you to brace yourself, because some stories here are very sad, but, it is important to know what’s really going on. Without further ado, here are just a few (10) of the stories from the people they talked to.
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1. Mrs Gladys Tonggang (Plateau State):
This resident of Plateau State talks about how people are now turning to dusa, food meant for animals, to survive. She said:
I was heartbroken when I heard of a pregnant mother of four feeding her children with maize chaffs, which is called dusa in local language. Animals are fed with dusa and this is what this woman was feeding her children with after grinding it and making food with it.
To make matters worse, the price of dusa has now increased by N500 because many people are now demanding the product.
2. Monday Adetola (Plateau State)
This mechanic says that in the last six to seven months, his clients have reduced because of the economic hardship saying:
I have been calling my clients to know why they don’t come again but they complained about the economic hardship. If they don’t drive the cars, how will they come for regular maintenance? When the price of petrol keeps going higher, many people will park their vehicles and that means less work for us.
3. Mr Genesis (Cross River)
This staff of a state broadcasting service talks about how he has turned his whole apartment and surrounding into a farm because of hardship saying:
I grow these things to sustain myself. Much of my salary goes to settle debts, so I have to use the available space around my residence to plant crops. The essence of getting money is to buy food, so if I get some of the crops from my vicinity to sustain me, so be it. I planted water leaf on the steps leading to my apartment, while I planted pumpkin, okra, and sweet potatoes on the other side of the sitting room, while at the backyard, I have sugarcane, pawpaw and guava trees. In my car park, I grow yams in used cement bags, while in my kitchen I have a cage for rabbits, so, I can make meals for myself for several days without going to the market so long as I have palm oil and salt.
4. Deji Ilori (Ekiti State)
This civil servant is a father and laments about how the economic hardship has really put a strain on him saying:
Fuel is now N1,000 per liter, I can’t imagine when last I drove my car to the office. Before now, when fuel was being sold for N585 per liter at NNPC, I spent an average of N30,000 per week on fuel and we are yet to enjoy the new minimum wage. Even at that, whatever gain is coming with the minimum wage has already been eroded with the new pump price of petroleum. My family and I can no longer eat what we want. We have to prioritize what is most essential. Everything is just getting more difficult with the rise in fuel and commodity prices
5. Uwamba Favour (Ekiti State)
This small business owner laments about how hard it is to see profit now from business saying:
Imagine buying something for N5,000 and having to sell it at the same price just to make people buy it so that the product doesn’t go unsold. It got to a point where I was tempted to sell below the amount I bought it, but I pray it doesn’t come to that, which has led me to stop taking some orders
6. Taiwo (Osun State)
This mother of two laments about how the current economic situation has turned her into a beggar saying:
Since the beginning of this year, my husband who is a driver has been finding it difficult to make ends meet. My husband sleeps at fueling stations in the hope of getting fuel for regular transportation business. On those occasions I had to go to our neighbours to get food stuff to feed our two children. Sometimes I got garri while on other occasions I got tubers of yams or rice. The situation is actually hopeless for us.
7. Usman Faruk (Osun State)
This student of Obafemi Awolowo University cries about how the current economic situation has affected his ability to pay for his educational needs saying:
Living has been very difficult as a student, I work as a labourer at various sites here in Ile-Ife to make ends meet and the money I made from the sites is not even enough to buy food to survive on campus. Since last year, I have not travelled to Kwara State where I am based because of the cost of transportation.
8. Madam Chinyere Ndon (Akwa Ibom)
This estate surveyor cries about the sky-high cost of goods saying:
The high cost of fuel has made prices of every other thing to skyrocket. Feeding is difficult and these days you see people looking emaciated because of hunger. One of the strategies I have adopted to survive is restricting my movement. As a public servant I only go to work twice or thrice in a week. And I have resorted to using public transport instead of driving my car to places. I only drive my car when there is something urgent and necessary, and when going to church on Sundays. For me, it is not economical driving considering the high cost of fuel. The whole situation is saddening, we are suffering
9. Mr. Odudu Umoh (Akwa Ibom)
This keke driver laments about how the high price of fuel has affected his business saying:
This increased price of petrol is really killing transportation business in Akwa Ibom. Sometimes you buy petrol worth N5000, it won’t last two hours and you won’t even be able to make any profit because the roads and streets are empty. So, it is that bad now
10. Mary Friday (Plateau State)
This woman who has dietary restrictions can no longer afford what she needs saying:
In the past, I was particular about what I eat and how I eat it due to ill-health. But right now, I am unable to afford the kind of food I should eat while I eat what I see now which is giving me concerns because I don’t want my condition to get worse. The suffering is too much, how do we survive? Nobody will go through these and remain sane.
