The cost of living in Nigeria

Everyone is born equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However these rights carry price tags. The price tags comprise the ability or capacity to express those rights, or very simply, costs of living. One of the functions of the state is to ensure that it provides the environment for its citizens to reasonably enjoy these rights if they apply themselves. However, here in Nigeria, the state has been failing badly in this regard. The spiraling cost of living in Nigeria with the attendant loss of jobs and reduction in real income has thrown many Nigerian families into turmoil such that they are now mainly preoccupied with the exigencies of living and nothing more. We will use a hypothetical to demonstrate the precarious situation most Nigerians live.

An Economics graduate of a premier Nigerian University, Tunde graduated top of his class: first class. On the day of graduation, Tunde was the envy of all. Clinching most of the academic awards and recognitions, he was set for a brilliant and promising future, at least so he thought.

From a rural background, Tunde’s parents are farmers. The family live in a three-room-mud house, roofed with rusty corrugated sheets. The father cultivates maize, groundnuts and yam on a patch of inherited depleting land. His younger brothers (two of them) help their father on the farm and tend their meagre livestock. The small quantity of yam produced is sold to raise cash income, but the maize and groundnuts are in large part consumed by the household as staple. Tunde’s mother cultivates vegetables (onions, cabbage, pepper) on a small plot at the backyard. Desirous to supplement their household income, she brews a local drink made from maize. Tunde’s younger sisters (three in number), help with house chores. His parents can neither read nor write but they are numerate. Among his siblings, one of his brothers recently sat for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and awaits its outcome; one of his sisters just completed secondary school, the rest are still either in the secondary or primary school. Tunde’s parents made great sacrifices to see him through his first degree programme. Now that he has graduated, top of his class, the family heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, it is time to reap the fruits of their sowing and sacrifices.

These hopes were dashed, or so many believed, because Tunde job-hunted for two consecutive years following his discharge from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). What became of his potentials and track record of academic excellence? There might be light at the end of the tunnel but the distance to this light was a painful ride. He had left his rural beginnings and went to Lagos, to pursue the Nigerian dream. Living with an uncle, those two years offered lessons in humility, courage and persistence. Life seemed to have handed him a Trojan horse. His potentials had become his greatest burden. There must be a way out; he was constantly reminded by a gentle friendly inner voice. Should he believe this voice against the stark fact that he had hit the plateau of perceived poverty in his free fall from the cliff of his once dreamed-of bright future? Meanwhile, back in the village, expectation was quickly morphing into frustration. His parents did not know what to think. His siblings were dejected.

Was it luck, chance, or simply preparation, dedication and hard work meeting opportunity? Tunde among the numerous applications he had submitted for positions in various corporate and multinational organisations, was shortlisted and invited for interview. He did not believe it until he received a call from the Human Resources department of a manufacturing company, announcing the date for an interview. Finally, his patience or was it impatience paid off. The interview went well and the company was pleased to offer him a position in Research and Development (R&D). His starting salary was N150 000. He could not believe his good fortune, relative to some of his mates who earned far less. He was both delighted and afraid. Delighted because he was about to leave the plateau of perceived poverty into which he had fallen during his free fall from the cliff of his dreamed-of bright future. He was afraid because experience has taught him to manage his expectations differently.

However, Tunde’s woes were only about to begin. Although his uncle was not about to serve him quit notice anytime soon, he knew a self-respecting adult needs to pay for the roof over his head, literally, fend for himself. Again he was acutely aware of the dire condition of his family in the village. He looked at the cost of rent, but was overwhelmed by the high-prices he saw. He will need to save at least N30 000, per month, over the next ten months to be able to rent a low-priced one bedroom apartment outside the city centre. Yet his parents constantly reminded him he was due for marriage. He thought of clothing and shoes for himself, his parents and siblings (N50 000). He recalled the school fees of his siblings (N30 000 per term). He calculated his monthly utility bills and transportation cost to work (N25 000), monthly groceries and meals (N20 000) – that is before recent increase in fuel price and the steep rise in price of virtually everything in the market.

Nevertheless, what happened next was unexpected. Barely eight months afterwards, the Human Resources manager invited Tunde into her office one cloudy, rainy morning. She lets Tunde understand how much his talent and value delivery were appreciated by the company but given global economic challenges and fierce competition the company was facing from foreign and local competition; coupled with falling oil prices, devaluation of the Naira, and eroding company revenues, radical measures had to be taken. Tunde’s salary was reviewed downward to N120 000 and he was to receive 80% until conditions improved.

Tunde didn’t know what to feel or how to react. In a sense, he was glad to retain his job because many manufacturing companies like his, and even his own were laying off workers. The devaluation of the naira has suddenly increased most manufacturers’ costs of inputs – which had to be imported. Meanwhile, they could not increase the prices of their products. Tunde thought about his parents and siblings and their needs and expectations; his need to raise money to rent a place to stay; the pressure on him to get married, which required a huge financial outlay, and his heart sank.

Christopher Akor