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RISING INFLATION: HOW LOW INCOME EARNERS BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL
Low income earners are struggling to meet their basic needs amidst the high cost of commodities occasioned by rising inflation.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its consumer price index for March 2024 revealed that headline inflation rose to 33.20 per cent in the month from 31.70 per cent in February.
The March headline inflation has shown an increase of 1.5 per cent points when compared to the previous month, a situation that has further compounded the economic hardship facing Nigerians.
In Benúe State, low income earners have lamented the untold hardship ravaging their families following the current inflation in the country with the attendant skyrocketing cost of food.
Some of the people in Makurdi, the Benúe State capital, said they could no longer feed themselves for at least twice in a day, just as they are unable to meet their basic needs.
Tina Emmanuel, an office assistant who earns as low as N15,000 monthly, said she had long resorted to divine provision to get by on a daily basis.
“Before now, I started surviving by God’s grace, and I’m still going on that strength. I have adjusted and readjusted such that I don’t go for quality anymore but for quantity.
“I get only what’s affordable – it’s really rough and rough. It is also annoying that the prices of food and other essential commodities are steadily on the rise to the extent that what one buys in the morning might cost higher by the evening of same day.
“For me, if I manage to get what we (my family of three) can eat, I will just thank God and relax for that day. I have never met my needs with the income I earn; I’m always pursuing my needs and yet to get them,” she said.
Another low income earner, Blessing Orlu, who teaches in a private primary school, expressed worry that her N18,000 monthly salary could barely buy her food for four days.
Orlu said she sometimes wondered how she would survive the next day because most times she goes to bed hungry.
“Life is hard for me. I can barely feed, let alone buy any other need. My salary can’t fetch me food for four days; I trek most of the times to work. The suffering is too much,” Orlu added.
In the same vein, Lucky Basil, a cleaner, opined that coping with his meager earnings had become a major setback for him and his family.
Basil said, “We are suffering excessively. I can’t feed my family any longer. I pray that this government shows us mercy. Sometimes I cry, seeing my children go to bed hungry.”
In Kano, the story of many Nigerians earning as low as N10,000 or N15,000 monthly amidst the living cost crisis triggered by rising inflation is that of agony and frustration.
They complained that the income they earn is not enough to buy food that can last a week or two.
To understand the ways and means low income earners device to survive and navigate through these turbulent times with such meagre salaries and still manage to keep their heads above the waters of inflation and hardship in the country, our reporter spoke to this category of people in Kano, a city bursting with commercial activities.
A private school teacher, Mrs Amarachi Ogoemeka, who earns N18,000 monthly at Rayday International School Onitsha Road, Sabon Gari, Kano, said she managed to live within her income.
Being a mother of four children who are all in primary school, she said her N18,000 salary was not enough to cater for the need of her family.
She disclosed that on receiving her salary at the end of the month, a substantial part goes to debt repayment.
“Once I receive my salary, even before reaching home, it almost gets exhausted from settling the debts I owed the previous month.
“Due to the insufficiency of my monthly salary to sustain me throughout the month, I usually buy food items on credit and promise the sellers that I will pay them once I receive salary at the end of the month,” the teacher said.
Mrs Ogoemeka noted that as a result of this situation, many teachers are beginning to resign from their jobs to engage in business, where they can earn improved salaries to enable them cope with their individual and family responsibilities.
She said teachers were going through hard times, so the government should assist them by way of empowerment through funds or creating job opportunities.
“Teachers are suffering, and as a result of this, some are resigning and going into small businesses they can do and earn more income. If you go to Yankura (Yankura market at Sabon Gari, Kano), there are many teachers that have left their teaching jobs to sell foodstuffs.
“The government needs to do something about the situation, especially for teachers, because it seems we are working like elephants and eating like ants.
“And we are the most important people in the society because without us there will be no graduates,” she said.
Also, Hassan Ibrahim, a private security man earning N14,000, who is attached to a private building in Sabon Gari, Fagge Local Government Area of Kano State said, “I am approaching 70 years of age, and I have six children, plus my wife, making us eight.
The salary I earn does not sustain me for a month. However, I cope through the help of some of my children who are working and earning between N30,000 and N35,000.
“They normally assist me with little money like N5,000 every month to supplement my salary. If not for them, I wonder how I would have survived with this N14,000 salary I am being paid on a monthly basis,” Ibrahim said.
He said he retired as an Assistant Superintendent of Police before he joined the private security job. After retirement, things became tough, so he had to look for ways to earn money and cater for his needs and those of some of his family members.
On how he manages life with such salary, considering the rising prices of food, Ibrahim said, “The money is always not enough, and before the quarter of the month, foodstuff alone consumes all the money.”
Also, Abubakar Ali, employed as a road cleaner, said he earned less than N2,500 in a day, but his daily expenditure almost equals that amount. Breaking down his expenditure, Ali said he spent between N700 and N800 for food, N400 for transportation to and from work, and also gives his family N500 everyday before leaving home.
According to Ali, he is currently sponsoring his higher education as a student of a federal college of education, so after receiving his salary, there is nothing left.
He complained that despite the news of dollar depreciating against the naira, prices of commodities remain high, contrary to expectations.
“The prices of food items keep increasing everyday. Although we always hear news about the dollar rate going down, prices of food items remain high, and when you ask why, they tell you it is old stock. I wonder why the prices of all these food items cannot come down,” he said.
Ali further disclosed that he recently secured a side job as a ‘Monie Point’ agent and it had been complimenting his salary from the cleaning job. According to him, combining both jobs has helped in sustaining his life amidst the hardship and inflation in the country.
In separate chats, tales of lamentation among low income earners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) remain a binding factor.
Bello Aisha, a petty trader in Kubwa, Abuja, who sells cooked food and runs a provision store alongside said: “I am just running the business. Anything I see, I manage. What we voted for is what we are receiving.
“Pepper worth N4,000 is no longer enough for me to cook in a day. Onions and other ingredients are expensive. Prices of bags of rice and beans have also gone up. We make little profit, compared to what obtained before now. The government needs to come to our aid now as everything is very hard.”
Lamenting that things were getting worse, a tailor at Dei-Dei, Ezra Chukwu, said: “Everything is getting worse. If you buy anything today, if you go to the market tomorrow, it would have increased. Even the price of fuel is compounding our problem, even electricity.
“In the past, we used to have electricity, which helped, but the reverse is now the case. I buy fuel at N700 or N800 per litre to work. That is not enough to get plenty of work done.”
On how he has been coping with the present reality in the country, Chukwu said he had no choice but to increase the prices of his services.
He said, “I had no choice but to increase my rates. I used to sew cloths between N2,500 and N3,000, but I can’t do that anymore; it has increased to N3,000 and N4,000.
Some of my customers have complained, but if I don’t charge that amount, I can’t buy fuel to sew their clothes. I am just managing to feed. I don’t even know whether the situation will improve or not, but I pray it does.”
