Tax and the Cost of Living in Present Day Nigeria.
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Recently in Nigeria we have been faced with a severe high cost of living which is caused by the exponential rise in the cost of things.
This rise caused by two major factors: increase in fuel price and the imposition of tax on things, without any consideration on the income standard of the average Nigerian and its resulting hardship and pain is like a big and scary monster steering Nigerians to the face and daring them with Nigerians incapacitated in fighting against it. As Nigerians you can not talk and you are expected to smile and hail the monstrous government.
Tax in Nigeria is a legal extortion tool in the hands of legal criminals. It is legal because it is lawfully approved and the criminals are legal because they form part of a recognised government structure. The only thing without tax on it in Nigeria is the air we breath.
In Nigeria, a dollar is over a thousand, five hundred Naira. The average Nigerian lives almost on a cent and the ones who can afford a meal, spend almost a dollar plus on just a meal. And so, to eat just two meals a day, we would have to spend about three dollars. Transportation which was formerly a 100 Naira is now 300 Naira and the one which you enter for 300 is now 700 Naira.
Before now, it was just 300 Naira to drink garri (cassava flakes). But now, you will need to have a thousand, five hundred naira to drink garri. Getting to cream your body, hair, and to buy other toiletries are now luxury in Nigeria. To eat just a meal is a luxury in Nigeria and a show-off.
Access to basic health facilities in Nigeria is out-of-the-world. All we pray for is not to be sick. To fall sick in Nigeria is to stand between this world and beyond.
One would expect that income should also increase, but rather, the monstrous government would have a 4-month deliberation on whether to increase the people's salaries or not amidst the excruciating pain of Nigerians.
Another recent thing In Nigeria is the japa syndrome which means migration of Nigerians out of the country. This has been on the high side. This is the desire of every sane Nigerian, including myself because I am sane. Because definitely, if for to another country, I will definitely be more comfortable there, putting the same hard-work I put in while in Nigeria.
I am considering moving to other African countries to first have my sanity intact. Because there can not be development in a place that threatens a person’s sanity. One can only think well, when one is in the right frame of mind. And so, I strongly believe that leaving my current location does me a great good.
And I think that getting a good job, especially a remote tech job, will make life much easier. First, it will save one the stress of transportation and also the income strength necessary to survive in a country as Nigeria.