The Cost of Living Crisis: Surviving Against the Odds

At this point in time, the cost of living is literally choking the living and would ultimately go on to kill the living if actions aren't taken to curb its rise before it escalates beyond what can be persevered; trust me, things aren't friendly at all in any way, and regardless of how much effort you put in turning around the tides for yourself, it's as though you're not doing enough because you ended up spending almost everything on your basic needs and might even require jumping from one loan to another to sustain yourself. There's a need to initiate a change, and if that isn't done, I'm afraid people might go wild delving into anything just so they can survive and as well provide for their family.

The rise in the cost of living down here in my country is at a whopping 212%, and that's because prior to all of these, I used to earn 33 thousand naira as a minimum wage, and back then one dollar to a naira was approximately 500 naira, meaning I technically earned about $66 monthly. Fast forward to present day when the government claimed they've increased my wages to 70 thousand naira from the previous 33; it's worth noting that our currency has devalued, and unlike then when a dollar was equal to 500 naira, presently a dollar is about 1560 thousand naira, meaning my take-home has literally reduced by $21 dollars because I now earn $44 as wages.

To put that into perspective, it's not like the prices of other items have gone down; in fact, everything has tripled, including items, transportation, medical prescriptions, and every single thing. The inflation isn't friendly at all, and yet we get to see news of the government claiming that the economy is triumphing. I don't know how they get their statistics or what metrics they use in getting them, but it's crazy. You can imagine a few years ago, around 2017, when earning 33k in wages, then a bag of rice was sold at 13k, meaning I could comfortably buy two bags of rice with my little earnings then and still have leftover cash.

Fast forward to present day when minimum wage is 70k; I can't even afford a bag of rice because it's sold at at least 85k. That's how crazy the situation of the economy is and how the rise in the cost of living technically wants to kill the living. Trust me, a lot of people are going through hell just so they can make ends meet, and yet it's not enough. Transportation is another nightmare. Based on where I reside, I used to spend around 8k on transportation every month. Fast forward to present day; I spend at least 20k on transportation monthly.

And that's not even to talk about the cost of healthcare, as some of my friends here might have known that I have a condition that requires me to use a prescribed doctor's medication on a daily basis, and prior to all of these maniacs in the cost of living, that pill used to be sold for 27 thousand naira, which, in my opinion, was expensive, but then a must-buy to stay alive and healthy. Fast forward to present day, the same drug is being sold for 85k, which is just ridiculous. I mean, how can I afford such a thing if I don't have another means of income?

Seeing how high the value of the pill was, I decided within myself that I wouldn't use the medication every day but would use it one day a part so I could cut costs, and what did that do to me? It literally weighs me down to the point where I had to be admitted at the hospital for weeks; it's seriously no joke, and I don't even know what else I can do to turn the tides around in my favor, because basically everyone is being plagued with this same issue.

I don't think changing location to another part of my country will make any difference because the government isn't taking any actions to curb the ridiculous ways marketers hike the values of everything. So probably moving to a better country would make the difference, as much as I've got a good-paying job there and the cost of living isn't that high. If not, then I guess I'm at the mercy of what fate has in store for me.

All photos used in this article are taken and edited on canva.