Slain by subsidy removal

I wasn't planning to move into a new apartment this year. But with the removal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria and its subsequent consequential deficits, moving out became a crying need.

For one, my transportation fare to work quadrupled, literally. I actually had to pay four times what I was paying before. This placed a huge financial strain on me. I was working for transportation fare. I could no longer afford the quality of life I was previously living.

I was left with only three options: either find a job close to me, get a remote job, or move into an apartment that's closer to my present work place.

Getting a job closer to my then-residence wasn't much of an option, considering the fact that I was staying in a suburban settlement. Job offers that suit my area of expertise aren't found there. I used to commute over a kilometre every day to work, and it wasn't much of a problem until subsidy removal.

Staying where I was had its own benefits. It's suburban. So, deforestation hasn't really eaten up the town. The environment is still green, which means I get to breathe clean air. My residence was quiet, with a large expanse of barren land. I'm obsessed with peace and quiet, and the large expanse of land afforded me a space to go for morning and evening walks, as well as space for meditations, which are my obsessions. Also, it was close to a food market, which means that fruits and vegetables were comparably cheap. As a result, I get to eat healthy meals.

Taking the option of getting a job closer to me out of place, I was only left with two options: either get a remote job or move closer to my workplace. I will love to get a remote job, no doubt, but that wouldn't have been possible in the area where I was staying because the power supply was terribly poor, and fueling my generator all day would've also been difficult because subsidies were removed from petrol, the generator's fuel.

So, whether the intent is to get a remote job or to move closer to my workplace, I just had to leave where I was staying for that to happen.

I opted to share a flat with a friend. My considerations were a good power supply, security, and proximity to my workplaces. We eventually found a place that met those conditions. But in a bid to meet those conditions, we got blind to the aesthetics. It was after we moved in that we realised that we had enough fixings to do. Water wasn't rushing properly from the tap, the toilet wasn't flushing, part of the roof was licking, and the paintings on the walls were crying for a retouch.

After complaining to the landlord, he only offered to do little. The majority of the burden was on us. We started running unbudgeted expenses. We fixed the most-needed part and started living. This month, we decided to paint the wall.

I hired a painter I met through a mutual friend. The guy became a thorn in my flesh. The work was supposed to be finished this weekend, but he's been coming late. He worked on Friday and Saturday, but even as we speak, he's not done with the parlour and dining. He still has two rooms, corridors, a bathroom, a toilet, and a kitchen to paint. As it stands now, I don't know if he's finished.