It's been a very long time since I participated in a contest on Hive. But it feels good to be doing one again thanks to OCD contest initiative. I particularly took interest in this contest because the topic is something I've wanted to write about a long time ago. I've mostly stalled because I felt; "Eh! who wants to read about what suffering goes on in Nigeria". Well, here's my unfiltered version of what living in Nigeria is like.
So,
What is the cost of living like in my country or region?
If you don't already know by now, I'm from Nigeria. A country currently touted as "The giant of Africa". While this could have been a true statement back in the days of my father, there's nothing giant about us anymore. Except maybe in the number of our population, and that makes the matter even worse.
Nigeria is a country so blessed with various valuable natural resources ranging from our most valuable export; the crude oil to gold and other mineral resources. With these mineral deposits in abundance, you'll expect that an average citizen would be able to live properly. But that's not the case.
For most Nigerians, we are the living example of the saying; "Work like an Elephant, eat like an Ant". The cost of living in Nigeria is so high that even if you put in good work everyday, you'll get almost nothing by the end of the month.
This whole structure is setup and sponsored by the government to keep people in perpetual poverty, so we can be at their mercy all the time. Our politicians are motivated by sheer greed and wickedness. They introduce policies and pass bills that further drives an average Nigeria deeper into the pit of suffering. Do you know the worst part? We can do nothing about it.
Last year, even amidst the pandemic, the government made loads of policies that were in no way favorable to its people. Some of the notable ones are;
Increase in VAT (Value added tax)
As if 5% VAT wasn't already enough suffering given the state of our living conditions, the government increased it to 7.5% without any justifiable reasons. The reason they provided was that they were trying to generate revenue. That could have been a good reason at a better time, not during a pandemic with businesses shut down.
Increment in VAT ensured that everything else went up. From food to telecommunication services, electricity bills, to transportation etc. Electricity tariff was the worst. It was increased by 100% in September 2020, and lowered to 50% January this year. We had increase in all these things; food, electricity bills, transportation, internet, etc. But guess what remained stagnant? Minimum wage.
Guess Nigeria's minimum wage? A whooping #30,000/month which roughly converts to $60USD. So $60USD is what a level one government worker earns per month. If you want to see how criminal this amount is, do the maths to how much he/she earns per day. There are roughly 22 business days in a month, after doing the maths, it means a Nigerian level one worker earns less than $3 in a day. Can you imagine what living under $3 a day would look like? Please don't imagine, it's pure evil.
Living on $3/day wouldn't even be manageable if the cost of living wasn't so high. Then imagine people living under $1 a day.
Around May last year, Nigerian bureau of statistics revealed that 40% of the Nigerian people(83million people) live below the poverty line. source
Well, now that you know the sorry state of my country, here's how it affects me directly.
I probably would have been a millionaire by now.
With the level of work I do in a month, I should have been a millionaire by now. Sadly, I'm not that(yet).
I stumbled across a writeup on Whatsapp status that struck me deeply. It talked about how an average Nigerian works and makes money to survive and not build wealth. It challenged me to do a review on my financial status, and I discovered that I was part of that divide. The divide that earns just to live.
I feel like I do reasonable amount of jobs in a month. but by the end of the month, I'm left with almost nothing. I realized that I haven't exactly been building wealth, I've been surviving. I don't have any real savings. I'll only do if I considered my Hive earnings a kind of savings. But outside that, it's nothing.
You might read that savings part and feel that maybe I'm loose with money. The sad truth is that I'm not. Being an introvert, I'm not so keen on living a flamboyant lifestyle. So what then takes all the money? Living! Yes, living in Nigeria. Sometimes we make jokes about how even breathing deducts money from our accounts 😁.
Here's a breakdown of how I live in Nigeria;
I earn between #100,000-#250,000 for portrait photography in a month. For the sake of approximately accurate analysis, let's use my income of last month. Last month. I earned #130,000($268). Now my expenses;
- House rent is #520,000($1072)/year. However, I split rent with other occupants of the flat, bringing my rent to #210,000($433)/year. It means I pay #17,500($36)/month for rent.
- I spend #20,000($41) on feeding monthly.
- Thanks to telcos in Nigeria for their ability to "suck" internet data subscription; I spend #20,000($41) on internet and calls monthly.
- Electricity bills costs of #10,000($20)/month.
- Transportation takes around #10,000($20).
- Miscellaneous which includes; random household items and fixes, petrol, philanthropy, eat-outs, etc Can take around #20,000($41).
You can see that this list doesn't exactly hold personal stuff that I would have loved to spend money on. Things like new clothes, fancy tech stuff, etc. Everything on that list is basic survival needs, The total amount of everything there is; #97,500($201).
After all the calculations, my profit for last month was #32,500($67). God forbid that I earn just #130,000 every month. But let's assume I do for a year, it means my yearly profit is #390,000($804). Barring disasters and pandemics, and health crisis, it'll take saving that for 3 years to have a little over #1,000,000.
Whilst some people might be comfortable with living like that, that's not me. It might sound selfish as people have it far worst than me, but I want more. I deserve more. Every struggling person in Nigeria deserves more. Everyday we pray for a glimpse of hope. For things to change, but the story gets sadder by the day.
Recently I heard the government is planning to remove subsidy from petrol(gas, fuel). The removal of subsidy means we'll be paying more to get the petroleum product. Once that happens, the price of everything in the country will increase automatically. I don't really care anymore. Most people have lost hope in this country. Sadly, I'm part of that divide; it's not unpatriotism. I heard someone say this last year. He said;
"The Nigerian dream now, is to leave Nigeria".
Truer words haven't been said about how most Nigerian youths feel. If you did a poll among 100 Nigerian youths and asked; Would you like to migrate to another country or remain in Nigeria? You'll be shocked that 95 percent, if not the entire 100 will want to leave. It's not our fault. Nigeria is messing with everyone's pysche; even people in the rich class.
Alright! Enough of the evil reports. Whilst we are having it bad in terms of our government and the economy, we find solace in other sectors of the country. Good examples would be our entertainment and tech sector. Recently, Burna Boy(A Nigerian artiste) won best global music album at the 63rd Grammy awards. Wizkid also bagged a Grammy as Beyoncé's "Brown skin girl" won the best music video award.
In the tech sector, Paystack, a payment portal platform designed by Nigeria was bought by Stripe for $200million last year October source. It was a huge win for all tech bros in Nigeria, and for all frustrated Nigerians really. Furthermore, another Nigerian owned fintech company "Flutterwave" recently announced that it closed $170million in funding, valuing the company at $1B source. Another huge win.
So you see, it's not all bad bad bad. For some people in some sectors of the country, there's light at the end of the tunnel. For some other people, we need new tunnels with more assurances of light being at the end of it. New tunnels we might not find in Nigeria.
Summary.
I feel I said too much, and you might have been lost while reading the post. So here's my summary.
- The cost of living in Nigeria is considered high. Except you are part of the government.
- Nigeria has all the wherewithal to be a great country economically with good economical policies.
- Nigeria can be a fun place but,
- Most of us want to leave for greener pastures.
Well, that's the end! I hoped you enjoyed reading about my "great" country that is Nigeria. "The giant of Africa".
PS: I forgot to mention the conversion rate of Nigerian Naira (NGN) to United states Dollars (USD). For this post, I used a conversion rate of $1/#485. See how poor our currency is. So poor that if I saved #1 every single day, it still won't be up to a dollar. Alright, that's enough, I don't want to cry on this post 😢.