Working in a supermarket, I have lost count of how many times customers have asked me to remove items from their cart because they didn't have enough money to pay for everything. Sometimes they look at me with doubt in their eyes, questioning the bill I gave them. A few even accused me of trying to cheat them, but after rechecking every item and calculating the total together, it always turns out the bill is accurate. The prices are just unbelievably high.
Some days, it feels like I'm more of a therapist than a salesperson. I spend hours listening to frustrated individuals lament about how expensive things are getting. They vent about how a simple grocery runs now feel like a huge attack on their finances. And honestly, I understand them. I live in the same country, face the same struggles, I see how these issues affect everyone.
Electricity is another major problem we face. Sometimes we go days, weeks, months without power, yet the bills that show up are beyond ridiculous. You begin to wonder if you're paying for darkness.
It is impossible not to notice how these two issues the high cost of living and irregular electricity with outrageous billing have drained the energy from people.
First, let's talk about how the high cost of living wan kill the living.
It feels like there is a silent rule that the price of food and daily essentials must keep increasing every single day. You could buy something at a lesser price today, go back to tomorrow and find the price tripled. Budgeting now feels like a joke, going to the market with a list and a fixed amount of money? You'll receive the shocker of your life.
One time, my older sister gave me money to go to the market. We had prepared a budget and listed out all the items we needed. When i got the market and was just buying, I wasn't even halfway through the list when I realized I had just a small amount of money left. I began to panic, thinking I had lost money. I had to sit and calculate the prices of the items I had already gotten. To my surprise, I didn't lose any money, I had bought everything at prices way higher than what we budgeted for.
I'm sure many people can relate to this. It is something that happens often. One minute you think you have enough money to cover your list, and the next minute, you are choosing between buying rice or garri.
Electricity??? No better!!
Nigeria's electricity situation is a complete mess. Imagine staying for days, weeks and even months without power. Businesses suffer, students can't study, families are forced to rely on expensive fuel, yet NEPA bill arrives like an uninvited guest. You are billed fir light you never saw.
Last year, my sister and I were taking different tech courses. It was a very hard time for us, we had projects to deliver, deadlines to meet and assignments that required access to our laptop. But guess what??? No light. We had to make tough choices every week. It was either we bought fuel with money we didn't have or carry our bags like refugees and went from place to place looking for where we could find electricity.
Sometimes, we go to our uncle's place, other times we go to one our older sister's house, if that didn't work we would try a friend's house. Whenever we finally found light, we won't go back home immediately, we would spend days there just so we could meet up.
This is the reality for many young people in Nigeria today, brilliant, passionate, and hardworking individuals who are striving to change their lives through education, tech, and entrepreneurship. But their progress is constantly being delayed, not because they lack the skill or the willpower, but because of something as basic as electricity.
The truth is, many dreams are slowly dying, not due to laziness or lack of potential, but because the system keeps setting up roadblocks where there should be stepping stones.
If I had the power to lead, I would do everything in my power to fix this. Regular, affordable electricity shouldn’t be a privilege, it should be a right. Because no one should have to roam the streets just to find light to chase their dreams.