Ever since the event of COVID, the world hasn't been the same; it has become a shadow of itself in many ways, including the economy of many world nations, which has led to inflation and a high cost of living among the people. That has been hard on me and my fellow countrymen, but we keep striving and looking for ways to make a difference in these situations, and some of those are what I'll be sharing with y'all today.
Personally, it isn't an easy thing to deal with as a civil servant, especially when your wages are fixed and won't change regardless of what's going on around the country, meaning while others have the opportunity to simply increase the amount they charge for their goods and services, civil servants have nothing to hike except if the government decides to help out, which unfortunately hasn't been the case in years.
Nigeria hasn't really been the same since COVID came into the picture. Although things weren't perfect before COVID, we were at least managing, and so were things much fairer. But fast forward to recent years, and things have moved from bad to worse. Chances of making ends meet have literally become slimmer, so surviving has become something you need to work your ass out in order to achieve down here.
Take, for instance, the amount I spent to and from work initially, which was just 9000 naira, but since the inflation hit us hard, I now spend nothing less than 15000 on transportation to work on a monthly basis, and that doesn't include me going to other places such as markets, churches, and many more.
Basically, the cost of living in every aspect was affected, and another of such is food items, clothing, and some other basic needs. It still seems ridiculous that rice that was sold at about 15000 to 20000 naira per bag a few years ago is now sold at nothing less than 36000 naira per bag. Each of these literally consumes all of my earnings, and I'm sure everyone else faces the same issue, but then I had to devise means to survive in order to meet both my needs and those of my loved ones.
Although in as much as I know things are hard due to the inflation, I still can't help but say that the greed of the people is the major reason why we are affected by it this much. You literally see people hike prices of items they got at a cheaper rate because other people are selling their or different items for more. Of course, we all long to earn interest, but when it's too ambiguous and at the detriment of your neighbors, then I think it's more of a steal than a business.
MY SURVIVAL TIPS
- Sort for multiple stream of income: In the situation of this inflation, it's obvious that our initial single-job wages can't help us survive this season, so in order to make a difference and make ends meet, it's important that we seek other streams of income. For example, aside from being a teacher, I also try to earn something to support myself via hive, and I also make footwear for customers, and all of these things put together help a lot.
- Priotizing Needs: One of the key factors that kept me going in this inflation is that now I place priority on my needs and hardly spend on any of my wants, which helps me cut costs and have something extra to help in days of drought.
That's about all on the effect of inflation on me and my country. As you can see, I also shared some tips on how I've been surviving, and I hope these will help you as well. Thanks so much for your time.
NB: I make use of Quillbot grammar checker features to help correct some of my grammatical and punctuation errors after writing my content by myself.
Thanks so much, have a blessed and productive day.