Living expenses are rising globally with no check in sight. From the cost of staple food to that of gas for cooking/heating and electricity to light our homes, upwards seems to be the trend. Essential commodities such as clothing, housing and even pharmaceutical and healthcare products are not left behind. As the world recovers from the gripping economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing war following Russia's invasion of Ukrainian territories have created bubbles beyond the theater in eastern Europe. Many countries in Africa depend heavily on wheat grains from Ukraine to make flour and prices have soared to record highs since the onset of hostilities. Everyone is affected by inflation but the most impact is felt by the poor whom these developments are definitely pushing further into poverty. According to the latest report by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen are “hunger hotspots” facing catastrophic conditions. And as a citizen of one of these unfortunate countries, I say you believe that the reality is biting deep.
Staple foods have seen their prices skyrocket over the past couple of months. Bread for instance have witnessed somewhat between 25% to 50% increase in its price over the past six months. While some bakeries are still running despite the rising cost of production, some others have been forced to shut down completely. And one of my favorite meals, the famous Italian food – the spaghetti (which is made from wheat) have seen a 22.2 % rise in its price over the past few months. Of course I love it dearly and can still afford to buy it but with such local staples as rice and beans witnessing similar or even higher spikes in their prices, some families especially the large and not so well-to-do ones have been forced to seek alternative food sources and thus creating both a sense and scene of food insecurity that needs urgent intervention.
And if there's a sight that moves me every single time I behold it, its that of a boy child about 3 or 4 years old with obvious signs of malnutrition or as doctors will succinctly put it, protein energy malnutrition. He lives with his parents in a single room along with three older siblings with the mother still nursing an infant child. I do offer him some food item every chance that I get but I know that’s never going to make any significant change in the course of that little boy’s life. From childhood, the odds look to have been heavily stacked up against him. My efforts to get him help from some charitable organization is yet to yield any fruits. There are hundreds of thousands of such cases across the African continent where birth rates remain high and the population seems to be exploding without corresponding growth in wealth and health. And some of the major driving factors such as poor socio-economic status, religion and lack of both information and access to family planning services are still largely to be addressed.
Now food aside, the cost of rent have also been moving northwards. The vacant apartment room next to mine have seen a 25% upward review in its rent price since the last tenant moved out and I have little doubt mine will too by the time its due next month. My neighbor have since relocated to the country's economic hub of Lagos after quitting his job at the gas station where he worked 8am to 6pm six days a week for a paltry pay check that he barely scraped through life with. With unemployment rate towering to a record high of about 33%, jobs are not easy to come by and harder still are decent paying jobs. Government employment seems to be the exclusive reserve of those with connections within the political circle. While my neighbor was able to move to a bigger city to continue his search of 'the good life', some less fortunate folks have had to move back to their hometown unable to meet up with their rent obligations. Some who choose to remain have had cause to resort to one crime or the other to get by. Few months after I moved here from my much rather quiet and peaceful hometown, I was robbed of my phone and my wallet one fateful night after visiting a friend. The streets are littered with all kind of folks, from prostitutes to kidnappers and safety is not guaranteed by the state.
With the recent drive for urbanization fueling a massive rural-urban migration, the development authorities are barely able to make provisions for the rapidly expanding city and infrastructure are consequently over-stretched. Unlike Lagos, Nigeria's capital city Abuja has a poor public transportation service and the taxis obviously seem to take pleasure in hiking their fares at any given chance; like when the petroleum marketers embark on strike to protest an unfavorable government policy by cutting off supply and consequently driving up petroleum prices as demands surge. Ironically, even when these petroleum products do return to their normal prices after the industrial action, the drivers never find it convenient to reduce their fares. With no government regulation in the sector just as in many others, the masses are left in the jungle to be devoured. And with the number of taxis barely enough to cater for the teeming number of passengers, the commuters always end up on the losing side.
With wages and earnings not keeping pace with the rising cost of living, it means less likelihood of new businesses springing up to create employment opportunities. The process of obtaining loans from financial institutions have become more stringent as banks are all too afraid to disburse their funds in an unstable and volatile environment and the rising rate of interest on borrowing is more than enough to dissuade prospective start-up entrepreneurs. Young professionals are leaving the country in their droves for better economic prospects in the developed west and those left behind are forced to put in long hours – sometimes up to 12 hours or more for comparatively meager wages which is barely enough to get them by until the next pay. Also cases of unpaid monthly salaries left to accumulate for months and months are common-place. My friend recently quit her job as a waitress at a local restaurant just after two days while my brother was able to endure two months and not anymore working as a loan officer for a microfinance bank.
There have been protests like never before but the authorities are always quick to put down any form of insurrection; even resorting to the use of brute force against citizens on peaceful demonstration as was the case during a protest against police brutality two years ago. University lecturers in public schools have been on a 7-month long strike action in a bid to force the government to agree to its demands after persuasion failed to win but negotiations have faltered with every attempt. A recent development which saw the increase of allowances for top civil servants, diplomats, government officials and aides seemed to have caused more harm than good. Emboldened by the flagrant display of wealth by the ruling class, the university union now seem uncompromising in asking for amongst other things better pay and welfare packages. Many of the children of the ruling class are either schooling abroad or at least are enrolled in private universities which are not part of the striking union. The brunt of the whole debacle is borne by the lower class citizens who lack the economic power to make alternative choices.
There's always a time for the teeming masses to express their displeasure at the government but that has always been traded for peanuts at the polls. With the appointed delegates having sold their mandate to the highest bidding politicians in the primary elections across major political parties, I will be surprised rather than disappointed if the electorates fail to follow suit assuming of course the elections are allowed to proceed freely and fairly. My doubts of a transparent process have not been made any better by the declaration of the electoral body to transmit election results manually rather than electronically and I know millions share in this doubt of mine as well. But there are many precedents in history to show that the dissatisfied masses can initiate a major upstage and I cite the Russian revolution of 1914 which eventually toppled the monarchy of czar Nicholas II as an example. It was borne out of the poverty and hardship endured by the peasant and working class citizens in the tsardom whose income could no longer keep up with the rising costs of living and reacted instinctively in the face of extinction.
For now I rest my case and pray so help us God.