Ogoramaka Amos
Mrs Ngozi Uchenna(not real name) is a 35 years old widow whose husband , a tanker driver died in a car accident caused by a bad road in Okogbue axis of East West road in Ahoada West local government area Rivers State, leaving behind four children.
The Widow is a palm kernel trader at Rumuokoro market, in Obio-Akpor local government area; a suburb of Port Harcourt, is seriously lamenting on how things have been tough since the death of her husband on August 16 2024. This is coupled with a hike in cost of living that is caused by the increase in fuel price.
According to her “Feeding has not been easy for me and my children. This is because my children are at their tender ages and do not understand the situation of things in the country. We have been living comfortably before my husband died because”. Before he died he used to buy a lot of food stuff anytime he returned from travel but since his death everything is on my shoulder. As if that was not enough, our rent had expired and we had been issued quit notice shortly after my husband’s death and the landlord refused to show compassion.
Mrs Catherine Amadi a 29 years old, (popularly known as ‘Madam Ke”, who deals in frozen foods such as chicken and fish in Mile One Diobu Port Harcourt lamented her challenges in her business due to the epileptic power supply.
In her words” there has not been much gains in the business for some time now since this fuel price increased. “I can’t even cope with buying petrol to power my generator in order to preserve the food items because there hasn’t been power supply, some of the items I bought with thousands of Naira wasted”.
She said she had to resort to roasting and frying some of the items so that they would not go bad before she saw buyers.
Madam Ke further said she had been incurring further cost. “I just have to try because my children will definitely eat it hasn’t been easy but we’ll push through.” Ibifuro Nelson, a 30 years old private teacher and a single mother of 2 children also lamented about the high cost of transportation.
On her part, she said she spends three thousand naira a day on transportation for herself and her children who she drops off at school and before going to work. She explained that initially she was spending N2,000 naira on transportation before, but since fuel price increased everything just went up. The whole thing is just too much to bear.
She also said “My salary is N50,000 Naira a month. How do I manage? By the time I remove transport fare from my salary I wouldn’t have anything left”.
There were some concerns raised by individual stakeholders about the high cost of living.
What experts say
Mr. Peter Wilson, who is an Economist, pointed out that the implications of the latest hike in the pump price of petrol and high inflationary pressure for businesses would be very significant and negative.
According to Wilson’s projections, a rise in non-performing loans (NPLs) would result from businesses closing and those that continued operating at a loss.
According to him, “businesses will not be able to meet up operational costs and at the same time service their existing loans.
“The multiplier effect will reflect in many businesses shutting down as the negative will affect bank balance sheets because it will increase NPLs.”
He expressed worry on how the minimum wage will not be meeting up with the cost of living in his words. “The cost of living has gone up, and workers’ salaries have not kept pace.” There has even been erosion of the new minimum wage”.
Our Correspondent reports that most women are passing through similar challenges and silently bearing the brunt of the current harsh economy
Photo credit: PT
#Amos, OgoroAmaka Precius , a Women in Journalism Fellow of Africa Foundation for young Media Professionals’ women in Journalism fellowship 2024 sent this in from Port Harcourt, Rivers State
