Skip to main content
Weathering the storm of 'naira fall'
By Chukwudi Anagbogu(08063305177)

A friend of mine recently 'imported' a 'First Class tokumbo' 14-seater bus. It was when he was negotiating contractual terms with a prospective commercial driver, who he eventually leased the bus to ,that I discovered to my chagrin that a bus conductor plying the Awka - Onitsha road earns an average of 3,000 naira a day as stipends, excluding of course other unremmitted takings which may even be upto the amount. I did a mental calculation and realised that if a conductor works for the entire 30 days in a month, he goes home with 90,000 naira! Instantly, I began to envy them. That evening, I discussed with a friend about the prospect of going into transport business, even as a conductor (forget the graduate stuff, money is money, no matter how it comes, provided it's genuine). I actually met a man in his house who just paid off some workers who did a Job for him at his building site. The man made me to understand that a day pay for a mason is 4,500 naira while that of a labourer is 3000 naira. This discovery prompted me to make further research where I found out that the unskilled workers we actually sympathize with and look down on, actually earn a lot more than federal civil servants. So, why do so many of them still lead wretched lives and live in pitiable and unsavory environment? The answer is not far-fetched : wastefulness and squandermania!
Have you ever noticed that despite the poor economic situation in the country, fast food joints, bars, super-markets, hotels and the hospitality industry still enjoy appreciable patronage. So where does the money come from?
It is said that if you spend money buying what u don't need, you will end up selling what you need. Misplacement of priorities is our problem. A lot of people live in poverty,not because they don't earn money, but they live above their means. A rich man is not judged by how much he earns, but by what he has left after expenditure. Funny enough, most local pubs are patronized mainly by the so-called low income earners. If one earns 30,000 naira a month and drinks two bottles of beer daily, one ends up spending 12000 naira monthly on just beers,thereby eating into the money meant for more useful ventures. Thus, the basic needs would be left unattended to. Fast food joints that sell at outrageous prices still record high sales. A lot of people who go there do so just to impress. There u find men who owe their respective landlords house rents buying a plate of rice(2 spoons for that matter) and chicken worth over a thousand naira for a girlfriend whose father could barely afford a cup of local rice.
Let us stop leading false lives. Granted, there are a lot of people who don't even earn one naira. They are the people who deserve sympathy. While I advocate a significant upward review of workers' salaries to be at par with the increasing cost of living, we learn to tighten our belts and live within our means(and that includes taking family planning seriously, in order to have less mouths to feed).
What prevents one from opting for local rice instead of the imported ones, or fish in place of meat, or buy handsets that are reasonably priced? Remember, a penny saved is a penny gained. No matter your age, profession or responsibly, imbibe savings culture.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Classmates (story one)

  Emeka was not just my friend, he was a friend to all. He was particularly handsome and had an aura of importance. That alone made me admire him. In my class, he was ‘worshipped’ and highly revered. Even some teachers openly gave him preferential treatment. First, our form teacher had assigned him to the front row in the class, but Emeka himself preferred to sit at the far end of the rear. Of course, he had his way. Emeka was the only student in class who had the freedom to eat in class whenever he felt the desire to do so. I was surprised when mid-way into a maths class, he opened his big food flask and began feasting from it. Everyone expected the Maths teacher, who was a renowned disciplinarian, to have reacted. Lo and behold, the Maths teacher feigned ignorance despite the fact that the aroma from the food was so obvious that a passerby would have mistaken our classroom for a kitchen. Chike, another classmate of mine had attempted to do a similar thing few days earlier. The same

My Grandma series 1 (Chukwudi Anagbogu)

 I was among the few privileged ones to have lived with my grandmother during my childhood. My grandma had visited us for the “omugwo” of my younger sibling. At the ‘expiration` of three months, she had opted to stay longer because as she would always say, “anywhere one stays is one's home.”  My siblings and I received news of her “extension” with mixed feelings. Our concerns were borne out of her strictness. She was so strict that sometimes you wondered how my mother-her daughter survived childhood under her watch. It was during her stay that my immediate elder brother and I stopped bedwetting. Hitherto, my parents had employed all manner of tactics to stop us from betwetting, all to to avail. First, my mum had tried reducing our water intake, especially at nights. According to her, not taking enough water would reduce the urge to urinate at night. The strategy seemed to work initially, as we did not bed wet for three consecutive days. On the fourth day however, the unthinkable ha

LIFE CHANGER: CHAPTERS 7-9 (Q and A)

 Questions And Answers On The Life Changer  Chapter 7 How much did Dr Kabir demand from Salma? Dr. Kibir demanded a bribe of two hundred thousand naira from Salma but she declined his request and said she didn’t have that amount. How did Habib assist Salma? Habib gave Salma the money she needed to bribe the Chairman of the Exams Malpractice and Ethics Committee. How did Salma plan to save herself from getting expelled? Salma suggested Habib should help her speak with the Chairman of the Exams Malpractice and Ethics Committee. Why was Salma shocked when she finally presented herself to the committee for questioning? Salma was surprised when she noticed that Dr. Kabir was not a member of the Exams Malpractice and Ethics Committee. Why did Salma reject Habib’s suggestion of seeking help from Proffessor Dabo? Salma rejected Habib’s suggestion because she previously had issues with Professor Dabo. Why did Salma visit Habib in his office? Salma visited Habib at his office hoping he would be