The joy of every civil servant in Kwara State is placed on hold as they continue to depend on meagre salary at the end of the month. The minimum salary of any individual in the Nigerian civil service is N30,000, which is not enough to stock the house with food items. A person who receives N30,000 will have to deduct his transportation fare from the salary and use the remaining to buy items needed for the household.
For every responsible parent, taking care of the family’s needs is a priority. Many people who are working as government workers will solely depend on their salaries in order to take good care of themselves and their families. A civil servant can only be encouraged to work and concentrate only if the salary is reasonable and enough to meet his needs.
Ordinarily, civil servants should be seen as people who are very smart, good-looking, and committed. They should be dutiful, punctual, and regular at work. Civil service is blessed with different people who are the best brains, they are part of the forces that drive the economy of each state. Any government that wants to succeed needs a working and active civil service.
And part of what could keep a civil service running effectively is for the government to pay the worker’s salaries as at when due, do their promotion exercises regularly, review their salaries, and pay attention to other remunerations that would make them live a comfortable life.
Civil servants in Kwara State are exceptional people, very enduring and committed to work. Kwara State remains one of the oldest in Nigeria but unfortunately, the state is still crawling in terms of development.
The poor condition of the state is really affecting them. Civil servants in Kwara from time immemorial are poorly paid. They received very little salary yet were expected to be hardworking. They look wretched and poor till their retirements. Even, after their retirements, many people still would not be able to cater for themselves, which sometimes sends many of them to an early grave.
They are exceptional people because it has always been hard for them to survive. In 2010, when the N18, 000 minimum wage was signed into law and implemented in all the states across the country, Kwara workers were ridiculed and paid low salaries compared to their counterparts in other states across the country.
That’s how it had remained until this present administration came on board. Part of the campaign promises of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Kwara State before it came in power was to prioritize the welfare of the citizens, most especially the civil servants. Although there has been no relative change, all hope is not lost, as Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has promised to do something as regard increase in worker’s salaries.
The situation of things in the country is appalling. The sudden increase in the price of foodstuffs has caused untold hardship to many people. The price of food items is very high that only a few people could cope with the inflation. Any civil servant who works with either the federal, state or local government is mostly affected.
In Nigeria, the approved minimum wage stood at N30,000. And for someone who earns such an amount of money monthly, it is obvious that the person will not be able to survive in this current situation. A bag of rice is sold from around N28,000 to N30,000. It is so pathetic that an average man who works in the civil service will definitely suffer from acute hunger, hardship, and malnutrition. The question is, what can N30,000 afford to buy that will last for 30 days?
It is logical that he will not be able to afford a balanced diet. He will only eat what is available and cheap in the market. The increase in the price of foodstuffs really affects almost everyone, including those who are artisans, entrepreneurs among others.
Beans that were known as a cheap commodity have gone out of hand. One bowl of beans is now sold for N1000. The price is relatively high compared to before that it was sold for N200. It is not only rice and beans that are expensive, it is almost the prices of all the food items that have skyrocketed.
A civil servant, Mrs. Olaniyi Lydia, who works with the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, expressed her dissatisfaction over the sudden increase in the price of foodstuffs. She said that the money which is used to purchase 10 goods is what is now used to buy only one product.
‘We now survive on one square meal’
Lydia said, “If one is given N200 before, one will prepare a good soup for the family but taking N10,000 to the market now, you will think you lost some money on the way. No amount of money is valuable in the market world today. As a civil servant, there is no amount you can take to the market nowadays that will be enough to satisfy all your present basic needs.
“Even if you take N10000 to the market, all you just need to do is to go along with nylon to pack all that you purchase a home as it is too small and expensive. We are now in a situation where parents don’t care for their children’s satisfaction again not to talk about caring for other relatives living with them. We are no longer satisfied, all that we do now as a parent is to make sure that children get little materials and food needed to survive. We hardly eat balanced diets.
“Gone are those days when we don’t like drinking Garri and we do take EBA for granted. Whosoever has Garri now should be grateful as it is now becoming more expensive and the price of rice now is becoming unbearable. Before we used to eat more than three times a day, but now, we eat once a day. We do delay the meal till afternoon time, once we eat for that day, that’s the end till another. That’s how we have been managing to survive. Everything is becoming worse especially in this Nigeria where we have many people suffering from extreme hunger. And this has resulted to depression, many people have killed themselves because they have loose hope.
“Before, we take solid food as breakfast and have snacks for lunch with an assurance of a good supper, that is no more in existence now as many only survive with one square meal, that is, one meal time in a day. The only method used by many families to survive the situation is one square meal. It is either you eat in the morning, afternoon or at night, just once in a day. And if any family is opportune to get beans which will be mixed with gari after cooking, it will last long before digestion.
“That is the only way a family keeps surviving, although some families make beans and gari their regular meal, still the children are not satisfied as some will wake at night crying because they are hungry but what else can we do?
“The domestic animals are also suffering because there is a limit to the food you give them. We as human beings we do take any available food without remembering the existence of livestock in our compound. Gone are those days when we feed goats with plantains because we can see them in abundance. We also wish to eat plantain now but it is very expensive and scarce in the market.
“With N10,000 now we can only purchase a few food items. Cowskin (Ponmo) which is often used as an alternative for meat before is now expensive beyond control. The quantity sold for N300 will only be taken once in a small family of two or three while that of N500 is not enough to prepare only soup for a whole family. In the past, if you have N500, you will prepare a good meal and you will still have some change. Things have changed now.
“Before, we substitute yam for rice but now both yam and rice are expensive. We buy only three tubers of yam for N1000, even before getting the yam at that price you will suffer. I visited both new markets (Ojatuntun) and Oja-oba and see that the price is high in other markets. Talking about the price of maize, it is amazing as it has also increased. Pap is no longer a cheap food. Before an N100 pap is sufficient for a while family but now, it can not even satisfy only a person.
“Before the arrival of the salary, we already have a huge amount of debt to pay back. Even, after collecting the salary, you will begin to calculate the amount repeatedly as if you have lost some money. The salary is not enough money to pay back loans, not to now talk of catering for the whole family. The current exchange rate is high and naira is now valueless.”
According to Aleji Deborah Opeyemi, who sells food items at Ojatuntun market in Ilorin, the state capital, she narrated how the increase in the price of commodities has really affected the sales.
‘Border closure, increase in the price of petrol caused a hike in food items’
“We sell foodstuffs like Semovita, Noddles, pasta, and other foodstuffs. The increase in price is really affecting us as we can not sell our goods as we do sell them before. For instance, a 10kg bag of Semovita which was sold for N1600, is now N4800 to N5000. As you can see if a person budget N10,000 for 5 bags of Semovita and on getting to the market you discovered that there has been an increase of the commodity, the person will be forced to get a smaller quantity of the goods, and this will affect he or she plan.
“Even N20, 000 can’t get a bag of rice again. If we are to consider it as for the past, we sell goods better compared to now. Before we can sell a truck of Semovita for a week but now, even a month, the goods will still be in the store and this is really affecting the manufacturing industry in the country. So, the companies are also trying to reduce the price of the products but they can’t also sell off their goods at a loss.
“The factors which are affecting the price of the goods can be categorised into three; firstly, increase in the exchange rate. Before the exchange rate of 1 dollar to naira was N360 but now it is N520 and most of our goods here in Nigeria is imported and all they do here is just the packing, so the rate at which we get goods from other countries is affecting us as the value of Nigeria’s currency is falling.
“Secondly, closure of the borders. Since the Federal Government said there should be no importation of some foodstuffs, that has also caused food scarcity and an increase in the price of food items.
“Lastly, the increase in the cost of petrol has affected the price of goods in the market. Now a litre of petrol is sold at N162. The cost of transporting goods to the market has increased and it has affected the price at which the items are sold in the market. The profit we get on a product is so low compared to before.
“I would suggest that the border be opened as it will give the opportunity of easy importation of goods. And I urge the Federal Government to reduce the price of petrol in order to reduce the cost of transportation. So I believe that there can be a change in the price of the goods if my points can be examined,” Opeyemi expressed while speaking to The Informant247.
A food vendor, who seek anonymity, lamented that the hike in the price of foodstuffs has affected him, giving a breakdown of what the price of goods is compared to before when he bought items at a cheaper rate.
‘Bad governance caused untold hunger, acute malnutrition in Nigeria’
He said, “The price is really affecting me, for instance, I filled my 12kg gas for N4000 but as we see it now last week it was N8000 and it may rise at any time. It is hard to change the price of food because everybody is used to the price. Sometimes after a month, I don’t have a savings of N1000, even some of my customers do pity me because they wonder how I could survive with the high price of cooking materials. I am tired of everything already.
“Even the price of vegetable oil of 25 litres was N6000 but now the price is N28000 and the price might have increased again to N29000. A bottle of vegetable oil now is N950 as 5 litres is sold N4500, all these things are really affecting us.
“The increase in the price of the goods was as a result of the bad government in Nigeria. The government is not ready to do anything good for the benefit of the people. That has been their plan because since Covid-19 did not kill us, they now want hunger to kill us. We now witness acute malnutrition in major parts of the country. Attentions are only shifted to the North, they are only working on their plans in the Northern part of the country as we see that the price of goods at the North is far better compared to the other part of the country.”
How Civil Servant in Kwara resort to one meal daily due to hike in food items
Photo credit: Ayelabola Silas
