Grace Adama puts her earrings on in her two-room flat before grabbing her handbag and leaving for work in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
The health Non-Governmental Organisation worker’s $99 monthly salary is nearly double the country’s minimum wage, but she said life keeps getting tougher as her salary fails to keep pace with rocketing costs.
“If I’m paid today, my salary stays with me just for one week,” she told Reuters. “If you see the cost of living, house, electricity, everything has gone up.”
Living standards for millions in Africa’s largest oil exporter have crumbled in the past three years as the government of President Bola Tinubu pushed through painful reforms, including fuel subsidy removals, Naira devaluation and electricity subsidy cuts.
The government and investors say the reforms were essential to pull the country back from the edge of fiscal crisis and would pay off in the long run.
But now, it costs Nigerians more than double to make the staple jollof rice than it did when Tinubu took office, according to an index by Lagos-based Market Intelligence and Strategic Consulting Firm which tracks the prices of ingredients which go into making the dish.
Petrol prices are six times higher following the scrapping of the subsidy and as the Naira weakened and global oil prices surged.
The World Bank estimates just over half of Nigeria’s population were in poverty last year, up from roughly 42% in 2022.
–Reuters–
