Many residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have continued to decry increasing cost of food, fuel, transport and accommodation.
According to them, meeting basic household needs is becoming increasingly difficult.
The residents disclosed on Sunday in Abuja, that their incomes were no longer keeping pace with the rising cost of everyday necessities.
For some families, the challenge went beyond buying food, as higher transport fares, rising rents and other household expenses continued to consume an increasing share of their earnings.
Mr Emmanuel Affia told NAN that the situation had forced the family to review its spending and abandon some previously affordable needs.
“These days my wife no longer writes list of items to be bought from the market along with the prices attached because these prices keep increasing by the day.
“The most interesting aspect is that I have three teenage boys with a very healthy appetite, so you can imagine how much we spend on food on a daily basis.
“We even keep adjusting our lifestyle regularly, just to be able to afford basic necessities of life and this is affecting my children’s mental health, “Affia said.
Similarly, Mrs Ann Ogwuche, said fluctuating fuel prices had made budgeting increasingly difficult because transport costs could change without notice.
Ogwuche said, “I do not understand how the price of fuel keep fluctuating every time. Just today, I bought fuel for N1,350 per litre within the city centre.
“My fear is that this sudden increase, even though it seems slight, will definitely lead to further increase in transportation cost and cost of food.”
MRS retail outlets recently increased pump price from N1,350 to N1,395 per litre, while NIPCO retail outlets raised pump price from N1,350 to N1,430 per litre.
The latest adjustment followed an N85 increase in Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s gantry price from N1,265 per litre to N1,350 per litre amid a surge in global crude oil prices.
The resident said the rising cost of food had further compounded the pressure, with previously affordable items becoming increasingly difficult to accommodate within the household budget.
Mrs Chinasa Benjamin, a mother of four, said she went to the market to buy a dustbin basket of onions which was sold at N4,500 previously, only to discover that the price was now N9,000.
“I was not able to buy a basket of onions because of the high cost , I only managed to buy a small plate which was sold at N3,500 and diverted the balance to other household items,” she said.
For tenants, accommodation presents another challenge, with some residents complaining about rising rents, additional charges and cumbersome processes involved in securing housing.
A civil servant, Mrs Lilian Okoh, said the cost of accommodation was particularly challenging for workers whose salaries remained largely unchanged in spite of rising living expenses.
“My rent will expire in October. My landlord came last week to my compound to inform all the tenants to quit his apartment, and since then we have been searching for a new place.
“We were paying N1.5 million for a two bedroom apartment in Apo resettlement area, but right now, all the houses we have been seeing is going for N3 million and above.
“It is almost as if all the landlords had a meeting to increase rent. This is frightening as my salary cannot keep up with this high rent and other household expenses,” she said.
Okoh said beyond rent itself, the process of securing accommodation can involve several payments, making it difficult for low- and middle-income earners to move into new homes.
She said many landlords, through their representatives now also attach very cumbersome requirements, which tenants must meet before being given a house.
“ For instance, the lawyer I met yesterday, demanded for my place of work, payslips, dependents and guarantors among other paper works which I must provide before being considered for the house.
“This issue of housing is something the government really needs to look into, because it is frustrating workers in the FCT.
“Out of our little salary which have remained unchanged, we struggle to feed our family, pay school fees, transport ourselves to work and now face the greedy landlords,” she said.
For Mrs Kelechi Chiagozie, a teacher and mother of three said, the challenge remained immediate, with household budgets being adjusted almost daily to accommodate changing prices.
“What I do these days is that I compare prices across markets, buy smaller quantities and postpone non-essential purchases to cope with the situation.
“I think the struggle is no longer about maintaining a particular standard of living, but finding ways to meet basic needs without exhausting monthly incomes,” she said.
Experts say the situation reflected the broader pressure facing households as inflationary pressures had reduced the purchasing power of incomes.
An economist, Dr Gideon Maigida, said rising prices meant households were effectively paying more for the same goods and services while their disposable incomes remained under pressure.
The economist said the pressure could lead households to reduce consumption, postpone important spendings and depend increasingly on informal coping mechanisms.
“This trend reflects declining purchasing power for citizens and when real incomes fail to keep pace with inflation, households begin to cut discretionary spendings.
“I pray the government will look beyond campaign strategies for a re-election and really look into the plight of workers and civil servants in the country to ease their burden.
“This situation requires policies that addresses both household purchasing power and the underlying factors driving production and distribution costs,” Maigida said.
According to the expert, improving local production, reducing logistics costs and creating more productive employment opportunities will be important to achieving sustainable improvements in living standards.
As prices continue to fluctuate, residents say they hoped for measures that would bring greater stability to the cost of essential goods, transportation and housing.
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