Inflation, delay in salary squeeze parents

Parents in Nigeria are having the toughest time ever offsetting the tuition fees of their wards owing to the delay in payment of workers’ salaries, steep drop in oil price and volatile currency which has added more pressure on the incomes of many, BusinessDay investigation shows.

President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier said that 75 percent of states in the country are finding it difficult to pay workers’ salaries.

“On the economy, the fall of oil prices after Nigeria made itself a mono economy is a disaster. I wonder why people could not believe that in Nigeria about 27 out of the 36 states have difficulties in paying basic salaries of their workers,” the president stated.

Prices of essential goods and commodities in the country have continued to rise amid shrinking or static incomes of Nigerians in the last few months as struggling companies either laid off staff or slashed staff salaries leading to drastically reduced purchasing power.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), inflation in Africa’s largest economy and oil producer accelerated to 12.8 percent on an annualized basis, the highest since July 2012, from 11.4 percent in February due to the government’s naira peg which is pushing up food prices and fuel prices and adding pressure on the incomes of many.

Nigeria’s food prices rose 12.7 percent in March, from a year ago, compared with 11.4 percent in the previous month, driven up by transportation costs, the planting reason and foreign exchange movements.

With the resumption of most schools slated for this week, some parents who spoke with BusinessDay say they could foot their children’s school fees because of the country’s economic woes.

While lamenting over the state of the economy, Bolaji David-Ojumu said coping has not been easy.

“It’s really a challenge to me as a parent .when I went to the market last week to buy things my children needs for school, to my surprise all the prices of the things has increased drastically. School fees are a must and it will be paid somehow. It is more pathetic with those schools who do not accept payment after resumption”

“Before now I can comfortably pay my sons school fees before resumption but presently, I have not paid my sons fees and schools resume this week. The state of the economy has really affected me”, said a parent who gave his name simply as Peter.

Another parent who spoke on the condition of anonymity stated, “pressure is on the parents as school resumes and this puts pressure on parents income, especially the bread winner of the family and when this happens it means the family has to prioritize spending and when they do some of the needs have to be foregone leading to the basic economic principle of opportunity cost.

The gnashing of the teeth appears even more severe among parents who suffered retrenchment not too long ago.

“My company downsized in December last year and I was affected. I’m yet to secure a decent job so my wife has been carrying the family with her meagre income. Feeding has been pretty difficult for us and paying of school fees for my three children will take a while”, said Emmanuel Nwachukwu.

For Evelyn Obike who lost her job barely a month ago, she says she has no idea how her children’s fees will be paid.

“I’ve been raising my children singlehandedly since my husband past away a couple of years ago and it became rough when I lost my job last month. I don’t even know how to pay their fees will be paid because I’m cash trapped and I’m not expecting money anywhere,” she adds.

 

CHINWE AGBEZE & JOY USHIE