Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 15: "Navigating life in our Homeland"

Hi, friends, and community allies, this is my very first participation in a contest hosted by my dear country. This is to create that endearing consciousness that this is our own and everyone is allowed to make their entries. I also hope to be reviewed like every other person that made their entries into the contest topic as given.

It is all about our home and the present economic, financial, and social aspects of it. Just for the record, no place like home. I will say since the pandemic attacked the world, the world has not remained the same in all these incidences. It has been from one problem to the other. Just as we felt that the era pandemic has gradually faded away, the Russian-Ukraine Invasion started.

This invasion has continued to disrupt the nascent recovery of the world economy and all about it, especially in the place of food security. The recent non-agreement reached in the Black Sea deal has left world grain in a food blockage scenario where Russian drones were seen bombing one of the grain storage facilities. Africans and other countries who depend majorly on the grains coming in through this route have continued to bear the brunt of it.

We cannot shy away from the fact that those countries with comparative advantage skewed to a lighter scale will continue to have food price inflation. My dear country is not left out of it though with more complex problems associated with these already shared highlights. Let's digress more using the contest hints given...

The economic, financial, and socio factors of my country are in dire need and entering comatose. It is no longer gainsaying to pretend about the fact that we need aid and support, be it internal or external to help salvage the present situation. Having highlighted some of the world concerns that must have filtered into the country due to its adverse effects; like the pandemic and the present Ukrainian invasion by the Russian Federation, it is paramount that there should be a state of emergency in the country.

Some schools of thought have already envisaged a scenario where a military takeover may happen to help clean up the polity. Though this isn't happening at any time, I can categorically say that the country is comatose and awaiting death if nothing is quickly done. This present rot in the system that has brought about a collapse in the socioeconomic and financial sectors was observed to have started from the last dispensation, 8 years ago.

No wonder the interest and zeal exhibited by the youths and all well-meaning Nigerians who came out to exercise their civic rights by voting. To some, they feel cheated and the electioneering process abused, and for others, they are of good faith that it went in the right direction. There is little or nothing to say on this since the matter is still in the courts.

But can see for ourselves, those in Nigeria that things have drastically gone up with the standard of living greatly battered. Inflation is in a daily increase as the cost of living is now doubled. Prices of food are now double what they used to be from the last dispensation and almost 5 times that of the last two regimes. There is practical hunger in the land and people are finding it hard to survive the current situation we find ourselves in.

Just a week today, we had some suicide cases where people jumped into the lagoon out of frustration. This can only represent the way and manner the country is trending. A trend if not reversed would have more suicide cases in its daily records. It is no longer business as usual as people can barely feed themselves daily. What about issues bothering on the high rate of theft this has brought? It is becoming alarming as the society is becoming unhabitable due to the increased activities of criminality.

What about the almighty Naira currency? It is on a free fall vis-a-vis the US dollar. The previous regime left it in its worse value of N400/1USD and presently, we have the Naira currency trending for N950/1USD. This simply shows the catastrophic situation we are in today. The price of PMS which was officially sold for N195/liter is now sold for N620/liter. In a country where every other sector depends on oil for improved revenue other logistical concerns have thrown the economy worse than it could recover sooner.

It is no longer a story that the socio-economic and financial situation of my country is in a coma. We need emergency situations to recover all that has befallen it. We are worse hit now than ever in the history of my dear country. It does not matter the policies put in place, if they are not serving the purpose in which it was instituted, it only amounts to nuisance and discomfort to the citizens.

This happens to be my worst moment in the country. I have not seen a situation like this since birth. One would wonder if this is a punishment from God for the country's wrongdoings. I have been economically drained due to the present situation. To live the usual simple life would cost you double what was obtainable. For a monthly budget plan of say 200,000 NGN will barely cost at least 350,000 NGN to handle (1169 to 2046 Steem).

The big question here is that there are no increments seen from monthly salaries. Since they are fixed, it only takes the invention of God to prevail on the employers of labor through the government to make the necessary adjustments. This only amounts to a reduced standard of living as the same budget plan could only chase fewer deliverables unlike before now.

Transportation to work is demanding due to the high cost of PMS. The use of private cars always has been cut down as they are used on some specific days while exploring the use of other public transportation mediums. Previous PMS demands of 25,000 NGN (147 steem) in a month could only be managed for 9 days now. This is to say that, one is required to budget about 75,000 NGN (439 steem) for the same period. Using the public transport that comes with its public inconveniences has grown from a mere 12,000 NGN (70 steem) to 35,000 NGN ( 205 steem) monthly.

This also has affected my weekly recreational activities which require me to drive to the venue for my workout. This can no longer hold regularly due to the PMS consumption that comes with it bi-weekly travels for visitation have been suspended for the same cause. Every aspect of one's living standard has been cut down so far they are not life-threatening at the moment.

In the interim, a lot of excess has been pruned down to allow for stable sanity. Visitation that could be regularised through mobile communication has been efficiently used to avoid movements that saps more fortune. Living according to the realities on the ground has been activated and used over this period for stability.

Also outsourcing for other side streams of income also encouraged us to help cater to those things inflation has taken away from us. The steem platform has played a part despite the little that one path with after publications.

I was able to reduce the amount of money spent while generating power for myself through the generating set. I switched from the use of fuel to the use of gas. I purchased the gas-calibrator and got it installed. All the necessary connections were made and I am presently saving 50 % of monies spent on the use of fuel.

Right from the days of the last pandemic, lessons were learned. It is good to always have streams of income. At a time when the economy was shot down and human movements were restricted, it was obvious that the internet and online businesses came through for me and others who took advantage of side income streams.

This present situation only allowed me to strengthen my stance on it and think of more avenues to draw in income for transactional purposes. It is a time to cut down on excesses and unnecessary expenditures that can wait or not important. A time to focus on needs and not wants.

Thank you, friends... This is my entry to the weekly contest hosted by steem4nigeria.

I am inviting @ruthjoe, @chilaw, and @kuzboy to join the contest.