Unusual times, they say, call for unusual strategic solutions. But it is a bit disturbing to know of the very weird strategies that Nigerians are now adopting to survive as the economic hardship continues to bite. There are confirmed stories of increased professional begging to increased stealing/robbery, children now being withdrawn from schools because their parents/guardians can no longer afford the bill, schools running charity, sick people resorting to herbal remedies because they can’t afford medical bills, to even narrations of women now offering and giving free sex just for a meal, all practical evidences that our economy is in a real bad place.

As luxury and most of treats that Nigerians are used to become alien to most citizens and families, it is interesting to see more people now turning to God in prayers and becoming increasingly religious.

Just last Tuesday a friend narrated a live experience of how a housewife who went into bait sex with her next door neighbour as collateral for food to feed her dying children was recently caught in the act by another neighbour.

“This happened nearby Niger State here and I’m not kidding, Onyinye,” my friend told me as we discussed the very weird things that people do now just to survive.

The very tough situation has been captured by recent result of some sets of surveys conducted by the NOIPolls in partnership with BusinessDay Media.

The public poll assessed the perceptions of Nigerians regarding their current personal economic situation and coping strategies to manage the economic situation over the past few months.
The poll revealed that about two-thirds of Nigerians (66 percent) have been lamenting the worsening state of their personal economic situation in the past few months. Ninety-seven percent of the respondents acknowledged that these recent economic realities have had a negative effect on the general wellbeing of the average Nigerian.

And clearly, these findings are corroborated by the recent set of macroeconomic data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on August 31. The NBS in its GDP report confirmed the obvious, that economy has slid into recession, contracting to -2.06 percent second quarter of the year after an initial negative growth of -0.36 percent in the first quarter.

Buhari’s government has come out to reassure hope but it is practically difficult to sell the hope story to the citizens, who have now taken their survival in their own hands as against the optimism with which the president was massively voted for early last year.

Unfortunately and expectedly, it’s not only the GDP numbers that are bad. Sets of other indicators like inflation, unemployment, investment inflows also released same day by the NBS do not look good.

Nigeria’s inflation rose to record 17.1 percent year-on-year in July, the highest in over 10 years as high electricity, petrol, kerosene and diesel costs put intense pressure on consumer prices.
Despite repeated mantra of job creation by the current administration and its efforts geared towards salvaging the ailing economy, Nigeria’s federal government could not tame unemployment that accelerated to 13.3 percent in the second quarter of 2016. Youth unemployment was recorded at 24 percent. National unemployment rate rose to 13.3 percent as against 12.1 in Q1 2016, 10.4 percent in Q4 2015 from 9.9 percent in Q3 2015 and from 8.2 percent in Q2 2015.

These tough conditions are now pushing people into daring things that were hardly heard of before now just to keep afloat.
Bell Inuah, chief executive officer at NOIPolls, gave appalling clear evidences he got together with his team as they visited 36 states of the federation trying to catch some firsthand proof of abject poverty and hunger.

“In the last three months from between June, July, August, we had the mandate to travel the entire 36 states of the country, speaking to Nigerians, understanding their day to day life; how they are coping and all of that,” said Inuah.

“I had the opportunity personally to travel to twenty of those states, while my colleagues covered the rest. We observed certain things that most people wouldn’t believe. And these were anecdotal evidences that we saw. One, there is a growing army of dependents in Nigeria. People who used to work are no longer working; maybe they have been laid off from their places of employment and there is a growing army of dependents. As a result, begging is on the increase.”

Inuah said there was hardly any state they visited which did not have increased number of beggars, including Abuja.
“Now if you just park your car somewhere, someone comes out, and they have printed papers and medical papers to show you. Begging is now a profession,” he said.
He said in addition to begging, there has also been an increase in crime.

Inuah said, “Crime rate has increased. From petty crimes to pick pocketing, to stealing of foods and to now even hard crimes – robbery. The rate of crime has increased and we saw this clearly across the states we visited. We also saw anecdotal evidences of cases of missing pots of soup especially those who live in communal kitchens. You come out; your pot of soup is gone.
“There was a particular case in Plateau State that someone narrated. A woman came asking for money to buy some food for her children and the woman said she doesn’t have. While the woman was cooking, she went inside to get seasoning, and coming out, she found that her pot was gone. She went knocking on doors and eventually knocked on the door of that person who had come to ask her for money.

“But after some time, she saw the woman’s children coming out with food and then asked, ‘So how did you get the food?’ And she responded that she took the food so that she and her children won’t die. She continued, ‘Two days we have not had anything to eat, I won’t watch my children starve to death.’”
Inuah also told me stories about some parents offering their children as collateral for food.

“Someone comes, buys a mudu of rice or garri and says, ‘I forgot to bring money, just help me watch my child while I go and get money’, and he or she disappears.
“I found this in at least five states. I thought it was just an issue in one state but it was confirmed with anecdotal evidences in up to five states. These are economic pressures,” he said.
Another evidence of the economic hardship is job losses, with emergency taxi drivers now seen all over town.
“So someone has a car but in order to buy fuel and put some little extra cash in his pocket, he takes his car out for taxi. These are some of the things we’ve seen as anecdotal evidences,” Inuah said.

He said apart from these anecdotal evidences, NOIPolls decided to conduct some scientific survey on what Nigerians are thinking about the economy and how the economy is affecting them.
“Clearly, at least 66 percent of those we interviewed said they have seen that the economy has worsened and at least 83 percent of Nigerians say the economy has had a negative effect on them,” Inuah further noted during the over 20 minutes chat.

“So if over 8 in 10 Nigerians think that the economy is having a negative effect on them, that’s really a big issue.”
Speaking to how people say they were surviving in these very tough times, he told me that first and foremost, about 37 percent of Nigerians said they were cutting down on household expenses and luxury items.
“What that means is that those little ice cream, suya, nkwobi, pepper soup, and those little extras that Nigerians used to delight themselves in, they are cutting them out.
“Everyone, at least those we spoke to, are now focusing on the basics. Basic clothes, food to eat, almost 47 percent.

“We also have those who told us that they have adjusted their family feeding pattern. So in the past where they used to have 1-1-1, they are now having 0-1-0, meaning nothing for breakfast, a strong lunch and in the evening, eat something light and then go to bed. Some go for the 1-0-1. So family feeding patterns are now being readjusted,” he said.
Inuah disclosed that many people now opt for secondhand clothes, which unfortunately do not also come cheap because of the high exchange rates.
There are also cases of people interviewed going for the creation of alternative sources of income, especially in the use of their talents. Then another thing is the purchase of locally-manufactured products because of the high cost of foreign products.

There are also clear cases of families increasingly engaging in subsistence agriculture to plant, say, some vegetables in their backyard to sustain living.
“There are also those who said they have cut down on their transport to trekking, so Nigerians are now trekking a little more to be able to cover up transport expenses as a result of the hike in transport costs,” he said.

There are also increasing cases of dependence on family and friends.
“In Maiduguri, there is hardly any family that does not have Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living with them. You must be able to harbour one or two. Someone told me that the amount of calls he gets now from people asking for money is unimaginable,” he said.

“Prior to now, people who could ask for money were those that are jobless, but now even those that I well respect and look up to, the economy has created a little twist and they are now calling, asking for favour,” he said.

http://abokifx.com/nigerians-in-weird-survival-strategies-amid-economic-recession-businessday/