₦airaland Forum

Before anybody calls me a liar or a complainer, sit down and read this first. Because I have numbers. And numbers don't lie.

In 2019, I was earning ₦150,000 per month. Junior staff. I was not rich at all. But I was comfortable. I could breathe.

Today in 2026, I earn ₦500,000 per month. On paper that is more than 3x growth. I should be living large. I should have savings. I should be talking about investments by now.

Instead I am broke before the 25th of every month.

Let me show you exactly why.


THE NAIRA ITSELF
In 2019, one dollar was roughly ₦360.
Today in 2026, one dollar is over ₦1,500.

The naira has lost about 75% of its value against the dollar in 7 years. So anything imported, whether electronics, medicine, baby products or even some food, now costs 4 times what it used to.

My ₦500k today equals roughly $333.
My ₦150k in 2019 was worth roughly $416.

Read that again.

I earn more naira but fewer dollars. In real purchasing power I have gone backwards even though my salary tripled on paper.


FOOD

In 2019, I fed myself comfortably for around ₦30,000 per month. Decent food, market twice a week, occasionally a small restaurant.

Today that same lifestyle costs me at least ₦120,000 and that is me managing carefully.

| Item | 2019 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Bag of rice (50kg) | ₦18,000 | ₦85,000+ |
| Cooking gas (12.5kg) | ₦3,500 | ₦18,000+ |
| Groundnut oil (4 litres) | ₦2,800 | ₦12,000+ |
| Tomatoes (paint bucket) | ₦800 | ₦5,000+ |
| Full chicken | ₦2,500 | ₦10,000+ |
| Big loaf of bread | ₦350 | ₦1,500+ |

My food budget went up by 400%. My salary went up by 233%. The food is winning.



RENT

In 2019, I paid ₦350,000 per year for a decent one bedroom in a Lagos suburb. That is about ₦29,000 per month if you break it down.

Today that same apartment, same area, same size, same leaking ceiling, is ₦1.2 million per year. That is ₦100,000 per month equivalent.

I now spend 20% of my gross salary on rent alone. And landlords still want one to two years upfront. So every renewal season I need to drop over ₦1 million at once like I am buying land.



ELECTRICITY AND GENERATOR
In 2019, NEPA was bad but manageable. Fuel was ₦145 per litre. My monthly gen fuel was around ₦8,000.

Today petrol is close to ₦1,500 per litre. My monthly generator fuel alone is ₦45,000. And NEPA is still giving me the same 4 hours they gave me in 2019. Nothing changed on their side except the bills went up.


TRANSPORT

Bus from my estate to office in 2019 was ₦150 each way. That is ₦300 per day, about ₦6,600 per month.

Same route today is ₦700 minimum each way. ₦1,400 per day. Nearly ₦31,000 per month.

Ride hailing? Multiply that by three. I now spend between ₦30,000 and ₦50,000 every month just moving my body from home to work and back.



SO WHERE DOES THE ₦500K GO?

| Expense | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Rent (broken down monthly) | ₦100,000 |
| Food and groceries | ₦120,000 |
| Generator fuel | ₦45,000 |
| Transport | ₦35,000 |
| NEPA bill | ₦18,000 |
| Airtime and data | ₦12,000 |
| Toiletries and misc | ₦20,000 |
| Tithe | ₦25,000 |
| **Total** | **₦375,000+** |

That leaves me ₦125,000 for savings, emergencies, hospital, clothes, sending money home, school fees if you have children, and anything unexpected.

In 2019 on ₦150,000, my total expenses were under ₦90,000 and I had ₦60,000 left. That leftover was worth $167 at the time. My ₦125,000 leftover today is worth $83.

I saved more real money when I earned less. That is not a feeling. That is arithmetic.



THE PART NOBODY TALKS ABOUT
Beyond the numbers, what has changed is how money feels.

In 2019, seeing ₦100,000 in my account felt like safety. Like I had options. Like I could breathe easy.

Today I see ₦500,000 land on payday and my first feeling is anxiety, not happiness. Because I immediately start calculating what is owed, what is running out, what will still not be enough.

That shift from feeling okay to feeling like you are always one emergency away from trouble, even as your salary grows, is what this economy has quietly done to the Nigerian middle class.

We are not imagining things. We are not lazy. We are not bad at managing money. We are just running on a treadmill that keeps speeding up.



MY QUESTION TO NAIRALANDERS:
What was your salary in 2019 and what is it today? Are you genuinely better off or are you like me, earning more and living less?

Drop your numbers in the comments. No judgement for anybody. Let us count together.

Good analysis but you are asking the wrong question.

The right question is what can one do about it?

Because inflation appears to be continuing. In 2031 now it might be worse than this. So what can be done?

yomi007k:
Good analysis but you are asking the wrong question.

The right question is what can one do about it?

Because inflation appears to be continuing. In 2031 now it might be worse than this. So what can be done?

Not the wrong question, but one of the questions.

You lucky to have a job of 500k

Talk true, you don dey carry woman, abi na Tulumbu?

See ungrateful people o.

You better thank God and manage your expenses....I see married men collect #120k as salary

Nigeria under Tinubu is sinking.

You are not a serious human being, how many people earns 500k monthly, go to school teachers in public schools and see their earnings

Hmmmmmmm okay o no problem

Hmm
My situation this is bad.

Living in Nigeria is now more expensive than living in US or UK. Tinubu has bastardized the country

OnionBandit:
Talk true, you don dey carry woman, abi na Tulumbu?

Peson don give you comprehensive analysis you still dey ask about woman.
You see woman among im expenses??

Even then sef, woman in 2019 was 30k a month, but woman now na 200k a month.

Sad reminder of what Nigeria is and people for whatever reason don't care....

V

Muyiwaipere:
See ungrateful people o.

You better thank God and manage your expenses....I see married men collect #120k as salary

How do you explain to people like this, even with numbers, you are still finding it difficult to comprehend the explanation.. well na so sha.

May God restore our economy

The price of a bag of rice 🍚 🌾 is what I was earning in 2019 and still manage with kids.
In your write ups, I can see you're still single
Appreciate what you have

We have a greedy, incompetent waste as a President, who doesn't know what he is doing, but only cares about rigging himself back to the office of president.

Abubakar Atiku and Peter Obi are the cause of hardship, not Tinubu. ~ Poor South Western Nigerian man says

Chief Awolowo, sha no let me catch you on judgement day. You go explain give me the kind education wey you give some South West brothers. 😂😅

The pro-government crew will come for your head on this lovely Monday morning.
I dey hear about inflation those years in other African countries, I Noor know say E go hit home run for Naija too.

My brother you are very correct. The money no get single value again. 50k is like 5k now and 100k like 10k. No single value.

Tulumbu don finish this country.


He must go!

yomi007k:
Good analysis but you are asking the wrong question.

The right question is what can one do about it?

Because inflation appears to be continuing. In 2031 now it might be worse than this. So what can be done?

your question is the wrong question. There is nothing any of us here can do about inflation. We can’t control the forces behind inflation.

If you are not earning up to N1.2m monthly in Nigeria today, then you are below the middle class .


Fact.

Omo this is making me emotional. You know why. I am facing the same thing too.
My salary today has gone up from 2019 to 2026 but feeding takes a large chunk of it. I was having multiple savings back then, but now I struggle to save. This is not fair. What have we done to APC to plague us with this evil 🥹🥹
A kg of gas is now 1560 I filled 3 days ago. PH.
This is not fair. Those supporting this evil APC, no matter how you pray, God will never answer your prayers because you all are worst than the devil

Too many exaggerations. So, you expect everything to be the same under a 7 year comparison?

So, you stay in a one bedroom apartment in a suburb with a leaking roof for 1.2M naira per year? That was the lie that made the remainder of your writeup a hogwash.

This is good avenue for government to see what we are facing. Most of these government people don't know what's happening because they're stealing heavily. The money for their pocket too much.

Uchesis:
If you are not earning up to N1.2m monthly in Nigeria today, then you are below the middle class .


Fact.

Even the so called 1.2 million is already losing value. Is only those earning dollars in this country that are rich. The rest of us are just managing. Even the rich are careful with their expenses now. Facts

It has never been this bad

So true, I had once used one business i do to evaluate this before.
My palm oil business was bringing in 250k or a bit more after each turn which takes about three weeks or less and we lived comfortably with it but now we're getting over 400k after that same turn but after all domestic expenses just as before, we now find it very difficult to even deal with all the domestic expenses.
I told people there's nothing good about all the report of future advantages of the reforms of Tinubu government, nothing will change rather things will keep getting worse. The right precautionary measures were not taken at all.
In November 2021, I bought lexus ES 330 at 3.3M naira, when my brother wanted to travel I sold it and help him, last year I wanted to go purchase that same car. I was told the last price was 9.2M, what type of reform will shoot price up like that without a commensurate shoot up of the citizens income?