…Lament mounting difficulty in paying fees over tight economy
Many parents have said that they were facing significant financial strain due to rising costs of school fees, transportation, and necessities as schools resume for the third term across Nigeria.
These pressures are worsened by economic downturns, making it difficult for parents to afford essential expenses like housing, food, and school supplies, as well as their children’s education.
The hyperinflation and volatile exchange rate are driving the cost of living up in the country of more than 200 million people.
Read also: School resumption: Parents in Ondo cry out over extortion by principals, high prices of books
The cost-of-living crisis in Africa’s biggest economy is biting hard on citizens, making it difficult for citizens to meet their daily needs, hence, many Nigerians are sacrificing to get by. Medicines, food and other basic commodities are priced beyond the reach of many.
The economic crunch is fueled by high inflation, particularly in food prices, and exacerbated by the naira’s depreciation and the removal of fuel subsidies.
The situation of citizens is pathetic, even as electricity tariff, the pump price of petrol, the transportation and every other thing is taking all their earnings.
Sola Olukayode, a civil servant and mother of two, told BusinessDay that she was not finding it easy, especially with the surge in the cost of food items, and transportation.
“With current inflation on prices of food stuff, it’s not easy getting children to balance their diet because even fruits we add to food packages for school is very expensive, getting those healthy meals is on the high side, school fees have to be paid, house rent is on the increase.
“All these contribute to stress in the area of managing the little resources available to cover all the expenses, and with all these expenses, feeding hasn’t been easy at all,” she said.
According to Sola, the prices of food stuff within the Oshodi/Isolo axis are as follows; a carton of chicken which used to cost N50,000, is now sold for N56,000 (12 percent increase), snacks such as biscuits, have increased from N50 to N100 (100 percent), juice surged from N150 to N250 (40 percent).
Others are apples increased from N200 to N400 (100 percent), while a tuber of yam that was sold for about N800, in January now sells for N2,000, the ones that sold for N1,200, are now sold for N4,500.
Jegede Samuel, an artisan, and a father of five children, decried the economic crunch which he said exacerbated as schools resumed.
“My brother, things are getting worse with the children going back to school. My rent was due in March and my landlord just increased the rent.
Read also: Parents edgy over challenging fees as schools resume
“We’re paying N400,000, but the man is now asking for N750,000; I don’t even know how I’m going to settle that, because business is dull these days, we don’t get many clients again due to the cost of things,” he lamented.
Samuel said though the school did not increase the fees, even getting the money to pay the normal fees is more difficult now, coupled with other concomitant challenges.
“I’m a welder, and hardly do I get the electricity to do my work, the power-holders would bring the light in the night when we must have closed; besides, the exchange rate has made the cost of the raw materials to surge.
“The situation is precarious, leaving one with little or no hope of survival. The cost of foodstuff is not getting better either, and we must eat. So, the pressure is really there, we’re looking up to God,” he said.
Patience Ejiofor, a public servant, said that though the pressure is much, she adopted an approach by liaising with the school management over the payment of fees.
“To ease the pressure, I liaise with the school authorities on a payment plan that is comfortable with me, that way, I’m not much under pressure over school fees payment,” she said.
Ejiofor explained that she opted out of the use of school bus for her children as a result of her inability to afford the new charges.
“Before, we used to pay N35,000 per child for the bus service, but now, it has been increased to N60,000 because of the petrol pump price hike.
“As my finances can’t take that for my three children, I opted out, I take the pains of taking them to school every morning, good enough, they’re in the same school,” she said.
As a public servant who goes to work every workday, she said leaving the home early was her adopted measure to address the transportation cost on her finances.
“In a city such as Lagos, leaving my home very early in the morning helps me reduce transportation cost, as the fare is cheaper early in the morning,” she said.
The mother of three also said that buying foodstuffs in bulk was her means of overcoming the surging cost of items in the market.
