Aresident of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Mr. Benson Ogholi, has said he adopted cost-saving measures to survive the prevailing economic hardship in the country.
Ogholi, a father and husband, said most times he parks his car and treks to his destinations to avoid spending scarce money on petrol.
He said:”The situation has been terrible. Survival has been difficult. We had expected it to be better than this but things happened. Here we are. We have no choice but to cope.
“For me there are only two types of adjustments that could be made here. The first thing is to prune my expenditures. The next is to improve revenue. I tried implementing the two but because investing and entrepreneurship is not also easy in the country, the one that is especially within my reach is to cut down on expenditures.
“I drive only when it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, I pay transport, sometimes I even use my legs. People see me and say where is your car but I always tell them I am exercising. In terms of power usage, we put out the light and we try to wisely use our cooking gas.
“Before now we would let our gas run but we are more economical with it these days. I normally don’t bathe with cold water, but now instead of wasting gas to boil water, I take my bath with cold water. These are some adjustments we made to keep afloat.
“We need to focus on what we can do as individuals. We must get side hustles – especially those who are salary earners. I try to do that and add it to the family income so we can keep going”.
Despite owning a small medicine shop in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Iyowuna Edna John-West, said hardship compelled her to think out of the box.
She said following the decrease in sales amidst high cost of living, she resorted to planting some crops and vegetables in the compound where she lives as a tenant.
“Things became tough, especially the prices of food items in the market became unaffordable. But there is this space in the compound where I pay rent as a tenant,” she revealed.
“I reasoned that I could use it for a garden to plant some of the things I buy in the market – especially vegetables and pepper. I started planting them and I now harvest them”.
Iyowuna advised people to look inwards, embrace farming despite their chosen careers and occupation, adding that increasing food production will gradually reduce their prices in the market.
She complained that her business had dwindled and her stock depleted because of low patronage caused by high prices of medicine.
She said: “It is chaotic market place. Sometimes we sell things at the shop based on the price we bought them and the mark-up we added earlier, but on getting to the market we will discover that the price of same products had increased beyond what we sold them. So, we end up losing part of our capital”.
Iyowuna said following the development, medicine suppliers reached understanding with some of them to supply them goods on credit.
She said: “Even the suppliers are feeling the hardship. Low demand compelled them to start giving some of us goods on credit so that we can pay later after selling the products. It is tough but we have devised some means to cope with the situation”.
