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Cost of living in Lagos has gone sky-high

THE cost of living is increasing daily from house rent to utility bills, school fees, clothings, food items, the list is endless.

Bread winners have continued to dig deep to the bottom of their pocket in order to meet up with the ever increasing bills. It is difficult to see a bread winner in Nigeria today who doesn’t have a stream of income, yet most struggle so hard to keep up with their expenses.

ENCOMIUM Weekly sampled the opinion of bread winners about the skyrocketing cost of living…

 

TEMITOPE RAHMON

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

High is an understatement, most especially in Lagos State.  Landlords increase house rents every year from N20,000 to N50,000.  I am even thinking of relocating to my village.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

Clothing is also expensive, especially during festive seasons.  Transportation in Lagos takes a lot of money.  I spend about N1,000 every day, especially during this fuel scarcity period.  I don’t want to go out and get stranded.  I pay about N17,000 per month for house rent.  For school fees, I pay about N35,000 per term.  Foodstuff takes N20,000.  We pay NEPA bill, car park, security bill, maintenance of borehole, cable TV, LAWMA bill.  For all these we spend about N15,000.

 

ADEMOLA OLUKAYODE

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

The cost of living in Lagos is high.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

I pay N250,000 for my house rent per year.  I have a car, so I spend on fuel and as you know, fuel has been on and off, about N6,000 to N7,000 or more per month.  My daughter’s food takes most of the money as baby food is costly.  Utility bills take about N10,000 a month.

 

OLUFEMI AKIODE

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

Of course, cost of living in the city is high.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

My house rent is N300,000 per year.  Fuel takes about N10,000 per month, feeding takes about N20,000 to N30,000 per month.  I have two children.  I pay N20,000 and N25,000 for their school fees.  Utility bills and entertainment is about N15,000.

 

OMOBOLAJI ATANDA

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

The cost of living is sky rocketing.  Nothing has been stable, the dwindling economy is probably the cause.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

In a month, my wife and I spend about N30,000 on feeding.  Then every month we spend an average of N10,000 to fuel our cars and this is because my wife goes to work with her staff bus.  You can imagine how much it would have been if she doesn’t go with the staff bus.  We are still trying to get a baby.  So, no children expenses yet.  Our electric bill is about N5,000 monthly. Fuel for the generator is about N2,000 a month because we have an inverter.  So, we hardly turn the generator on.  Our security and estate maintenance fee is about N5,000 per month too.

Miscellaneous expenses is about N10,000 in a month.  All these varies from month to month..

 

STEVE ADEKUNLE

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

Yes, the cost of living in Lagos has become really high.  In fact, it gets higher every week.  There’s always one increase or extra expenses.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

Expenses incurred vary from month to month.  So, right now, I can only give a rough estimate.  I have a small family, just my wife, my little child and myself.  We spend about N20,000 on feeding monthly.  About N15,000 on transportation, utility bills like electricity and waste go for about N2,000 and N500 a month respectively.  My little child still attends crèche, the crèche costs N5,000 monthly. Her medication in a month is about N1,500 and her snacks costs about N2,000.

 

DAPO ADENUGA

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

Skyrocketing is an understatement, the cost of living in Lagos gets higher every day.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

On an average, every month we spend at least N30,000 to N40,000 on foodstuff and miscellaneous expenses per month.  Then the cost of transportation is unpredictable but my wife and I spend about N20,000 to N25,000, our house rent costs roughly N20,000 per month.  School fees and books for my daughter a term is about N30,000, while the electric bill is about N8,000 per month.

 

OYEWALE JAMES

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

Yes o, seriously.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

Rent goes for N350,000 per annum.  To fuel my car costs me about N25,000 per month, for utility N25,000 and for food about N50,000 monthly.

 

SALIU  DAWODU

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

It is skyrocketing.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

In terms of food in a month, I spend N10,000, for transportation, we spend N4,800 depending on fuel scarcity and traffic.  You know how Lagos conductors and drivers behave.  For utility bill, we pay N1,500, N300 for LAWMA, N1,500 for kids’ drugs every month.  We pay N10,000 for my daughter in crèche.  Other miscellaneous expenses cost about N10,000.

 

KAYODE BUKER

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

Yes, it is.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

For feeding alone in a day, you can spend as much as or even over N1,500 to eat a decent meal.  That is for someone who earns above the minimum wage.  House rent increases every two to three years.  Power is constant but expensive.  As for transportation, it depends on availability of fuel.

 

PHILIPS OLUWATOSIN

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

The cost of living increases every year.  I can say 2014 was not as expensive as 2015. In fact, everything went up this year.  Nigerians have really faced a challenging year but we thank God for everything.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

Where should I start?  My house rent increased by N20,000 this year.  I pay N5,000 for electricity bill monthly.  I cannot estimate how much I spend fuelling and maintaining the car.  Maintaining the children cannot be estimated as well.  We pay school fees of N50,000 for two children.  We must buy their food, that is, Golden Morn, Cornflakes, Sardine, noodles, beverages, apart from the family foodstuffs. Let me say that I spend nothing less than N40,000 on food monthly.

 

BIODUN  ADENRELE

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

Yes, it is skyrocketing with disregard for income. Expenses are growing and it seems the living standard is nose-diving fast.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

The breakdown would be somewhat uneasy because it fluctuates regularly especially for feeding, which can amount to N20,000 in a month for a family of four depending on what goes down that month.  The utility  bills fluctuate regularly, power essentially varies between N4,000 to N5,000, depending on what the distribution company feels.  Clothing can be easily controlled and the list goes on.

 

LAWRENCE ONWUZULIKE

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

Yes, the cost of living in Lagos is getting out of mind.  I spend a lot more monthly than I spend in Sweden.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

It will be difficult to give a breakdown of my expenses because that will mean sharing my private life.  But just a glimpse of the minor expenses, it costs around N13,000 to fuel my car and it last less than four days.  We spend huge amount fuelling the generators in both homes and offices including Abuja.

Ordinarily, DSTV alone collects roughly N60,000 in homes and offices for both Lagos and Abuja.  You know about houses on the Island and in Abuja.  So, if we include feeding, and other expenses the figure will be a bit high.

 

MARK ALADE

Would you say the cost of living in Lagos is skyrocketing?

Yes, the cost of living is increasing by the day.  It is not limited to Lagos alone.  It is everywhere but that of Lagos is really becoming overbearing.  I cannot compare the amount I spend this year to last year.

Can you give us a breakdown of your expenses in terms of food, transportation, utility bills, house rent and other miscellaneous expenses?

It will be a bit tasking, it is not easy to calculate because some things are not constant like transportation, utility bills, healthcare, car maintenance.  I pay N17,000 per month for house rent.  I give my wife N15,000 per month to stock the house with food. I give N40,000 for miscellaneous expenses.  We pay N1,200 to recharge our cable TV.  Really, the list is endless.

  • SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN, TINUOLA JOSEPH, NKECHINYERE IBEMERE, AJOKE ONITOLO
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