My name is Abdul-Chukwudi Balogun
This is my story, by my standard I work hard; I do not know what the general standards are because they vary depending on situations, persons, time and other factors. I have colleagues whose name exists only on the payroll, I have never seen them, but they are paid – you call them ghost workers. […]
This is my story, by my standard I work hard; I do not know what the general standards are because they vary depending on situations, persons, time and other factors.
I have colleagues whose name exists only on the payroll, I have never seen them, but they are paid – you call them ghost workers. There are others, no longer colleagues, having put over 30 years, they die in queues as they wait for peanuts called gratuity. You call them pensioners, I see them as the reason I might need to steal sooner than later.
But this story is not about them, it’s about me. I have a wife, three children, aged between 5-15 years; my wife does petty business to augment our income.
I am sure you are wondering how this concerns you or the essence of my story. Just bear with me…you will find out soon.
I live in the outskirts of Abuja, precisely Mararaba, depending on the type of vehicle, I pay between N70-120 everyday to get to the office, navigate an average of three hours on the traffic, get to the office as early as 10.00am. There are days, I get to the office by 1.00 or 2.00pm, on days like that I just peep in and out. And on rare occasions I make it very early, that’s by 9.00am. I cannot live in the Abuja where I work. A room self-contain varies from N400, 000-500, 000 per annum and landlords demand 2 years rent in advance.
My three kids attend private schools, the ‘I pass my neighbour’ type. I am sure you are wondering which type that is. We have different types of private schools these days. For three terms I pay between N16, 21 and 32, 000 for the three kids respectively. This excludes books, transport, many plus, multiplications, no minus. Did I tell you I am the first child, several responsibilities, brothers, sisters, aged-parents and the usual faulty family support system?
I have regularly told my family of four the implication of staying healthy not because of any special reasons but because hospitals are first of all luxuries and secondly, the affordable ones are morgues, so we manage Emeka’s local chemist shop to help when the need arises.
In my suburb in Mararaba, our room and parlour is at the rate of N150, 000 per annum. If I spend, a hundred and eighty naira daily on transportation, that amounts to N5, 400, 00 a month, N64, 800.00 a year. House rent, N150, 000 and tuition N69, 000.
I treat my work with levity, it’s only a means of survival, I cheat the system, after all its government, and I take home stationeries meant for the office, justifying it because it was supplied at an inflated cost by Alhaji Ikechukwu Akindele Bookshop.
I end this story by asking really what is the value of N18, 000 in present day Nigeria, where utilities do not work, is it about N18, 000 or about creating a national reawakening, redefining ethics, building new bridges and mending lost trust.
Prince Charles Dickson is the Editor, burningpot.com