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Citizens across the nation are struggling under the weight of skyrocketing food prices, impacting their ability to afford basic necessities.
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Traders and residents alike express frustration and hardship, their voices filled with anger and desperation.
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The removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency are blamed for exacerbating the economic crisis.
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Many who once supported the current administration now feel betrayed, their optimism replaced with a sense of hopelessness.
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The people demand urgent intervention from the government to address the soaring costs and alleviate the suffering of the masses.
Across the length and breadth of Nigeria, the economic situation is pathetically the same — an economy battered by inflation with its concomitant effects of poverty, hunger and starvation.
The prices of goods and services have soared. While prices of some products have risen by 100 per cent, others have increased by up to 500 per cent.
The recent surge in the cost of living in Nigeria has left many citizens struggling, with essential items seeing significant price hikes.
A survey on Tuesday by the Rocket Parrot News at Sango Ota and Abule Market, Ijoko, showed that the rising costs of food, building materials, and services are contributing to widespread concerns among the populace.
It was noticed that many residents and traders have lost hope in the country as they lamented that the twin policies of fuel subsidy removal and the floating of the currency by the Bola Tinubu-led Federal government have brought Nigerians to the current economic quagmire.
During the market survey at Abule Market, Ijoko, a town in Sango in the Ijoko Local Government Area of Ogun State, located north of Lagos and south of Abeokuta, it was all tale of woes, despair and anguish as traders and residents alike took turns to ventilate their grievances and anger.
A meat seller, Matthew Iroko, complained that prices of things had become too expensive and that eating three square meals a day was no longer possible.
He lambasted President Bola Tinubu, whom he claimed used to be his hero, until he became president, as the cause of the economic crisis faced by Nigerians.
Iroko said, "Before, I loved Tinubu so much that I canvased people to vote for him and when he won the election I was so happy that I gave out soft drinks to everyone in the market.
"Now people are blaming me due to the economic challenges; some even think I collected money to campaign for him whereas I did it out of love for him. "Today, the price of meat has skyrocketed and it's very hard for customers to patronise us. So the government should please help us so that the people can at least breathe well."
Also lamenting the socio-economic crisis in the country, a grocery trader, Favour Martins, said everything in the market had turned gold and gone out of the reach of the common man.
She said, "Everything is now gold, even the ugwu (vegetables) I'm selling are now so expensive that customers are now finding it difficult to buy vegetables. Before vegetables were tied for N50 but now the least you can get is N200, yet it is smaller than what people used to buy at N50 last year. To cook a pot of soup now is a luxury.
"The country is really hard, the government should please come to our aid. We cannot continue like this. It is really hurting and something urgently must be done to address this pathetic situation Nigerians find themselves," she stated.
A seller of pomo (cow skin), who identified herself simply as Mrs Olumodan, shared the same sentiment as Mr. Iroko, saying that when Tinubu became President, she was so happy and danced all over the place unknown to her that the President would become an albatross to Nigerians.
Olumodan averred, "When Tinubu emerged the president, we were happy and dancing. We were sharing gift items, but now we are experiencing the opposite of what we expected.
"Even the cowskin is now so expensive that customers can no longer cope with their previous lifestyle. The economy of the country is truly in bad shape and something must be done to ameliorate the sufferings of the mass of the population. We are seriously suffering.
"Apart from feeding, which is one of the major problems currently, I also have children in school and it's not really easy for us. The government should please have mercy on the masses. The situation is getting out of hand."
A tomato seller, Mrs Fasasi said, "Things are so expensive, the price of tomatoes rose from ₦5000 to ₦100,000 which is so outrageous."
Also, a male pepper seller, who gave his name only as Mohammed, urged the government to reverse some of the anti-masses policies which are choking the people.
"This government should please help us, because everybody is just complaining that things are expensive and they are right. Things are pretty expensive and it is not funny," he noted.
A meat seller, Muhideen Owolabi, said if he knew that Tinubu would destroy the economy of Nigeria, he would not have voted for him.
Owolabi stated, "When Tinubu was campaigning, we were happy and some of us fasted, thinking he was our person and that he knew what we needed because of his administration in Lagos State.
"It was the major reason we cast our votes for him but now we are experiencing the opposite of everything we expected from him. Even most of our colleagues are no longer in business due to the economic challenges."
In her own lamentation, a food vendor, Comfort Okozua, said, "The prices of things are so high that foodstuffs have become a challenge to the majority of the people now. We are hungry!
"Government should make things better for us. All the rhetoric that the government is trying to fix the economy is pure nonsense. We are not seeing the results and the impact of whatever the government is doing is not being felt by the people."
For a dealer in foodstuffs, who preferred anonymity, the government should please help, three square meals is now a problem.
She said, "The gallon of oil is now so expensive, petroleum products are extremely expensive and even the cost of transportation is nothing to write home about. What is actually happening in this country? The government should help the masses. Or is the government aim to starve us to death?
"And if their aim is to kill us, probably they should send their bombs to kill us all so that this suffering will end."
An elderly resident of the area said he told most people that Tinubu was not someone to be trusted but they didn't listen to him.
The man, who did not want to be named, stated, "We were telling Nigerians but they wouldn't listen, that this man (Tinubu) is not someone they can't trust and that he is a wicked man but Nigerians were adamant that they put him in power.
"The past administration always listened to the cries of the masses but this one has failed to listen to Nigerians.
"Now they have mandated Dangote Refinery to only sell to NNPC just because of their selfish interests. Well, I wouldn't blame them, if Nigerians like them they should go ahead and collect stipends to put in another person in the next election. They will still come back and face the consequences.
As for Mrs Lawal, "Things are very expensive, the government should come to the people's aid. Food is something else, imagine couples with children, how do they feed? A lot of people are starving, some have died of hunger. The situation is pathetic.
"Prices of fuel and transportation cost are another factors and school fees are also there. Even ₦100,000 is no longer valuable in today's Nigeria. We are in serious trouble."
