Fuel Hike: Nigerians groan over the high cost of living

Against the backdrop of the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products in the country, many Nigerians are crying over the high cost of living as people are struggling with the current situation. 

This has affected both big and small business owners and individuals'  profits as they have declined drastically due to an increase in production materials, transportation and others.

In an interview with PEBNEWS, a single mother, who runs a laundry enterprise said she couldn't purchase fuel to operate her generator to perform her daily laundry routine as this is affecting patronage as customers are leaving. 

She said: "My customers are leaving me. They refuse to bring their clothes for laundry. How can I survive this?". 

Again, a young ice block merchant, who does not want his name in print disclosed that small business owners are suffering and can not survive because they use light to run their daily enterprise. According to him, the recent increase in fuel price has almost crumbled their business, saying, that soon, they would stop operations.

He said; " This is the worst year ever. If only l  am doing a business that does not warrant me to use light,  I would not be buying fuel of #850,00 per litre of fuel to power my gen".

He said that a big wrap of ice block was #500 between last year  December and January this year. Now, it is #1,700 as a result of the fuel hike. He added that, they no longer make mass production and the situation is worrisome. 

Recall that last week, PEBNEWS felt  out the pulse of business owners since the recent increase in the price of fuel and the findings showed that people are suffering amid abundant resources in Nigeria. They therefore called on the Federal Government to do something about the situation as people are facing tough times in Nigeria.