In lieu of the apparent difficulty in the country, Kristina Reports took to the streets of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State to find out how the recent removal of fuel subsidy and daily increase in the exchange rate of the Dollar to Naira has affected their day-to-day lives.

What seemed to be a consensus among all the residents interviewed was the fact that things have been different and surviving has been more difficult since the new president assumed office.

“Mkpo ama change” directly translated as “things have changed” was the recurring response to the question of, “What is it like surviving today?”

Uduak Sunday, a minibus driver complained bitterly about how difficult it has been to make ends meet since the removal of the fuel subsidy.

He, however, complained that it seemed that people are taking advantage of the hike in goods and services and making their goods unnecessarily expensive thereby even making life more difficult for the common man.

“It has been very hard for me to make enough money for myself and my family. Now everything is expensive, everybody is complaining about the dollar increase, even those selling pepper and salt are complaining that dollar is expensive and that is why they are selling things small small. I know dollar is high but I think a lot of people are just greedy.”

Inemesit Ekpo, who sells foodstuff at Akpan Andem market bemoaned the constant increment in the prices of goods.

She complained that she now buys a bag of crayfish at almost double the amount that she bought at the beginning of the year, saying that because of this, she also has to increase her prices which has brought about a lot of complaints from her customers.

“I have a whole family that depends on me, my children are all in the university and I am responsible for all of them. I have had to reduce their allowances because I don’t even have enough. Everything is so expensive and we have been complaining since, it looks like the government does not care about us. We really need help.”

Her colleagues around her stall joined in and expressed their sadness. Complaining that due to the cost of goods, they are unable to make sales and sometimes, their goods end up getting spoiled and they lose both the money and the goods.

Mfon Bassey, a student of the University of Uyo had a lot to say about the cost of living in the university. According to her, so much has changed and she particularly complained about the amount of money she has to spend on feeding, saying that this is not the way things used to be.

“When I was in first year that’s three years ago, three hundred naira could buy me good food, I could buy good bread at four hundred naira. Now I have to spend about seven hundred naira on one meal and one thousand naira on a loaf of bread.”

“I have now decided to eat once or twice a day to save money, because I still need to buy books and make photocopies. It’s difficult for us here.”

Everyone interviewed pleaded with the government of the state to figure out a way to alleviate the suffering of the people as it becoming unbearable.