- By Chima Ifeanyi
You never truly understand the pain until you’ve lived it.
From the outside, it is easy to assume all students are fine, attending lectures, writing exams, and smiling through filtered Instagram photos but behind the curtain lies a generation silently breaking under the weight of Nigeria’s dwindling economy. The few who feast on luxury may never grasp what the average Nigerian undergraduate goes through just to survive each day.
Coming from a modest home, I have lived this reality. In families where both parents earn not more than N200,000 monthly, barely enough to feed, clothe, and educate three or more children and it is nothing short of a miracle to be in school. You might be the second child, with your elder sibling also in the university, and younger ones still in secondary or primary school. So, how do you, as a university student, survive in a country where the cost of living has doubled, yet household income has stagnated?
As a student in one of Nigeria’s federal universities, I have witnessed firsthand how badly the current economic crisis is affecting us. There are days when you sleep on an empty stomach—not because you want to fast, but because there is simply nothing to eat. Other times, you trek miles to class because you do not have transport fare. You face water shortages, power outages, and still are expected to pass your exams with flying colours.
Sometimes you call home to ask for money, but before you even utter a word, you’re reminded of the struggles back home. You are told how your parents are managing to feed your siblings, or how rent is due. The guilt swallows you, and you say nothing, just hanging up in silence and tears.
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Worse still, the little you receive doesn’t go far anymore. Just a few years ago, N100,000 could buy enough foodstuffs to last a month. Today, it barely covers two weeks. Inflation is crushing, and for many of us, our lives have become a cycle of pain, uncertainty, and survival.
The consequences are glaring. Hunger, frustration, and hopelessness push students toward destructive paths. A hungry student is not only angry, but also distracted. Academic concentration becomes nearly impossible. Many undergraduates who once had big dreams are now considering or engaging in illicit means such as “hookup,” internet fraud (Yahoo), and even theft—just to make ends meet.
This economic hardship is not just ruining young lives, it is producing a society with little regard for dignity, labour, or morality. When crime becomes the only escape from hunger, we must admit that we are breeding a lost generation. Family dreams are being shattered, and the nation is losing its future workforce to crime and despair.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. The Nigerian Government must urgently intervene. Stabilising the economy and strengthening the naira is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Fighting insecurity so that farmers can return safely to their lands will help increase food production and reduce costs. More so, reducing school fees, improving facilities, and increasing the minimum wage would go a long way in restoring hope to the average student.
We, the students, do not ask for luxury. We simply ask for a fair chance, an economy that allows our parents to support us comfortably at least to an extent, a university environment that respects our basic needs, and a future that doesn’t look like a punishment.
We are dying in silence. But silence cannot last forever.
•Ifeanyi contributed this piece from Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
