The cure to sapa and being broke that was hidden in plain sight

Sapa means the sudden absence of purchasing ability or being broke and most Nigerians are feeling the heat of sapa right now.

This morning, I waited for a long time at the bus stop for a bus when an angry driver finally stopped and we rushed into the bus. 

He kept shouting about entering with change, as we drove on, I noticed him ranting about something else, obviously frustrated.

He had a disease that needed N150,000 to treat, he had a wife and children, and he was growing frustrated with driving his bus because union workers were eating all his money.

He kept on about how the government does nothing for him, as he wastes away under the weight of the sickness, there is no help for him.

I felt deeply saddened by his frustration and obvious anger as I too barely had money a few days after my salary was paid.

The economic pressure of living in Nigeria right now is almost unbearable.

Last year, budgeting and savings seemed like ideal resolutions, but the obvious solution to sapa was always there, yet I had failed to recognise it.

Firstly, it is to have a welfare state, a government that cares for the welfare of its citizens and secondly and most importantly to increase earning potential.

Earning more money would cure sapa.

Granted your needs increases as earnings go up, but it is one of those situations where you say, 'I will cross that bridge when I get to it, right now, I need money to solve my needs.'