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Most of these pleas are about basic food needs. It breaks my heart when I can’t help the way I want to. Sometimes I do what little I can and hope people understand when I’m unable to do more. I’m not someone who posts or shows off. So I don’t know what gave them the impression that I’m living well.
I guess when people don’t see you complain about Nigeria, they assume you’re comfortable and very buoyant. The truth is, the economy is biting hard on me too. I’ve just learned not to complain. I live within my means and I always buy in bulk whenever I have money, and that has helped me a lot. Even when there’s no cash, there’s food at home.
People are going through hard times and don’t know where their next meal will come from. I’ve seen people fall sick from starvation. Children are suffering malnutrition. It has never been this bad for us as a people in this country. Sometimes I pray and cry to God to bless me so I can touch lives. The pain people are going through is excruciating. Some people don’t even have helpers, no relatives to run to. Every hope of help has failed.
It’s my sincere prayer today for everyone going through this phase in life: May God show up for you in mercy and at the right time.
Statistically, Nigeria ranks 115th out of 123 countries in the 2025 Global Hunger Index. That puts it in the “alarming” hunger category. In 2024 it was 110th out of 127. We’re now at 115. Food poverty indices also put Nigeria near the bottom globally right now, and if proactive measures aren’t put in place, we’re likely to drop even lower.
When people can’t feed themselves, they turn to crime. A few days ago, a woman was caught with her 7-year-old daughter stealing foodstuffs. At that age, a child is being taught to steal by a mother who should be instilling discipline. If you’re in a better position, whatever you can do for a family or anyone, please do. The number of people begging for help online is alarming. Be a blessing to someone out there today. No matter how little, it will put a smile on the face of the receiver.
Do not mock anyone asking for an assistance to feed themselves. If you can’t help, at least, don’t ridicule them. It takes courage to ask for help, and If someone you reach out to ever gifts you from the little or abundance they have, please appreciate it and always pray for them. Only a person with a good heart can be truly kind. Don’t feel entitled.
This too shall pass.
People are going through hard times and don’t know where their next meal will come from. I’ve seen people fall sick from starvation. Children are suffering malnutrition. It has never been this bad for us as a people in this country. Sometimes I pray and cry to God to bless me so I can touch lives. The pain people are going through is excruciating. Some people don’t even have helpers, no relatives to run to. Every hope of help has failed.
It’s my sincere prayer today for everyone going through this phase in life: May God show up for you in mercy and at the right time.
Statistically, Nigeria ranks 115th out of 123 countries in the 2025 Global Hunger Index. That puts it in the “alarming” hunger category. In 2024 it was 110th out of 127. We’re now at 115. Food poverty indices also put Nigeria near the bottom globally right now, and if proactive measures aren’t put in place, we’re likely to drop even lower.
When people can’t feed themselves, they turn to crime. A few days ago, a woman was caught with her 7-year-old daughter stealing foodstuffs. At that age, a child is being taught to steal by a mother who should be instilling discipline. If you’re in a better position, whatever you can do for a family or anyone, please do. The number of people begging for help online is alarming. Be a blessing to someone out there today. No matter how little, it will put a smile on the face of the receiver.
Do not mock anyone asking for an assistance to feed themselves. If you can’t help, at least, don’t ridicule them. It takes courage to ask for help, and If someone you reach out to ever gifts you from the little or abundance they have, please appreciate it and always pray for them. Only a person with a good heart can be truly kind. Don’t feel entitled.
This too shall pass.
You see why she suggested that you can start selling akara,corn etc.
ReplyDeleteThe rate of hunger in the country is high.
Anon you didn't lie, Nigerians don't know you can also mine oil from Akara🤣😂🤣🤣
Delete©️ TEEJAY
Well written, Ezege. Hunger is a terrible thing. May God have mercy on our country and bless those in need. A woman in my village once went to collect akpu on credit from our popular akpu seller so she and her children could have something to eat that night. Sadly the seller refused because the woman already owed her money. She went back home slept and dīēd in her sleep. The akpu seller hasn't stopped grieving since that day. She keeps saying maybe she contributed to the poor woman's. She provided all the akpu served at the burial free of charge. She keeps giving akpu and other food items to the late woman's children
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad story. It takes courage to beg for help.
DeleteThanks for the compliment MeJhay.
©️ TEEJAY
Who asked them to have many children that they can’t feed? I am not heartless but some Nigerians should stop breeding Children to suffer them in this wicked world and end up guilt dripping you, if you can’t afford to help them.
DeleteHave 2 children for the sake of tomorrow, if things changed for the worst, you only have 2 to feed. If anything bad happens to 1, you have a spare. If anything bad happened to you, they have a companion. 2 is very ideal please.
No one knows what the akpu seller was going through at the time. Many petty traders have become destitute, beggars themselves due to such actions. May God provide for everyone.
DeleteSo Saddd
DeleteI Remember A Day I went To Mushin I have Finish Buying Want I came For I Just Saw This Old Woman Begging To buy Ginger 200 Naira To Use For Her Zobo, The Seller Said No Ginger 200,.We All Know How Ginger Is Very Expensive Now
I Just Told The Seller To Give Her That I will Pay For It , That Was How Mama Prayed For Me ooo No Be Small Prayer ooo
Let Me Kind To People please 🙏
Chika, the same thing happened to me but at Walmart. I was in the checkout line and this elderly lady had a bag of chips, maybe $3 for it but when they rang up the entire bill for all she had, it was higher than she could pay, and she put the chips back. I felt some kind of way to see an elder can’t even take home a snack treat, so I paid for it too. I didn’t get the deep prayer that you got, but she was very grateful.
DeleteWe have to help each other, whether stranger or known. What is ginger or a bag of potato chips to help someone with so they can enjoy a moment of life.
ReplyDeleteIn times like these, compassion speaks louder than words. Never look down on someone asking for help. You may not know the battle they're fighting. If you have something to share, let love lead you. A little kindness can restore someone's hope.
The Bible says "Blessed is the one who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." .(Psalm 41:1)
A heart that shows mercy reflects the heart of God. Let's be kind, help where we can, and remember that today's giver could be tomorrow's receiver. May God provide for every soul and reward every act of our kindness. Amen
Thanks for this. Very inspiring and profound.
Delete©️ TEEJAY
The ridicule and abuse some of these ppl have to take just for asking for help. It bad how some ppl treat those without much. Anything can happen to anyone. Kindness is good
DeleteA female friend asked me for financial assistance, her husband's car was bad.
ReplyDeleteI told her I couldn't be of help as the money I had, I needed to use it in less than 2weeks. She said they would return it on the day I needed it, I still refused cause I felt the timeline was too slim, even tried to explain what I wanted to use it for but she wasn't listening as it wasn't what she wanted to hear.
About a week later, she sent me a link to earn money, I checked it out on AI, it looked like Ponzi, I simply said, thank you, I am not interested.
She said I should have simply said OK and walk away like others.
Thank God my daughter no carry my dirty attitude.
She has blocked me o
Truth is, she probably wouldn't have given it to you at that time,
Deleteand it would have caused a rift between both of you.
Next time, if you have something to spare, just give it out as a token of support.
Give what you know you won't ask back.
©️ TEEJAY
You did the right thing
DeleteAny loan now is probably to pay another loan
Please let her know that link is a scam/ ponzi scheme so that you prevent her from asking for money to replace that imminent loss. It's unfortunate she's taking such an option.
DeleteI am not supporting this government but people should also help themselves. Go rent a land if you don’t have any and start planting yam, veg, tomatoes, plantain anything. You can’t get it wrong with farming.
ReplyDeleteChicken poultry, goats and the rest of them. You ought to have something to do for God to bless you.
I feel very ashamed for people who beg money because I know it takes a lot of guts to do that and I haven’t got that.
I have a cousin that I have been giving money since eternity to start a business but she always comes back with stories. I then went and bought thrift worth 2 M naira and told her to sell and use the money to replenish, you know just so she was forced to start the business. I showed her where to get more and rented a shop in the market for her. What do you think happened? You guessed correctly! She came back to me and I blocked her forever.
Some people just want to be dependent on others because it is cultural in Nigeria. No body gives you a penny abroad, you either swim or sink.
You did enough. It is for her now to do for herself. Nobody can say that you didn’t help, so your conscience is free.
DeleteThank you for sharing such a raw, honest, and deeply moving piece. This kain piece dey touch me enter my bone marrow. Your words capture the exact reality of what so many families are grappling with right now across the country and it is incredibly painful to read, yet it serves as a raw, necessary reflection of the reality many Nigerians are quietly battling. You are not alone in your fears; logging onto social media has become a heavy burden for many. It is a heartbreaking situation, and reading about children suffering from malnutrition and people falling ill from starvation is truly devastating.
ReplyDeleteFor many nigerians, the struggle is no longer just about adjusting to the rising cost of living; it is a daily, desperate fight to know where the next meal will come from. It takes a tremendous amount of vulnerability to put these feelings into words, and every single point you raised resonates so profoundly with what many of us are experiencing right now. It is exhausting to carry the weight of the world's pain, especially when your own resources are stretched thin.
You're welcome Baci.
DeleteThe truth is, it takes little to be kind. Kindness isn’t limited to money alone. It can be a connection, words of encouragement, politeness, etc.
Humanity and empathy should never depart from us.
©️ TEEJAY
It is very painful to watch people, including innocent children, suffer from something as fundamental as not having enough to eat. When you mentioned the woman caught stealing food stuff with her 7 year old daughter, it really hits home, it forces us to realize how extreme desperation can alter a society. Stealing simple foodstuffs just to stave off hunger isn't just a sign of economic hardship...It is a societal tragedy. It is easy to pass judgment and point fingers at her parenting but we must recognize that extreme hunger can strip away a person's normal reasoning. Imagine a mother watching her child cry from starvation? She enters a state of sheer panic, and you know desperate people do desperate things. When people are pushed to the wall, their survival instincts kick in. It is a tragedy that a mother felt her only option was to teach her child to steal, but it also highlights the catastrophic failure of the safety nets that are supposed to protect our most vulnerable. Instead of quick condemnation, it should spark a broader societal reflection on how we can foster community support systems so that no mother has to choose between her child’s survival and breaking the law. Starvation doesn't just physically break the body; it can sometimes break the moral compass of those pushed entirely to the wall. No mother wants to teach her child to steal, but excruciating hunger and the complete absence of a safety net can drive people to unimaginable extremes. That little girl should be in school learning values, not on the streets learning how to steal. But make we ask ourselves: when a society fails to provide the basic safety net of food and security, who is truly to blame? The mother’s actions are a symptom of a much larger, systemic tragedy and this crisis of survival is pushing people to the absolute brink, No one wakes up hoping to beg on the internet. If we are in a position to give...whether it is a full bag of garri, a small bag of rice, a single meal, a carton of indomie for a neighbor or a struggling family or a small transfer,.. no act of kindness is ever too small. Please, let's do it quietly and without humiliating the receiver. It takes immense courage for a proud person to humble themselves and beg for food online. As you rightly pointed out, if we cannot help, the absolute least we can do is withhold judgment. Mocking or ridiculing those who ask for assistance strip them of their dignity. Kindness requires us to protect that dignity. That small token means the world to them. For those who are on the receiving end, your gratitude and prayers are a powerful currency. It shows a beautiful, resilient spirit. Even in the tightest corners, kindness and humility remain the hallmarks of a good heart.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone reading this, let this be a call to action to practice radical empathy. Please understand that the online requests we see are merely the tip of the iceberg. There are countless others suffering in silence, too ashamed to reach out for public help. If you are in a slightly better position, no act of giving is too small. Sharing a meal, offering a token, or buying basic foodstuffs for a struggling family can literally save a life. You do not need to be a millionaire to be a blessing. Share what you have, check on your neighbors, and remember that nigeria is consistently ranked as one of the most inherently generous nations in the world. We are a resilient, deeply communal people. Let us choose compassion over judgement. Do not feel entitled to luxuries when others are just praying for survival. Ridiculing those in need solves absolutely nothing and only deepens their trauma. Let us protect each other’s dignity, and remain our brothers' and sisters' keepers.This too shall pass. Stay strong, and keep being a blessing.
Happy Sunday!
It’s very tough
ReplyDeleteMany people are begging and when you give them little they don’t understand
It’s because you have so many people to give and only so much money
I don’t know but senators are buying suvs earning so much and they are renovating vp residence
Can this government not set aside something for the very poor
What a tragic mess
Since they don’t want to help us, can we stop talking about them and help ourselves. Go out there and try anything, no adult should be idle you know because we all eat every day.
DeleteThe number one proactive thing is to grow your own food. When Xp mentioned it here years or months ago, it was glossed over because it doesn't feed the popular narrative. The people producing the food you want to buy farm in this country and do what they can to supplement on security, transportation, payroll and other challenges every business and even private people have to face.
ReplyDeletePeople struggling to feed and not living in the heart of cities have no business buying most food leaves, okra, peppers and other light farm produce in a country with surplus arable land, where famine has been unknown for decades. Rabbits can be grown without feed with using a variety of dried leaves and they produce litters of 6 on average, and can be bread up to 4 times yearly with litters ready by 12 weeks. Guinea pigs mature faster. "Bush meat" are simply rodents living the hard life Pigs, goats and chickens can consume scraps and supplement on waste heaps. It will take them longer to mature in size but at least, you can do without feed. 13 million palm fruit trees go untapped still. Planting avocado can potentially give sufficient oil supply if you don't do much frying.
If you're not in the city, get to work in agriculture. If you're in the city, look around for who needs their grasses cut, clothes washed, building blocks lifted etc. Try that option of akara that market women have used to sustain homes before Nigeria existed. Amala sellers have sent children to UK to study with abula alone. A mother of 5 graduates said it on battabox then that her hawking koko provided her the opportunity to educate her children to that level and they are all doing well. So may of the mallams you see selling TomTom and goro are landlords back home, educating their children and setting up animal husbandry options in retirement. If 500 hundred jobs are unfilled in money point despite the hunger yet data money is always available, people should be more honest about what the issue actually is.
Every multinational, every successful business or farm in Nigeria is working on the same no light/ no money/ hunger/kidnapping /Tinubu narrative and the new ones coming up are facing the same headwinds.
Where is the land
DeletePeople living in face me I face you how many tomatoes can they grow there
They should not congregate in the city. We mustn’t all live in crowded city, where you will be living in a face me I face you room.
DeleteA friend just told me she wants to go back to the east because her quality of life has reduced dramatically for the worse since she relocated to Lagos.
If it is not working in the big city, go to the small ones.
It's Really Hard Out There
ReplyDeleteI Pray God Almighy Bless Everyone According To His Riches And Glory 🙏
Hello iya Boys
Amen.
Delete©️ TEEJAY
Teejay, this burden of watching a suffering you cannot fix is often heartbreaking. Yes, we are talking about money, yet we are really not talking about money but the quiet burden that comes with it. Many generous people have discovered that saying "yes" to one request often means saying "no" to another, and the guilt can become its own weight. It is a difficult situation to find oneself in.
ReplyDeleteThat's why when Stella complains about multiple accounts claiming giveaways, you can feel the harder truth in her worry. Because at the end of the day, compassion also needs limits so that ungrateful people do not become entitled and abuse that generosity, which ordinarily would have been far-reaching or would have benefited other grateful, honest individuals.
We are not responsible for carrying a country's hardship on our shoulders. We should help when we genuinely can, within our limits, and decline honestly when we cannot. And if we are the ones asking for help, we should remember that a refusal is not always a rejection, keeping in mind the overwhelming pressure on those who give - that we are one out of a pool.
Kindness is measured less by how much we give than by whether we leave one another with dignity. Thank you for reminding us this, Teejay.
Many generous people have discovered that saying "yes" to one request often means saying "no" to another, and the guilt can become its own weight. It is a difficult situation to find oneself in.
DeleteSo apt.
Always welcome here, Ebony ❤️
DeleteReally insightful comment.
Thank you for the thoughtful rejoinder.
©️ TEEJAY
Some ppl need to move back to the village if they can and it is safe to do so. Forget the shame of going back with nothing, you can survive better than in the city where everything must be paid for. The nature in the village is healing, the trees are healing, the breeze is healing, the river is healing, the sun even touch you differently. Just being out in the fresh air and around nature will make you feel better and happier even if you don’t have much. There is crayfish in some of the rivers.
ReplyDeleteDon’t let pride keep you stuck in the city starving and miserable. Sometimes going home is the best decision you could ever make.