My transport fare doubled in one week and I'm not even exaggerating

I checked my transport budget from last month and nearly choked on my tea. Same route, same distance, same keke, but the fare has climbed like it's training for something. From Wuse to my office, I used to budget a certain amount weekly. Now that same amount doesn't even last me four days.

The petrol price situation is not abstract for us in Abuja. It shows up in the tomatoes I buy at Wuse market, in the dispatch rider fee when I send documents, in the generator fuel my office buys every week. Everything is connected. When fuel moves, everything else follows like obedient children.

I sat down with my husband last night to redo our monthly budget and we just kept looking at each other. There was nothing to cut that we hadn't already cut. My daughter's school fees didn't reduce. Rent didn't reduce. But somehow we're expected to absorb all of this quietly. From where I sit in the capital, the squeeze is real and it's tightening. How are you people in Lagos even coping with this same thing?