“My name is Solomon Nyong Okon, I’m from Nsit Atai Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.
“I have three siblings. I am not yet married, but I have a girlfriend. I am yet to marry my girlfriend officially because there is no money to do so.
“I am 26 years old and I have four children. My girlfriend gave birth to my first child when I was 19 years old.
“My first child, a girl, is eight years old and my last born are twins and they are four years old.
“I live in a single room apartment with my children. I am the one raising them and all of them are in school.
“I started my shoe-mending work when I was in Technical School at Nwaniba in 2014.
“So, I started it very early. When I finished my Technical School, I joined a company known as ‘One Million Job’ here in Akwa Ibom State.”
Okon, whom our correspondent met along Ikpa Road, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, has challenges with one of his legs. He said it was mysterious how things turned out ugly for him so suddenly after returning from an expedition to the woods.
“I don’t know what happened to my leg, but I remember that the problem with my leg started when I was still very small.
“When I was seven, I remember going to the stream to bathe and swim. After swimming, I remember going home to sleep.
“I woke up later in the day and noticed that I couldn’t walk again. My parents, though late now, tried all they could to fix the leg, but all their efforts yielded no results.
“I was taken to church, I received prayers but the leg still turned out to be like this,” he said.
How did Okon end up as a cobbler and how is he managing to cater for his family of six vis a vis the current hardship in the land. He has these to say:
“This is the job I do to survive with my family. I would have loved to rent a shop where I can stay for my work, but any money I’m getting now is going for foodstuffs so that my family can feed.
“The situation of the country is really affecting my business in a negative way. For instance, if a trader brings a job of N100 and you tell them so, they will begin to complain that it is too expensive and because I don’t want to go home empty-handed, I have no choice, but to accept the N50 he or she is offering to pay.
“Again, the increase in petrol price is taking a toll on my life. The thread I used to buy for N300, I now buy it for N1,000 (laughs). It’s weighing me down.
“These days, we don’t work to gain oo, we now work for our conscience and responsibilities. We’ve been boxed to a corner.
“With school in session, sometimes I make N1000 and N2000 on a daily basis, but when schools are on holidays, you can sit down for the whole day without getting money for transportation back home.
“With the increase in prices, I don’t even eat. If I’m able to get N500, I will give it to my children to buy three cups of garri to eat, but I don’t care so long my children are not starving.
“As I’m talking to you now, we don’t have gas to prepare food at home this evening because gas is about N1,300, but I pray God provides before I go home. God is the one helping us and taking care of the children.”
Diminutive Okon has a word for Governor Umo Bassey Eno of Akwa Ibom State and President Bola Tinubu Federal Government: They must fix the economy fast!
“I am appealing to the government and good people across the country to help me so that I can train my children. I don’t want them to be wayward. I want them to live a good life.
“I also want to appeal to the government to please do something about the economy of the country.
“Now, you will have little money but there is nothing you can buy with it because things are expensive.
“The government should have mercy on the common man and make things go back to the good old days when with N500 we could cook soup and also buy garri from it.”
READ ALSO: Again, national grid collapses second time in 2024