As Nigerians, the phrase “It is well” used to be a casual way of brushing off challenges, but today, it’s become much more than that. It’s now the phrase that defines our resilience and silent struggles.

I was recently chatting with my sister-in-law, whom I hadn’t spoken to in weeks. When I asked why she’d been off the radar, she said something that stuck: “As Nigerians, we now understand the real meaning of ‘It is well.’” That got me thinking—how are we all really surviving this?

With food inflation at an all-time high of Cost of food in Nigeria increased 37.77 percent in September of 2024 over the same month in the previous year. Food Inflation in Nigeria averaged 13.72 percent from 1996 until 2024, reaching an all time high of 40.87 percent in June of 2024 and a record low of -17.50 percent in January of 2000, and fuel prices now hovering between N1,100 and N1,200 per liter, compared to N200 not too long ago in 2023, Nigerians have gone eerily silent.

The once loud complaints and daily rants have quieted down. It seems like everyone has just accepted the struggle and moved on. But are we okay?

The real question is, how are we coping? Have we turned to faith, leaned on our religion, or sought comfort from our spiritual leaders? Or have we just learned to carry the weight in silence?

As the famous hymn reminds us: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.”

In many ways, this resonates deeply with the Nigerian spirit today. Like my sister-in-law said, now we truly know what “It is well” means. It’s not just a saying anymore—it’s become a daily survival mantra, a sign of our strength and endurance in these tough times.

Written by Onome Igugu
Onome Igugu is a seasoned media consultant with over 10 years of experience in public relations, marketing communications, digital strategy, and broadcasting. Her expertise spans content creation, brand management, and media relations, helping organizations amplify their messages across various platforms.

Follow her on IG: @onomeigugu | Email: onomeigugu@gmail.com

Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers, has approved N85,000 as the minimum wage for civil servants in the state.

The governor approved the minimum wage for workers on Friday during a meeting with representatives of organised labour at the government house in Port Harcourt, the Rivers capital.

Addressing journalists after the sit-down, George Nwaeke, head of the Rivers State civil service, said the implementation of the minimum wage will begin in November.

“He (Fubara) has announced a figure that is higher than the national minimum wage. He has set a sum of N85,000, which is above the minimum wage prescribed nationally,” Nwaeke said.

“As the head of service and a major stakeholder in the labour family, I am very pleased to say that Rivers state civil servants have never had it this good since the inception of this state.

“The labour union leaders and all the other major stakeholders were pleased with this development.”

Also speaking, Emecheta Chuku, chairman of the joint public service negotiating council, commended the governor for approving the minimum wage for workers in the state.

“For the governor to come, despite all the crises and challenges he is facing, and to declare that he will pay N85,000 as the minimum wage, fills our hearts with joy,” Chuku said.

“Of course, we have no doubt, knowing the kind of person we have as our governor. He is a decent man, very responsible, and has risen through the ranks of the system.

“He understands what it takes to earn a living salary. He comprehends the difference between gifting money and paying someone a salary that can sustain them from the first day to the last day of the month.”

On his part, Alex Agwanwor, chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Rivers, said workers will stand with the governor.

“We will support him for the next eight years,” Agwanwor said.

The development comes about two days after Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, announced that civil servants in the state will be paid the N85,000 minimum wage.

In July, President Bola Tinubu signed the minimum wage bill, increasing the workers’ pay package from N30,000 to N70,000, into law.

Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, says it has deleted another 1,600 groups linked to ‘Yahoo Boys’ from its platform.

The development comes three months after the company removed 63,000 accounts in Nigeria linked to sextortion scams.

In a statement on Thursday, Meta also announced that Instagram is taking measures to further protect people from sextortion.

“We removed around 1,600 Facebook Groups and accounts that were affiliated with Yahoo Boys, and were attempting to organize, recruit and train new scammers,” Meta said.

“This comes after we announced in July that we’d removed around 7,200 Facebook assets that were engaging in similar behaviour.

“Yahoo Boys are banned under Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy — one of our strictest policies — which means we remove Yahoo Boys’ accounts engaged in this criminal activity whenever we become aware of them.

“While we’ve been removing violating Yahoo Boys accounts for years, we’re putting new processes in place which will allow us to identify and remove these accounts more quickly.”

MEASURES TO PREVENT SCAMS

Meta said it has put measures to prevent the activities of scammers.

This, the firm said, includes hiding follower and following lists from potential sextortion scammers, preventing screenshots of certain images in direct messages (DMs), and rolling out our nudity protection feature globally.

“These updates, which are part of a campaign informed by NCMEC, Thorn & Childnet, also aim to help parents feel more equipped to support their teens in avoiding these scams,” Meta said.

“Sextortion is a horrific crime, where financially-driven scammers target young adults and teens around the world, threatening to expose their intimate imagery if they don’t get what they want.

“Today, we’re announcing new measures in our fight against these criminals – including new safety features to further help prevent sextortion on our apps, building on protections already in place.”

To further protect people from sextortion and make it difficult for criminals to succeed, the Meta said, “we’re making it harder for accounts showing signals of potentially scammy behavior to request to follow teens”.

“Depending on the strength of these signals – which include how new an account is – we’ll either block the follow request completely, or send it to a teen’s spam folder,” the company added.

Meta also said sextortion scammers often use the following and follower lists of their targets to try and blackmail them.

The company said potential scammers would be unable to see people’s follower or following lists, accounts that have liked someone’s posts, or other accounts that have been tagged in their photos.