HOW RECESSION HAS CHANGED US
It has once been said, and I think it is now fully confirmed, that Nigerians are one of the happiest people in the world. Suffering in silence and complacent, almost to a fault. Legendary music maestro, Fela Anikulapo had a perfect understanding of Nigerians, when he sang that punchline Suffering and Smiling in 1977. Decades later, we remain who he said we were. Though one might argue that this ability to remain happy in spite of everything shows we are distinctively created by God.
However, at the moment of writing though the dollar rate is coming down, prices of commodities have refused to come down. Majority of Nigerians are plagued with uncertainty, misery and lack. Our youth are confused and bewildered and many of them bereft of ideas. Does the question “How did we find ourselves in this quagmire?” mean anything to the discerning mind?
It is obvious that as a people we refused to prepare for the rainy day. Therefore, having no umbrella, we must get ready to be soaked and drenched. How come we all did not heed the creeping warning of this recession? At the onset, the few dissent voices were silenced. Yet, some saw it coming but kept mute - after all, if the heavens fall, it will be on everyone. Now the heavens have fallen and everyone is seeking solace at all costs.
People look up to lodging to someone’s extra room in place of hotels, when they travel. Common staple foods are no longer common. Foodstuffs such as garri, beans, rice, tomatoes and so on have skyrocketed to exactly twice their former prices. Formerly inexpensive garri now competes with beans. Even local garden vegetables have leapt up in prices. This has forced some homes to adjust their eating formula from 1-1-1 to 1-0-1 and even to nil daily, in severe cases. What can we say, except that it is so sad and pathetic that a country richly blessed with natu- ral and human resources feeds like ants, where they could conveniently munch as elephants? Uncountable small and medium scale businesses have shut down due to the harsh economic realities. As a matter of fact, some people have been forced to go back to the hinterlands and villages since they are unable to live decently in the cities.
These past few years, we have lost jobs as well as savings and to top it all, we have lost faith in the ability of government to address the situation. We ask ourselves severally, does Aso Rock understand the urgency of our condition? Does Aso Rock appreciate that some hitherto decent ladies now roam the street at night, half-naked desperately waiting for the brake lights of passing cars - selling their souls, just to feed their bodies?
Are they aware that as I write, some dwell with extreme malnutrition - shrinking cheeks, thinning legs and protruding abdomens? Are they aware that parents are now moving their children to substandard, more “affordable” schools? Are they aware that people, with lofty jobs are losing them and are being evicted from their rented apartments? Do they know of the countless people on the streets, with no roof over their heads? Are they aware of unprecedented increase in unemployment? Do they understand the gravity of the scarcity of foreign exchange on businesses? Can they fully grasp the impact of poor electricity supply on the masses, who cannot afford to run generators 24 hours, every day of the week? Are they aware of the influence overdependence on importation and high cost of doing business in Nigeria has on the people? What of the unending increase in the crime rate and kidnapping? How much does the government really understand its people and the situation? We implore the Topmost Rock in the land to do the needful to ameliorate the anguish of the masses. Nigerians are peaceful people with peaceable hearts. Who needs war? Ask the Syrians, the Iraqis, and many others the effects of war on their countries. Liberia is still feeling the impact of war on their country - decades after the ceasefire. I cannot agree more with Martin Luther King, Jr when he said, “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.”
Despite our negative situation, there is thankfully a traceable positive. From the look of things, the recession has changed almost everyone. Not a few people have come to embrace small scale farming such as piggery, snailery and poultry, among others. Others have been forced to start small businesses that require very little capital. While others have delved into sales of food items, transportation business, vegetable and food crops as well as handcrafts such as bead making, hat making, bespoke tailoring, soap making, etc. As they say, it is a survival of the fittest and it eliminates the unfit.
This goes to show that we as Nigerians can create a new Nigerian dream, where abnormal profits, poverty, resentment, tribal sentiments, religious bigotry, war drums and all forms of nepotism are thrown into extinction. Nevertheless, our government has a major role to play - a role to stop poverty and famine. A role to create the good environment for Nigerians to flourish. A role to stop injustices, for which the generations coming behind would be proud of us. –– Olusanya Anjorin, Lagos