Country Hard

My mechanic Marcus called me the other day.

“ Madam good evening o.” He said in his usual booming voice.

“Marcus, good evening. How you dey?” I responded. Briefly wondering why he was calling me, he had only just serviced my car.

“We thank Baba God”. He responded and then went silent.

“Any problem?” I asked.

“Emmm Madam, I just say make I ask you how your motor. I know say I just service am and e no suppose get any wahala, but Madam country hard!”

He was right, country hard true true. With the drop in oil price the value of the Naira has been knocked down by nearly 20%. What this means for a country that relies heavily on the oil sector is that it is no longer business as usual. Lots of companies, from the major IOCs to small businesses are downsizing all in a bid to stay afloat. Aside cutting down on expenditure they are also cutting down on manpower. As a result, thousands of people have become unemployed, a figure which sadly is still on the rise.

But not all businesses have the luxury of downsizing or re-strategizing. Just the other day I visited my sister in Surulere, the tiny kiosk belonging to the "aboki" who guards the compound was padlocked. Then I recalled months previously when I had wanted to buy a recharge card, he told me he had stopped selling them. I remember glancing at the few tins of sardines and the packets of biscuits and sweets which lined the dusty wooden shelves. Briefly wondering why they were not arranged in their usual cartons on the floor. It didn`t strike me then that what I was looking at was in fact the slow demise of the former thriving business.

Country hard true true. The price of food has increased significantly. The activities of insurgents have disrupted farming and markets across the North East, with an inevitable impact on food availability and price. Crops like tomatoes, pepper and onions which are cultivated in those regions and transported to other parts of the country, have witnessed price increments of over 100% in some cases. I went to the market over the weekend with what I considered a reasonable amount of money, but just half way through my shopping I had already run out of cash.

Country hard true true. From importation of fake drugs to exhumation of contaminated chicken. The latest being fake Kpomo and fake Coca Cola bottling factory. My first cousin Gladys, died two days ago from complications of burns sustained from a kerosene stove explosion. Apparently, the kerosene had been adulterated with God-knows-what. People will do just about anything to survive.

With President Buhari`s change agenda, maybe there is still hope for a better Nigeria.