Recession for some, progression for others

yinka ogunlami

January 18, 2017 10:14 AM

Now that the holiday season is drawing to an end, I can yarn the thing wey my eye see!

Recession.

Now that the holiday season is drawing to an end, I can yarn the thing wey my eye see! First of, I am learning not to take words thrown at us seriously without a critical examination.

After this administration took over, there was a slogan ringing through the streets.. ‘Change” and we accepted it. I don’t know where we thought change would come from if it didn’t start from us. People collected bribes to ensure a government of change, and now we are all lamenting that we need to change the change .

That’s not my yarn today, so I will leave it right there! The next thing was the downward spiral of the exchange rate which seriously affected Nigeria’s second currency, the dollar (don’t even try to wrap your mind around how the dollar became a legal tender here)and another slogan “dollar ti won “.. so you go to the market to buy ewedu which was 20 naira per punch in the not too distant past , and the market woman that has never been to Lagos tells you its now 50 naira because “ dollar ti won “! The one that I found annoying was the snail sellers who claim that “dollar ti won “ and hiked their prices as well. Abeg what are they feeding the snails? Weetabix?

Just like many other things that our country lacks, there is no known market price regulation. So whatever the “ Iyaloja “ and company agree to as the price, obviously with no template to work with, that is it!

Now a new slogan has emerged, “recession “ , we have accepted it and it is spoken to our hearing at least once a day . I was a barely average economics student but I am aware that economy like fluid just “moves”. So if there is lack somewhere there is plenty elsewhere.

As we are “experiencing recession “, majority of traders (especially produce, food and forex ) and farmers are experiencing progression. I met with an old rural farmer a few weeks back, who told me that 2016 was the best year of his life and that his peers back I the village can testify to that.

A trader told me how she made well over a million naira in January 2016 because she bought kegs of palm oil when it was cheap, stored and sold during scarcity. She borrowed money fro cooperative bank to do this and yes she paid off her loan and bought so much more last year..I am sure she is enjoying progression now….

So what are you doing? Are you sitting there folding your arms, waiting for “papa papa papayo , to send down he rain “? Or are you getting up your lazy backside to effect the “ change” that we so desperately need? Lets talk less and do more. My mind is made, in this recession, progression is my lot. I am not just talking the talk; I will be walking the walk …oya GO!!

yinka ogunlami