There Was A Country…

There was a country… Good day lovelies, welcome to the blog, I can’t help but bring you laughter before we delve into the topic of the day. Have you seen that video of the guy who was singing Lord give us Ibu, take Tinubu? It is the funniest thing I have seen on Tinubu’s internet in a very long time, find it and watch it, life is too serious these days, take the moment to laugh. There was indeed a country… my country, Nigeria. 

I grew up a typical ajebota, watched cable TV since I can remember, drank boiled water, then bottled water and then graduated to Cway straight from the dispenser. Went to the best/choicest schools in my city and had a robust vocabulary to choose from when I wanted to explain my discontent, a proper bottie. But, that isn’t what this post is about, it is about the nostalgia I feel for the country now lost. I might not remember the Abacha regime because I was quite young, but I remember that a bottle of coke was 25 naira, an egg costed 15 naira, and 5 naira had value. I remember Obj, and coke moved to 35 naira, and when the hundred naira note first made it’s debut: my dad put the first one we got in an album, just like my grandpa had put all the coins as they came in a container that was kept on the room divider for everyone to see. 

I remember Yar’adua, and the amnesty/ rehabilitation funds. I remember when coke became 50 naira, petrol 67 naira an egg, 35 naira. Yet, the people lamented, oh, if they knew. Then with GEJ, the naira was 185 to the naira, Madam Pepe was the laughing stock of the country for being motherly, uneducated, but motherly nonetheless. Have we had a more passionate First Lady ever since? I remember the Chibok girls, Boko Haram. I remember Jonathan’s pleas, I remember the placards that later ushered in “the supposed change”, I was now of voting age. At the time, a bottle of coke was 50 naira, a pack of indomie was 50 naira, an egg was 50 naira, a bottle of Cway for the dispenser was 350 naira, a bag of rice was 35 thousand and that was during the “ber months”, yet Nigerians were clamouring for change, if only they knew. 

 Buhari. A time, not too long ago when the naira first fell to its all time low of 461 to a dollar, subsidy issues. The Chibok girl’s didn’t return, Boko Haram took a short leave and Herdsmen and Bandits prevailed, soon enough, they stopped telling the woes on TV, it was too much. Tinubu; “emi lo kan”, it is indeed his turn. A pack of indomie is 300, an egg costs 200, a bottle of coke is 350, a bottle of Cway is 1200, a bag of rice is 85,000 and the naira to dollar rate is at 1650. And oh, petrol costs 1400 per litre, but NNPC will sell to you at 885. One thing is, these people promised you change, they never stipulated the kind so… Everyday, the avarice of our leaders greets us, new every morning. They find new ways to frustrate innovators and the youths. There have been protests, lives lost, Labor strikes, increments to the minimum wage, yet, the suffering is now glaring across every social strata. Someway, somehow, we all they feel am. 

 Unfortunately, I do not have witty nor do I have any quirky comments to leave you with, but as we trod on, let us remember, fondly, that there was a country. Our country. Nigeria. Let us keep the hope alive, even as we do our tiny parts to keep it afloat.