THE WAR COMING
A war is coming I don’t know if you are prepared for it, but I know it’s coming, I originally wanted to write about the insecurity that has befallen the nation but I have decided to write about inflation and how it contributes to insecurity in our dear country Nigeria. The present rate of inflation is 18.17 %, this is calculated using the consumer price index (CPI) which is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care. In the streets of Lagos everywhere is boiling, last month a sachet of water was being sold for ten naira, yesterday it started selling for twenty naira, when we were younger “Garri” which people regarded as a poor man’s food is now being sold for one thousand two-hundred naira per paint rubber, compared to five-hundred naira it was being sold for before the Coronavirus lockdown, subtract five hundred from one thousand two hundred, that leaves you with a massive seven hundred naira difference, a whooping hundred and forty percent increase in price, it is unacceptable, and also annoying.
Now, I will like you to sit down for a few minutes, and imagine how a guy who earns minimum wage at thirty thousand naira survives under these harsh economic conditions? let us use a typical example by assuming he stays in a shanty area where he pays one thousand five hundred naira per month as house rent, transport to his workplace is five hundred naira per day, multiply that by twenty days that is ten thousand naira, let us say he spends five hundred per day on feeding, which means he will most likely eat only once or twice a day, all together we have twenty-five thousand spent from his wages, he is left with five thousand naira to buy toiletries and other miscellaneous expenses, no room for savings and without savings, he will not have any investments and do not forget we all want financial freedom, he’s stuck, angry and also desperate.
He walks into an old-time friend, this old-time friend isn’t rich getting by, at least better than he is, his new friend designer shirts on with designer boots compared to his own Okrika shirts now called “thrift wears” and his almost worn out leather shoes, he’s curious; he wants to know how and what his friend is doing to get by, his friend noticed the curiosity in his eyes and smiles, and he says “o boy make I buy you two bottles of beer make you use am cool your mind small” when last did he take a bottle of beer? he asked himself Maybe a year ago when his boss’s wife celebrated her birthday, as they sat down, he asked impatiently in pidgin English “wetin you dey do make I join, ma guy I dey suffer no be small” his friend smiled and said “my guy shey you go fit do am?” he bends his head quickly and nods eagerly “I fit do anything this country hard”, the friend bursts out in laughter, he stops abruptly and squeezes his face “my guy I be warrior I dey fight every day if not how I go dey pay my bills” he whispered some few words to his friends and they agreed to meet the second day.
“Students block a street as they clash with national guards during a protest against the government in San Cristóbal on Wednesday. Photograph: @Reuters"
The war coming is between the very poor and the middle class of our society, a war caused by the corruption and ineffectiveness of the political class in conjunction with the greedy wealthy class, who have prevented equitable distribution of income, a war caused by the docility and the “mo ti gbakumuness of the middle class” they have refused to speak up, protest or show any form of resistance against the atrocities committed daily by the rich and wealthy. The poor class have no idea on what to do next, in a politically unstable country in which it’s economic policies can kill the investments you have labored to build up for years in thirty minutes, a country where each day people are sinking and getting deeper into stark poverty ,they have taken the war to the front door of their closest neighbours (the middle class); through burgling, traffic robberies and all sort of unimaginable things. When last did you get stuck on Eko bridge after 11 pm? when last did you pass Fadeyi after 10 pm, what about the “one chance” buses, the kidnappings on admiralty way. Naturally, humans will do anything to get by, even do things they are not too proud of, it is all survival instincts, some people claim the absence of the banned special anti-robbery squad (SARS) is the reason for this high rate of insecurity, this is false.
Humans will do anything to put food on their table, in no way am I trying to make any excuse for crime, but we all know inflation reduces your purchasing power, which leads to poverty and poverty leads to desperation. My name is Akinwale my foodstuffs are reducing, the electricity bills are getting too high, my salary hasn’t been increased in the last two years, and I am saving up for a local pistol, thank you.
