“My brother, e ku
exchange rate oh.”
“Excuse me?”
“I am greeting you. I am
saying how are you and the exchange rate palaver. The dollar wahala”.
“So, that is why you are
saying e ku exchange rate. Is something wrong with you Yoruba
people? Must you turn everything into a form of
greeting?”
“You are insulting me?”
“I am making a
statement”
“Any serious
matter at all, you and your people must turn it into something else. E ku exchange rate?What kind of greeting is that? Yoruba will say e ku election, e ku democracy, e ku change, e ku
ana, e ku gbogbo e, gbogbo e, e ku democracy. I am tired of answering you people and your cynical greetings.”
“The people don’t mean
any harm.”
“That was how somebody
came to me the other day and said e ku Mecca, Medina, e ku Qatar. I felt like slapping the guy.”
“Ha.”
“I don’t like
hypocrites.”
“Would you have felt
better, if he had told you e ku living upside down,
e ku idorikodo, e pele change?”
“I would just have been
livid, because I know you and your people. Too much cynicism.”
“Can you stop?”
“You know me, I speak my
mind.”
“No. You are beginning
to sound like Donald Trump. Stop Trump-ing other people, just because you don’t
know where they are coming from.”
“But of course I know
where you are coming from when you say e ku exchange rate”.
“Where am I coming from?
I just left my house”
“My friend. Sit down. “
“You too stop going
upanddan”
“Okay, you want to talk
about exchange rate. I am listening. The way it is, everybody is now an
economist in Nigeria. Even my driver yesterday was telling me about the
behaviour of the parallel market. And I overheard the nanny commenting on the
2016 budget and how it may, in the long run affect the housekeeping allowance.”
“That’s a criminal in
the making. You should sack that housekeeper. She certainly wants to pad the
housekeeping allowance.”
“You know these people
also watch television. She must have listened to stories about padding on
television and radio may be, and she may think it is perfectly normal in
today’s Nigeria to pad figures.”
“These things run deep,
I agree. But a crook is a crook. Better keep an eye on that housekeeper and let
her know that this is the era of prudence, discipline and you-steal-you-get-caught-you-blame yourself-and-may-be-go-to-wa
wi-tenu-e places.“
“Don’t worry, I am the
EFCC of my house, nobody can pad anything. I am on top of it. I do more market
research and monitoring than Madam.”
“I don’t get it. You now
go to the market while Madam stays home?”
“You can say what you
like, but I can tell you authoritatively that a bag of rice which used to be
N8, 500 is now N12, 500. Pampers was N1, 450, it is now within three weeks, N1, 850.”
“Pampers?”
“Yes”
“What’s your business
with pampers?”
“What is not my business
with pampers? I am a very active man, upstairs and downstairs. You don’t think
I should be interested in all things material and particular and eventual? “
“You have really
changed. What happened to you?”
“Are you interested in
my findings or you want to discuss something else?”
“Carry on. I am
listening.”
“A congo of garri was
N250 a few weeks ago, it is now N500”
“Common garri?”
“Garri has changed oh.
It is no longer common”
“Really?”
“Stop saying really? Be
a man and do your own research before Madam and the housekeeper drive you into
bankruptcy by adding something of their own to the real figures and giving you
false information. You must be proactive.”
“I am with you”
“See, I like to drink
Andre. A carton used to be about N20,000. Can you believe it has jumped up to
N24,500?”
“Andre? What is that?”
“It is a kind of wine.
Middle class taste. I like it.”
“So cheap? Some other
people drink Crystal, Cliquot, didn’t know you are just a bush man
with all your big mouth. Andre. Please stop disgracing somebody.”
“A carton of Carlo
Rossi, a week ago was N14,000, it is now N17, 500.
“Carlo Rossi? Who is
that? A football coach?
“Even the cost of paraga and alomo, kasaprenko has gone up.”
“You drink all of that
too?”
“A carton of Orijin was N2, 900 the other week, it is now N3, 300”
“You keep talking about
drinks. No wonder you have also been monitoring the prices of pampers.
You can’t know the prices of these concoctions and not cause some maternity
ward problems.”
“I am giving you real
figures. And that is why I greeted you, e ku exhange rate. The Naira has been dancing like a yo-yo, and the dollar is the
queen of the foreign exchange market in Nigeria today.”
“The colour of change.”
“The Naira even
exchanged for N390 to the dollar, and N500 to the pound.”
“Nobody is talking about
the pound.”
“It is the American age.
You’d think the Americans were the ones who colonized Nigeria with the way they
have colonized the Nigerian exchange rate. Practically everyone is looking for
the dollar, you would think the Naira never existed. We definitely have an
economic identity crisis. ”
“My driver told me he
has a solution to the problem”
“I have heard some
petrol station attendants also saying they will solve the problem.”
“I am not joking. My own
Pastor actually told us on Sunday that the problem with
the Naira is spiritual and that with prayers, the Naira will regain its lost
strength.”
“Well, the petrol
station attendant has a different logic, and his own logic is even different
from my driver’s.”
“That is the problem.
Everybody in Nigeria today is now an economist. Very soon, the roadside
imbecile will issue an opinion on how the Naira can be saved.”
“Are you sure that has
not happened yet?”
“I went to a barbing
salon last week, and the barber lamented that his prices would have to change”
“Ok?”
“Exchange rate and crude
oil prices, he said”
“By the time landlords
start blaming the exchange rate and the spot price of crude oil, and they fix
prices differently, we would all be in big trouble.”
“But what happened to
that campaign?”
“Which one?
“The
Buy-Naija-To-Grow-the-Naira campaign, promoted by Senator Ben Bruce and
others.”
“Ha. You have not heard?
The Common Sense Senator published a book on Common Sense, but it was
discovered that the man preaching buy Naija, published his own book in the US
of A.”
“So?”
“What do you mean so?
Should he do one thing and say another?”
“Let the people
criticizing the Senator go and sit down, and keep quiet. The man is a thinker.
They should know that. When they go to his Silverbird cinemas, do they watch
Nigerian films there all the time, or do they eat guguru instead of pop corn?”
“I am listening”
“I am listening”
“And have they seen
Senator Bruce wearing local attires like a fisherman? This thing is about
ideas. And that is why I always argue that what we need is not common sense,
but uncommon sense. When you confront Nigerians with common sense, they will
start looking for loopholes”.
“I just hope that your
common sense Senator is married to a Nigerian woman, because that is the best
way to grow the Naira.”
“What is that? Where is
that coming from?”
“I don’t think anybody
can preach buy Naija to grow the Naira, and then go and marry a foreign wife,
that will be hypocrisy of the highest order!”
“What is the connection
between where a man marries from and the Naira?”
“There is. Please, there
is; it is the biggest money laundering offence.”
“You have started again.
Who are you trying to shade?”
“Nobody. But if we want
to really save the Naira, everybody should buy Naija.”
“That is too simplistic.
Except you are trying to suggest that our Governor-friend with Cape Verde
connections has also refused to buy Naija and therefore has a hand in the
problem with the Naira.”
“He is our friend oh.
Please, no comment.”
“Some people say to save
the Naira, not even the bedroom should be outsourced, and that the biggest
drain on this economy is the obsession of the Nigerian rich with all things
beautiful and romantically seductive from foreign countries.”
“I can’t comment on
that.”
“You are saying all of
this because Ben Murray Bruce printed his common sense book in America?”
“I am saying we all need
to rescue the Naira and the economy. The economy first!”
“You are beginning to
sound like a vulcanizer. It is not your job, it is not my driver’s job, and the
petrol station attendants should just keep quiet. Na only we dey OPEC?”
“They won’t. They can’t.
This is a democracy and we all have a right to make policy. If we don’t speak
up, some people will pad things again and things will get worse.”
“It is Godwin Emefiele’s
job”
“Him na your brother?”
“He is the Governor of
the Central Bank”
“Really?”
“What do you mean,
really?”
“What are his views on
monetary policy?”
“Go and ask him”
“And fiscal
policy?”
“Go and ask the Minister
of Finance?”
“We have a Minister of
Finance?”
“Of course we do”
“And who is that?”
“Wait a moment. What’s
that her name again?”
“Hello?”
“Wait. I am trying to
remember. Em…em…yes, 16+6= 24!”
“You mean you can’t
connect the monetary side with the fiscal side of the Nigerian economy, you are
busy just saying… Okay, don’t bother, I get it.”
“Candidly speaking.”
“Don’t worry, the people
who are benefiting from the Naira crisis know her and they know her name and
they know the CBN Governor too. In case you don’t know, while you are busy trying
to put people down, some other Nigerians have made a fortune from the
Naira-Dollar palaver.”
“A fortune?”
“Yes. That is the
difference between people who are clever and those who just complain. One of my
wife’s friends is almost a billionaire now because the Naira crashed.”
“How did she do it?”
“The God of Olajumoke
intervened. The God of Adekunle Gold picked up her call. And the God of Korede
Bello said she had won. Her warehouse is profiting from the difference. So when
you talk with that your sharp mouth, just know that in every economic
situation, there are both happy and sad stories.”
“But there are
standards, normative contexts, economic frameworks”
“If you don’t get it,
you can’t get it. If you don’t mind, please, I don’t want a lecture on that.”
#LETUSSAVENIGERIA
