Skip to main content
Give Rice "the tomato treatment. "

Chukwudi Anagbogu

At a time, garri seemed indispensable in the daily menu of every Nigerian family. Personaly, I grew up smoking garri garnished with palm kernel or groundnuts, sometimes with milk if available. A childhood friend of mine would go about 'armed' with garri mixed with granulated sugar, occasionally scooping sizeable quantity into his mouth. In recent years, a menu is never complete without rice, whether jollof, fried, white, etc. Rice is no longer a meal for the big occasions :it is a meal for all seasons. Rice is no longer a meal for the bourgeoisie, even the lowest class in the society revels in its consumption. It is pathetic that the consumption of rice has become inevitable among Nigerians.

The price of nearly every commodity has skyrocketed. But that of rice has become a constant issue of discourse because every Nigerian is affected. People have tried without success to give concrete reasons for this. Perhaps that led to the scathing statement allegedly credited to the minister of Agriculture that,  "rice is expensive because Nigerians eat a lot of it."  A certain Kemi Adeosun, who is supposed to be the Finance minister allegedly predicted that by December, a bag of rice could be sold for as much as 40,000 naira! Why all these? Many other food items are even costlier than rice, but we don't complain much about them. Breadfruit, fio fio (local beans) and even beans are worse,and they have more nutritional value than rice. Kerosene is a no go area now.

Our problems as a nation are  way beyond the price of rice. The only compulsory food that everyone must consume is water, and incidentally and ironically it is the most affordable. Months back, it was all about the price of fresh tomatoes. Then a basket of tomatoes was sold for as much as 42000 naira  as against 14,000 naira. People moaned and screamed, but the price kept going up. Left with no other option, many Nigerians jettisoned fresh tomatoes and opted for other alternatives like palmfruits and sauce instead of tomato stew. In fact, it made banga soup more desirable and popular. Today, the price of tomatoes has gone down by more than 50 percent. That is to show you that some mischief makers are somewhere doing all they could to take us to the cleaners. Why is it that economic recession does not affect commodities like condoms, cigarettes, underwears and some other 'unthinkable ' goods?  Nigerians are fond of cashing in on people's misfortunes to make money.
A packet of spaghetti can feed a family a meal, something you may not do with several cups of rice. Whatever rice can do, spaghetti can do it better. There is macaroni, there are noodles. These are capable substitutes to rice ,and they are very affordable and even more nutritious. Let's see if this will force the shenanigans and the 'cabal' have a re-think. We have a lot of important issues to worry about, not the price of rice. Let rice be for now, till they begin to beg us to buy it again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Grandma series 1 (Chukwudi Anagbogu)

 I was among the few privileged ones to have lived with my grandmother during my childhood. My grandma had visited us for the “omugwo” of my younger sibling. At the ‘expiration` of three months, she had opted to stay longer because as she would always say, “anywhere one stays is one's home.”  My siblings and I received news of her “extension” with mixed feelings. Our concerns were borne out of her strictness. She was so strict that sometimes you wondered how my mother-her daughter survived childhood under her watch. It was during her stay that my immediate elder brother and I stopped bedwetting. Hitherto, my parents had employed all manner of tactics to stop us from betwetting, all to to avail. First, my mum had tried reducing our water intake, especially at nights. According to her, not taking enough water would reduce the urge to urinate at night. The strategy seemed to work initially, as we did not bed wet for three consecutive days. On the fourth day however, the unthinkab...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Classmates (story one)

  Emeka was not just my friend, he was a friend to all. He was particularly handsome and had an aura of importance. That alone made me admire him. In my class, he was ‘worshipped’ and highly revered. Even some teachers openly gave him preferential treatment. First, our form teacher had assigned him to the front row in the class, but Emeka himself preferred to sit at the far end of the rear. Of course, he had his way. Emeka was the only student in class who had the freedom to eat in class whenever he felt the desire to do so. I was surprised when mid-way into a maths class, he opened his big food flask and began feasting from it. Everyone expected the Maths teacher, who was a renowned disciplinarian, to have reacted. Lo and behold, the Maths teacher feigned ignorance despite the fact that the aroma from the food was so obvious that a passerby would have mistaken our classroom for a kitchen. Chike, another classmate of mine had attempted to do a similar thing few days earlier. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more

RELATIONSHIP RUINED BY ZEE WORLD

 Story by Chukwudi Anagbogu  In the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria, evenings once meant family time—gathering around the dinner table, sharing stories, and connecting over meals. But things began to change when Zee World, the Indian television channel showcasing Hindi dramas, became a household staple. It all started innocently enough. Adama, a young woman in her late twenties, was drawn to the elaborate storylines and dramatic twists of the telenovelas. With their glitzy portrayals of love, betrayal, and family drama, she found herself mesmerized by characters like Rani and Raj. Each night, she tuned in, eager to see how the latest episode would unfold. At first, Adama’s enthusiasm was infectious. Her younger brother, Chike, and her parents would join her on the sofa, laughing and gasping at the ridiculous plot turns. But as weeks turned into months, something shifted. Adama began prioritizing her viewing schedule over family interactions. Dinners turned quiet as everyone wa...
Post a Comment
Read more