Category Archives: Eco-social

At the beginning of this year, I had this magnificent plan of having one of the best summer holidays with the family.

Summer, summer, summertime
Time to sit back and unwind

Here it is the groove slightly transformed
Just a bit of a break from the norm
Just a little somethin’ to break the monotony – Will Smith

In fact, I wrote down “summer holiday” as part of my 2016 goals, including a bucket list of what to do, by the side – sky diving was one. Then I prayed over the sheet of paper during my church’s end of the year Watch Night Service. You know that service you get to pray from the night of 31^st Dec into the early hours of 1st Jan? Yes, that one!

Today would have been the day we are headed out to ‘The abroad’.

For a striving middle-classer like me, going on summer holidays with the family has always been something to look forward to.

Aside it being a great opportunity to visit families and friends abroad, see places and engage in various activities; going on a summer trip is like a self-pay-back benefit, for a year of hard work, taken from your income.

Understandably, Not every Nigerian can afford a holiday, not even the luxury to travel within the boundaries of the country. But soon as an average middle class can save up for it – it doesn’t matter if the cost is equal to two years of their personal savings plus some borrow here and there; a summer holiday will surely appear on the horizon.

You can’t blame us. We are Nigerians, very egoistic by nature. We must feel among. Our complex has no limit. Interestingly, this kind of behavior is something that is evenly distributed across all our socio-classes – high, middle & low income earners. Trust me, it is even more common among the poorest. ‘O sure ju’.

But this 2016 summer period is different. A very very special one. And this is not because of the Olympics happening in Rio

But anyway, during the course of the year, as I was doing’ my planning for the summer abroad jejely, that was how Forex caught malaria and started having high temperature, such that Naira dipped to 388 degrees to a dollar. As if that is not enough, Nigeria fell into recession, Airfare went up and Food prices shot up. You know all the gbogbo orisirisi inside fisherman okro soup? Yup. It all got into the same soup with Nigeria

As the summer drew near, and reality touched awon boys, my friends and I started to discuss with each other;

“You dey travel this year so?”

“Omo I no sure o”

“E be like say we no dey travel dis year again”

“I don buy ticket, but I go seek refund”

Well, there were some baddest….

“Bro, I go find the money. Anyhow we must travel”

“I can’t change plans, I already promised madam and the kids”

“We are no longer going to Paris. We will just go straight to the UK or Yankee and back”

That was how somewhere along the line, I decided to deceive myself, checked the price of ticket and accommodation for 10 days, for a family of 4 (may be I can change my mind too)….

HELL to the effing NO! Lai Lai! Kini won nsha ni be? What exactly is in the abroad? What benefit will I bring back from the abroad? Over N2 Million for a 10-day summer trip, excluding other things and…. Fian, Lobatan! No way!

Buy Sense. Grow Naija

So I kukuma decided to apply common sense, or rather, borrow myself brain to see what else I could do with the abroad money. Probably, use this opportunity to invest in self.

Necessity is the mother of all innovations. Who abroad epp?

Remember that my scrap book I mentioned at the beginning of the year? I dusted it to check out other goals

Hang on…

I am approaching middle age and I haven’t bought a single plot of land! All these while, it is “the abroad” that I always invest in. Father Lord!

I picked up my phone.. things must change. Thank God for Buharonomics. No more wastefulness.

I called my friend, Bishop. He is a property mogul – Adron Homes. Oga mi sir! Can I Pay Small Small?

Imagine, Adron was even distributing Ileya ram, if you subscribe to a scheme

It only now makes sense. I will rather buy a plot of land with N4 million than go to the abroad this 2016.

This is my story. E fit be you o.

Ade of Nigeria

ANOTHER PUBLIC DAY? ??

We Are Adjusting, Small Small:

Leave a reply

This past couple of months sha. …

Sincerely speaking, at some point I was beginning to think I needed to seek spiritual help. Or was it because I hadn’t paid my tithe in almost 7 years?
(Hahahaha. .. I just caught the attention of all my Religiously Correct brothers and sisters)

Everything suddenly took a turn. The full effect of the Nigeria Economy had started to do me ‘wan kain’. Various eventful events added its own join sef.

Petrol became Gold. Electricity went South. No money in the System. Salary didn’t go up, and it became worthy of a testimony if your employer continued to pay your Wages.

So I pulled out my expense sheet to reconcile. For some strange reasons, my energy consumption had started to go down – this is, considering the recent increase in pump price to an unprecedented N145/ltr

Ah ah, ki lo nshele ni bi yii?

Even more strangely, fuel stations are mostly empty these days. Are people not buying fuel again? Sometimes I have to look, again and again, at the emptiness in these filling stations, to determine if there was actually no fuel or that the station simply don’t have customers. It has been a, no customer, situation!

Oh oh. ..

Nigerians have started to find their new equilibrium. For me, my ‘irin gbere gbere’ has reduced drastically. The fuel in my car is now strictly for, commute to anywhere of benefit and benefit ONLY.
Curiously, I am now hearing glorious news about the BRT mass transit system (AC is tight and working well. The buses are on time. It’s even faster to get to your destination sef. Many many things you hear when Nigerians have decided to stylishly downgrade their habits 🙂 )

We are in a ‘Gba Fun Olohun’ State of Adjustment.

So on a cursory look when driving-by any of the BRT stops, I now see a lot more smartly dressed middle classers, in line, to get on the bus. LOL!

Isn’t that what we have been talking about?

Black Outs

That Electricity palaver nko? Reflecting again, I’m not even bothered if ‘they bring’ light these days. If they’ like, take it in the middle of the night, trust me, my sleep will just engage gear 4 and move on.
And that’s not just me. My fellow Middle Class Estate Residents are in sync with me on this one. The generators don’t roar into action as quickly as it used to be.

“We can’t come and die”.

Even God is forgiving these days. Weather is now cool and fine.

A couple of months back shortly after it dawned on us that the Nigerian Economy was drunk with sapele water – 48% ogogoro pure white spirit – God was, coincidentally, also VERY angry at Nigerians! We have been badly behaved children.
He was boiling, such that the weather conditions were hitting 40deg celsius – even in the mid of the night when the moon is, supposedly, high up overlooking the ocean. You can imagine. This was also when The Miscreants, Niger Delta Avengers started blowing up pipelines, and Energy supplies (fuel and electricity) dropped across board.

The black-outs were bad. You will be sleeping like dis, and in the dream, it will appear you now have a new job working at a bakery located in hell. I would always break out in sweat. Sticky sweat,that I had also acquired a body (H)odor.

Ilu ti da’ru

But I think God too have chilled a bit. He is no longer vexing anyhow. He is most likely now using his mouth to blow cool breeze on us. I have a feeling he loves Nigeria specially. We are just stupid people. But he loves us.

Nigerians are hopefully now adjusting to a new reality. We can’t afford to go on recklessly again. This probably explains why the NLC call for strike, failed woefully!

Think about it, no one can easily afford an increase to N145/ltr and the consequences of rising food prices. NLC requested mass action, yet we politely declined. Why? Because we are learning the truth by the day. Sacrifices have to be made NOW, for a better tomorrow.

We are adjusting. My expense sheet is indicative of my new reality. I have started adjusting.