BY BENSON OKOBI-ALLANAH
THIS time of the Yuletide, it might be enjoyment galore in many homes. But after the whole festivities many homes are most likely to return to square one for no fault of theirs. All due to the hard times bestriding the entire nation like a colossus.
If I did not witness it good number of times, I don’t think I would have gone into the stress of trying to knock out a piece out of my findings.
The quest and necessity to get something into the stomach in order to be counted among the living, and not be tormented by the pangs of hunger in these hard times of economic crunch, the turbulent and tortuous journey one embarks on to get what to eat has led many combining the un-combinable during breakfast, lunch and supper.
Supper, which is light and informal evening meal, is no longer made light nowadays, like breakfast which is supposed to be light to prevent one from feeling sleepy when at work usually in the morning period.
In the morning when most households in the urban areas go for light breakfast taking tea, bread, butter and eggs, it is no longer fashionable to make it light (except for the very rich) as the money to buy the afore-listed breakfast assembles are no longer within the reach of the common man, and even those in the middle class.
Just as I was about entering a house recently to deliver a parcel I received through waybill on behalf of my colleague and friend, a neigbour of his who was having an open breakfast of tea in his veranda with his children, also had soaked garri in a bowl, cocoanut, groundnut and Okpa (a locally condensed form of moimoi commonly consumed among the Igbos of both East-east and west bank of the Niger) added to the loaf of bread which weight could be compared to that of a toy bonbon, and the tea, as watery as soup without enough ingredients.
This was some few days after the Para-Olympics that took place in Paris was rounded off.
Near Konga or do I say almost in front of Konga, opposite the Stephen Keshi International Stadium, Asaba, I met a man, a stoutly-built man who had in his plate, two wraps of foo-foo and two wraps of eba. And as if what he was having for that breakfast that morning was not enough, he also had in his plate, three wraps of Okpa to bring the circle to its full round.
Though those eating that morning saw what the man was eating as an abnormal combination more so that Okpa was involved in his meal, the man in question didn’t see it as such as he un-wrapped the three Okpa, eba and foo-foo, gave a guttural clearing of his throat, and descended on them. I guess is one of these artisans who do some hard work.
‘’All you looking at me with expression of surprise on your faces as if I have done something very usual, is it these four miserable wraps of foo-foo and eba that would have sustained a man like me that does a hard-work? In today Nigeria, we no longer feed to get properly nourished, believe in proper dieting; whatever you see and know will sustain you for a good time, you eat them, combining them all. That is exactly what I’m doing. Sometimes too, I soak garri, get cooked oil bean combined with Okpa, groundnut and if possible, boiled or roasted corn and yam. If they are other things available, I still add them, all in my effort to see that I get well fed, and the things I eat sustain me for a long period of time. We no longer feed for quality, where is the money?’’ He queried.
Buying cooked foods from bukas, restaurants, up-scale eateries in Asaba, the Delta State capital, is one hell of experience residents of the city now have to contend with. You hardly see a place you can get a place of rice with N1, 000. A half-filled plate of rice in a small round plate with a cashew size piece of meat sell for N1, 200, while with beans, may be two table spoons of it, added, sells for N1, 400.
This last Sunday, a roadside food vendor was selling a plate of half-filled rice with a miserable piece of meat for N1, 500, while with beans was N1, 700, telling her customers who were all grumbling and hissing as they ate, that a cup of beans now sells for N500.
A man lamenting the divorce he is suffering in the hands of his wife as he ate, said he would not have been falling victim to these mindless, harsh, and inconsiderate food vendors if only he was not divorced by his wife, and, on his own, knows how to cook.
A man who chose to remain anonymous, while reacting to the high cost of buying food from Asaba food vendors, says of all the cities he has visited, that it appears that it is only in Asaba cooked foods and other items are more costly.
‘’Frankly speaking, of all the cities in Nigeria I have been to, I have no doubt that it is only Asaba that food is more costly. Food, like other items and rent are very costly in Asaba. I had tried to ponder over why it is like this. But a neighbor told me it is since the mass exodus of Yahoo Boys in their large numbers to the city that price of everything started soaring, forgetting the fact that Asaba is not inhabited by the rich alone. Even as I live here alone, I find it very difficult to survive; I was forced to send my wife and children to the village because I could not cope with the high cost of living in the city. I have discovered one thing, most market men and women, commercial vehicle operators, landlords, house agents, provision sellers and food vendors add to the pains of the residents of the city who patronize them by subjecting them to prices many of them cannot afford. Not everyone in Asaba is rich; they should be considerate when dealing with us.’’ He pleaded.
Many who can longer cope with live in most cities have had cause to relocate to their various villages, especially those whose villages are not that far from cities where they work.
Some workers, whether indigenes or non-indigenes of the communities they are domiciled, now commute from such places to work in the cities provided they are not so far from their place of work.
But they now appear not to be finding it so easy as they thought by going to the city to work from such communities the hardship will be a bit relaxed; right now, the high cost of transport fares most commercial drivers charge them is now pinned to scarcity of fuel, and the difficulty associated with getting the product and the high cost they buy it from the marketers.
‘’I live at Ugbolu which though a stone throw from Asaba where I go to work Monday through Friday, I’m beginning to experience high cost in commuting to the city to work. The state government should provide buses that should be taking government and non-government workers to Asaba from places near, and a bit far from it like they do in Abuja, Lagos etc.’’ He suggested.
We now get dis-enchanting news on people not able to eat two times in a day. Many Nigerians hardly get a square meal; many now fall short of what a real diet supposed to be measured in. With junk and jumbled styles of feedings they can afford on a very low pricing, eating to be nourished is totally out of the way.
