IN our country Nigeria, there is this general assumption that corruption is the hallmark of those powerful politicians and other top civil servants in government, who do fraudulent things in order to enrich themselves. Apart from top politicians, the police, the Customs and even the Federal Road Safety Commission officials are all seen as corrupt agencies of government. Nobody looks at those at the lower trunk of the society; the market women, drivers, teachers, civil servants at the lower echelon and others.
Those listed above are always at the receiving end of Nigerians, who blame them for the total mess in the country. Enter any of our markets to buy things and hear our market women talk down on government officials from the top to bottom. To them, the Nigerian President, whether the present one, President Ahmad Bola Tinubu or the past ones are the fathers of corruption. Those in government and political office holders are all corrupt and are the problems that are bedevilling our country, Nigeria. They are fond of saying ‘they have killed Nigeria.’ In fact, they believe that everyone in government is corrupt and cannot be trusted.
A closer look at the Nigerian society will reveal the decadence in every segment. Everybody is corrupt in their own little way. Any opportunity that comes their way to add to their well-being is grabbed notwithstanding the detrimental effect to the society. It can be argued that only very few Nigerians are upright, and the funny thing is that this few ones may not be found in the church or mosque.
Things have changed for the worse in Nigeria because of the quest for money and material things. Nigerians no longer care about their actions as long as it brings money.
I remember back in the village many years ago, when we were little boys, it was a life full of sincerity, at least to an extent. People were merely concerned about their daily life and stomach fulfilment. I also remember that fufu gotten from fermented raw cassava was a major staple food item then. Women would go to their farms, harvest these cassava tubers, peel them and soak them in water to ferment. It was always the prayer of every mother in my village to have their cassava ferment within few days. In fact, the fermentation of their cassava brings joy to them because it means the family would have food on their table. In my secondary school days, some troublesome boys would curse their classmates saying ‘your mother’s cassava would not ferment’. What that means is that the family would be in hunger for a very long time. This shows the high premium placed on cassava as a staple food in those days and even now. Only few families then could afford to eat rice regularly. Some families only eat rice thrice a year; New Year day, Easter day and Christmas day. Cassava fufu was the major food that people ate so often then.
Today, because of the economic condition in the country and fear of eating adulterated artificial products, people still prefer to eat this special cassava fufu.
Few weeks ago, I was in a friend’s house when the wife came to complain about the fermented cassava product she bought at one of the local markets within the Delta State Capital territory. She said the product was smelling like perfume and that the texture after she prepared it was not like the ones she used to buy at the market in her village.
As we were talking, another woman came in and confirmed that some women add different chemicals to hasten the fermentation of the cassava tubers. Chemicals like detergents, bleach and other poisonous things not good for human consumption.
To find out the authenticity of this claim or accusation, I decided to visit one of the markets on a special market day. Fortunately, I met a woman who sells fermented cassava, who openly spoke to me and answered my questions. The woman, who gave her name as Juliana said she has been in the cassava business for long and that she gets her cassava fermented in different ways. To her, she does not add anything to ferment the ones she eats but the ones meant to be sold, she adds chemicals to hasten the fermentation. She maintained that without adding chemicals the cassava would take time to ferment or may not ferment at all, adding that adding detergent or other chemicals help to increase the quantity of the cassava product.
She said that every woman in that particular cassava business adds chemical to be able to cope with the economic predicament facing the nation.
This is one of the problems we are facing as a nation; fraud everywhere, from top to bottom. I was able to talk sense into the women but who knows if she would take my advice. However, for those, who love to eat the cassava fufu, please buy the raw tubers and prepare it ourselves to avoid buying poison, as our local market women are now involved in cassava fraud.
