I gave up on writing an article for today because of the stress I went through today, it was unplanned stuff and it affected my plans for today.
What happened exactly was that a fellow fish farmer asked if I would join him to go and get some animal waste. (Animal fat, throat, intestine, and others are good sources of protein for fishes, it helps them grow well.)
We went on his bike to an abattoir but we couldn't get anything from there because some people came earlier. We went through different meat markets but all efforts failed so I suggested we try poultry where they sell chicken.
Fortunately for us, we got enough for the fish and we were charged $5, I was shocked and asked why they would sell waste for that much and the woman answered me that the country is hard, I asked myself "what does the waste have to do with the country situation ?"
If we didn't come for it, they will thrash it so why are they charging so much for it. We bargained and ended up at $3, it looks ridiculous to me because I would never sell waste to someone for any reason.
I got home stressed and decided to reply few comments on my article before crashing for a nap but seeing @Princessbusayo article gave me the hope of sharing something here. The country is hard, we are going through difficult times but does that mean we have to be so cruel to others?
That's not the case, let save this for another day. Talking about Nigeria is not something I enjoy doing because the country's situation does not hurt my feelings.
I will be giving responses to the interview questions in the @Princessbusayo post and you can check them out here.
HOW WAS NIGERIA BACK THEN VS. NOW?
The country has never been in a good shape so I will just say it has gone from bad to worse.
The situation of the country keeps deteriorating every day and my fear is for the generations to come because I fear what the future hold for them if we are going through this much. The fear of what our parents had then is what we the kids are going through now, I guess we would only be passing nothing but the country's debt to coming generations.
There are times I even ask if we truly have the resources we claim to have because countries that don't possess what we have are doing great while we are still crawling. The truth is that the country is worse now than then, our case is like not caring for an infected tooth and the bacteria gradually spread, and now the whole teeth are bad.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST MONEY EXPERIENCE?
I really can't remember but I think kids have their first experience with people offering them money.
I was a very understanding kid and I do give to my mom whatever is been offered to me by a stranger, she gives some part back to me and I end up keeping it because I wasn't fond of eating sweets as a kid.
WHEN WAS THE FIRST TIME YOU EARNED MONEY?
My first earned money was in junior school, we had this very rich neighbor with spoilt kids. The man had two cars then and he would go out with the cars one after the other until everything gets dirty and his kids were too lazy even though they were younger than me.
On that faithful Saturday, I went to fetch water from their compound and decided to wash the car since he helps us with water and also gives us a lift when going to school. I did it without the intention of earning but it turned out to be my first earning if I am not mistaken.
He gave me $1, it was huge for me and I gave it to my mom but she wasn't happy I had to do such work. He loved the washing and took me as his car washer. I washed for him every weekend, I was ashamed at the beginning because my classmates do see me when passing but I later ignored the shame and he increased my money to $1.5 and gradually to before I stopped. Been able to support my mom was what gave me the strength I needed to do the job even though I am tired.
HOW HAS THE VALUE OF MONEY CHANGED OVER TIME?
Nigeria's fiat, Naira has lost so much value in recent years.
Naira use to be very valuable even before I was born, my mom never gets tired of telling me how she paid $0.007 (4 Naira) for school fees in higher institutions but today students pay as much as $200 for tuition fees.
The annoying thing is that the government ain't considering the people, the minimum wage is $70 in a country where just a single person would spend $20 on feeding weekly.
When I was younger, we spend smaller denominations but today, those denominations are no more in existence. You can't even get anything for those denominations again, it is has become ugly talking about naira value.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST THING YOU SAVED FOR?
The first thing I saved for was a phone, I got it for $5 then. I saved the money from the cars I was washing then and I was really happy I could afford such.
It was great pouring my mind into this article, I believe you can sense stress in my article. Wishing you all a great night rest.
That's the major reason why prices of food and other products is constantly rising. People just don't consider how hard the lives of other people could be due to a single action they make. They just want to make money no matter what. Disregarding other people's wellbeing.