My country people will know this very well: for the past couple of years now, ever since the dollar went up, the price of things in the market is no longer a number; it has now become what we talk about every day.
Everyone is now trying to survive every day and trying their possible best to put food on the table; this is one of the tests almost all citizens now pass through. Going into the market, most especially the major markets of some cities—Bodija market in Ibadan, Oshodi market in Lagos, and New market in Ile-Ife—the prices of things are not as stable as they used to be. Today, you will enter the market hoping to buy the goods that you initially priced yesterday evening, but getting there, the market woman will have to tell you that things have gone up and blame it all on the dollar. Then you look into each other's eyes, trying to bargain and doing some calculation off the top of your head, thinking that you hope you won't be cheated if you purchase these goods.
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But let me tell you the simple truth: there is no fixed price in my country. You might buy a product in Kano at the rate of #1000, then when you get to Abuja, they call it for you at #3000. Here, the prices of things are not instant; in fact, they change like the weather. Today, the price of petrol is normal; tomorrow, everyone is queuing to buy petrol just because there is news that it will soon become very expensive. I could remember last year tomatoes and peppers were very, very expensive, but looking at the price now, it is not as expensive as that of last year. As a result of this, a lot of business owners are in a dilemma because if they have any goods to sell and they sell low, they might end up on the no profit side, and if they sell high, customers will say that their goods are too expensive.
Some few months ago, the government of my country said they wanted to regulate the prices of everything in the country. The idea sounds very appealing to me, but to date, they have not said anything about it. But in reality, if they do that, will it work? I said to myself and asked someone, and he said, Dave, forget it; it can't work because things like that don't work in a country where the system has failed the citizens. And that is why people are putting different prices on their goods just to survive.
Yet, if some business owners sell at a ridiculous rate, they will say that it is not greed and it is just a survival mode. I have seen this happen a lot.
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Now, we no longer know the difference between exploring and survival because even a common vegetable that a farmer plants at the back of his house is being sold for a very high price, and now the poor suffer for it.
I will say that in my country, the solution is not putting a price control on everything, but rather, everyone should learn how to be considerate, faithful, and honest and have the fear of God and be honest so that everything can be balanced.
Thank you for reading.
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