Blame Our Traders for The Increments in a Bag of Rice

I was at the market on Wednesday, the 9th of August, and I discovered that a bag of rice is now 24000 naira. I could see the dissatisfaction in the eyes of many Nigerians.

Everyone is blaming the president for closing down the border without an alternative. Many don’t see it as a smart move as everything has skyrocketed.

We all know that rice is widely consumed by every citizen. With the border closed indefinitely, and the limited supply from our own factory that can not meet up with the high demand of the citizens, an increase in price is inevitable.

This is a trying time for Nigerians. The masses are feeling the heat and I must admit, but I am not scared of what the future holds.

I commend the president’s effort on this. He has indeed taken a bold step. Of course, it won’t be easy. In fact, we need to go through this tough moment if we must enjoy the future. As much as this is tough on us, it can only get better in a few month’s time. There’s nothing to worry about.

There are lots of positives to take from this brilliant move by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Here are the positives to pick from the closure of the borders:

• Any country that wants to grow must be a producer and not a consumer. Our country, Nigeria, is over-reliant on imported goods. We are consumers. Only a few are producers. No nation will grow that way. We can not continue to rely  on others for what we consume, it’s time we take responsibility for our future. We need to buy less and sell more. Something we are not ready to do. Nigerians want everything easy but it doesn’t work that way.

• This will help boost the sales of homemade products. We need to start patronizing our own products. That will help foster the growth of our companies and also give birth to more infant companies. Most of them have gone into extinction because they don’t have the financial capacity to compete with imported goods. The closure of the border will provide an enabling environment for businesses to grow.

• More jobs will be created. When homemade companies thrive, they’ll definitely grow. Therefore, they’ll be needing more hands in their companies. This will help in creating more jobs. Isn’t it something to rejoice about? With the rate of unemployment on the rise, we need to come up with a solution or else our graduates will be frustrated and keep roaming the streets without direction.

• Revenue will be generated. The government needs to make more money to support the nation’s thin budget. Since the border has been closed, the Head of the Nigerian Customs Service reported that they’ve recorded over 5 billion naira per day. This is a very good figure. It makes me think about how much we’ve wasted in the past. If we want the Nigerian dream, we must be willing to pay the price.

This is a moment where everyone has to come together and join hands together to lift the nation high.

We often blame the president for this increment in the price of food and other non-perishable goods in the country. But the truth is, the president has played a little role in this. We should rather blame ourselves for whatsoever that’s happening in the country.

We are our own enemies. I am ashamed of our traders. Most of them had purposely inflated the price of these commodities. They have seen it as an opportunity to make more money. I am not surprised by that, filling stations also do that.

We all can sit in our homes or offices and blame the president forever, it won’t change the fact that we don’t have empathy for ourselves. We are the ones making life hard and unbearable yet we blame the leaders. Piling pressure and inflicting pains during the trying moment is what we call good business.

If we look further, we will see a clearer picture of what the president is trying to do. But our greedy act would not let us see the bright future ahead. You’ll be surprised that some people will produce substandard goods just to exploit the citizens. We all want to make a profit on ourselves.

I’m not against anyone making a profit in business. Of course, the purpose of every business is to make a profit but when this is done to exploit the masses, then it makes no sense at all.

Here’s one thing I will leave you with – the president is not feeling the heat, neither are the politicians. So when you think of making a profit at the expense of the masses, remember that we are in this together.