There was a time when owners of dogs used to feed their dogs anything they cooked. It didn’t matter if it was rice that was cooked, or semovita, with egusi soup, nobody raised an eyebrow as the dogs were fed their portions. Try that now, in an average home in Nigeria, members of your household might disown you.
In my younger days, we owned a puppy named Bobby. Mother bought big size NIDO powdered milk for it which we used to mix with water to feed it 5 times a day. We were not rich. It was just convenient for us. In those days, sachet milk was not in existence, we may have made do with it.
It was common to hear of dogs that would not eat certain types of food. A lady said their dog would not eat any food without bone, meat or fish in it. But the situation we are facing today, even people that could not cook without meat or eat food without meat, have begun to appreciate any food without meat.
In the few decades I have witnessed in my life, the price of semovita has never multiplied by 100 percent. One could say, it is made up of processed maize. But what about corn? It was bought at N1000 per measure. Unfortunately, even though it is more nutritious than Semovita, it is not as economical. So many of us went for quantity not quality. One measure of Semovita can feed a family of 8 but not corn flour. You will have to sieve out all the roughages and eat only the one in powdery form. At the peak of the food insecurity, most families who insisted on eating corn flour, stopped sieving it, so that it would last.
In the heat of it all, one discovered that at wedding receptions, the guests were a mixed multitude. There were always those who invited themselves so that they could spare themselves money for food. There was a particular freelance photographer who used to frequent wedding receptions with 4 of her kids. Before the guests would arrive from the church, she would have made herself and her children very comfortable in one of the front tables. If there were drinks on the table, they mysteriously disappeared.
As the photographer goes around, looking for business, the children scramble around for food. Most of the food would be disappearing under the table. By the time they would be leaving the reception, you would know they didn’t come to play games.
Recently, some people made an observation that most of the people that go around collecting leftovers at wedding receptions, do so for their benefits not for dogs or pigs, as implied. A lady said she had witnessed her neighbour, washing leftover rice and putting it to dry, so that she can feed her family with it. Even the semovita can be dried, she told her. In her words, “It is a delicious delicacy when it dries and it is crunchy.”
Talk about ‘ na condition dey make crayfish bend’. I have heard of a Gbagyi people of Nasarawa and Abuja local delicacy, which is prepared by drying what is referred to as kanzo tuwo (the part of corn flour swallow that gets stuck to the pot. It is often scraped) until it is very dried and crunchy. If it does not kill, then it is edible.
Of recent times, food security has been threatened by the activities of bandits, Boko Haram, who sack farming communities by killing, maiming or abducting for ransome. In some cases, they destroy farm lands which farmers have toiled over, their very livelihood for what has been described as ethnic cleansing.
The survivors usually feel like fish out of water when relocated to IDP camps and made to depend on charity for all their needs.
Most of these women are forced to indulge in menial jobs to take care of their needs and to feed their families. But what becomes of the men? Life becomes hopeless for them. Imagine a man who has grown up building his wealth by farming to provide for his family and the nation, now looking up to hand downs. It is not only humiliating but kills the spirit.
The women have to do more to sustain their families. But without skills, how much can they do? A few weeks ago, a lady came to my house to beg for food and clothing. She said, that they were sacked out of their village, Gwazo, in Borno State. Narrating her experience, she told me how she witnessed her loved ones killed and almost lost hope in life because of the pain. But somehow, she is up and going around to get food for her young children.
This lady got me in tears when she said “we used to be owners of big lands, farming plantations. However, Boko Haram reduced us to our knees. Now, I have to do menial jobs to feed my family. Or depend on the goodwill of people.”
She asked for any job that would pay any amount to enable her to feed her children that day. It was heart rending.
I asked if the government was not taking care of them. And she said, for how long can the government do that? It has tried its best. It is now left for them to get their footing.
The lady gave me food for thought when I complained that things were hard. She said to always be grateful “that you are living peacefully in your space, where you want to be, with all your loved ones around you. You have your means of livelihood and you can go and come back in peace to the welcoming arms of your loved ones.”
Since the day we had that conversation, I have appreciated everything more. Thank God for peace. Without it, everything will be in shambles.
Today, I don’t judge the people I see collecting leftovers at weddings or any celebration. Na condition dey make crayfish bend.
I pray that the government will be able to resettle all these communities back to their ancestral homes. God bless us with peace. Amen
