Is it only me that feels like every trader in Nigeria market now carries a cutlass, not literally, but you should know what I mean na, the prices of goods in the market are so exorbitant it feels like you are being cut through, actually, your pocket is at the end of the day, As a hive blogger when the dollar rate started increasing compared our naira, I was among those that were happy o, imagine trading $10 for 13,000, it was so cool, one thing I forgot is that I was going to be making all my transactions here. And that is how my happiness was cut short when I visited the market, I knew things were costly already, no thanks to the removal of fuel subsidy, what I did not know is that the dollar also added its price to goods that were already expensive.
Happily, I woke up last Saturday morning did my fine girl, and made a list of things I would be getting from the market, as a wise babe, I made sure to top their prices because I knew their prices could never be the same as before. It all started when I tried to board a bus to the market, the driver had added 150 to the bus fare, hmmm, I remained calm, this should have been an alert for me to suspend the journey o, but I didn't pay attention, after taking two extra buses, I arrived at oshodi market in its glory and all, buzzy as everyone was involve in one activity or the other, I squeezed my way through and finally located the first store I would be shopping for fabrics,
"Madam how much is the George?" it was a small George that shouldn't have gone beyond 15k before, the woman answered, 40k, ha! I exclaimed at that instance, just like in a movie, it felt like the cutlass suddenly appeared, what happened na, it too costly? I probed further, Dollar happened she replied, the same dollar I was happy exchanging a few days ago.
And that was the same reply I received from all traders whose stores I visited with their imaginary cutlass at hand. The transaction that got me shocked the most was when I wanted to buy a traditional cap for a client of mine, he had sent me a picture of Davido wearing the cap with a traditional outfit and asked how much I thought it would cost, I wasn't sure, and I told him it shouldn't be more than 10k, only for me to reach the traditional store, and I showed the sales person the same picture, which I regret, and guess how much I was told for this same cap, 50,000 naira for a cap, about $50
I asked him again to be sure my eardrums were working fine, and he repeated the same amount, ha! I exclaimed again and started laughing, thinking he was joking, but the look on his face was still serious without any trace of someone that just cracked a joke, then I realized that he was serious, Dollar again? I replied getting frustrated at this point and then he hit me with an unexpected answer reply "You no see say na Davido wear am?
Meaning, that the cap is worn by a celebrity in the picture, so that equals it being expensive, at least the dollar didn't take the blame this time.
If you have plans to go to a Nigeria market, make sure to carry plenty of money and extra plenty money, and very importantly, never move around with the picture of a celebrity hoping to buy what he or she is wearing, because that automatically means the double price for you.
Now I'm scared of returning to the market again and don't know if I should be happy or not about the dollar-high exchange rate, as for celebrity attire, I have learned my lesson, I would rather use my mouth and explain what I want.
All images used in this post are mine