At exactly 7:03 a.m., Nigerians woke up rich, sounds crazy right? but yep, one of the poorest countries in the world and had the most corrupt politicians whom hoarded huge wads of cash, suddenly everyone had a huge bank account. Nobody knew what had happened. There was no presidential announcement, no Central Bank statement and no explanation from the banks. People simply checked their phones and saw alerts for N100 million sitting in their accounts. No more and no less.
At first, everyone thought it was a scam. Then the WhatsApp messages started flying. “Guy, check your account!” “Bro, I just became a millionaire!” Within an hour, Nigeria had collectively forgotten how to behave. People stopped going to work, students stopped going to school(what was the use, most of the students murmured) and even those who had never called their landlords suddenly became very confident. “Oga, I want to pay five years' rent,” one man announced. “Three years?” the landlord asked. “Make it nine.”
By the afternoon, the country was celebrating. People who had spent years dreaming about cars, houses and expensive holidays suddenly had the money to buy them. Someone bought a new car and immediately posted it online with the caption, “God did it.” Another man walked into a mobile phone shop and bought the most expensive phone without asking the price. Restaurants became crowded, shopping malls became chaotic and every available apartment suddenly had ten people fighting to rent it. The insane part was watching people who had never had N1 million in their accounts trying to decide what to do with N100 million. Everyone became an investment expert overnight. “I am putting mine into real estate,” one man said. “I am buying hive token,” another said confidently. Someone else simply replied, “I am buying everything.”
Then, by the next morning, Nigerians discovered the problem, the N100 million was everywhere. Since almost everybody had become rich, money had suddenly become almost worthless. A bottle of water that cost N500 yesterday was now N50,000. A loaf of bread was N200,000. A bag of rice cost several million naira. A taxi driver refused N100,000 for a short trip. “Boss, I need N2 million,” he said. “For this distance?” the passenger shouted. “Fuel is expensive,” the driver replied. At the market, a woman offered N10 million for a basket of tomatoes. The trader looked at her and calmly said, “Two hundred million.” “For tomatoes?” she screamed. The trader shrugged. “You have money. I have tomatoes.”
Within days, everyone began to understand what had happened. The country was full of millionaires, but there was no increase in food, fuel, houses, electricity or other things people actually needed. A doctor could have N100 million in the bank but still needed a farmer to produce food. A farmer could have N100 million but still needed fuel, tools and transportation. A mechanic could be rich on paper but unable to repair a car because spare parts were unavailable. People began returning to barter. A carpenter repaired someone's roof in exchange for food. A farmer exchanged bags of maize for medicine. A mechanic accepted livestock for his services. Suddenly, the amount displayed on someone's bank account mattered less than what that person could actually produce or provide.
The government eventually appeared on television to explain the situation, but by then nobody was listening. Nigerians had already learned the lesson themselves. If everyone has N100 million but there is only one bag of rice available, the person with the rice has the real bargaining power. Money only works because people believe it can be exchanged for something valuable. Once everyone has the same enormous amount of money, scarcity takes over and prices rise until that money loses much of its meaning. The man who had spent his entire life growing crops suddenly became more valuable than the man who had spent the week buying luxury cars and that was inflation!!!
A month later, Nigeria looked strangely different. People still had their N100 million, but nobody bragged about it anymore. The farmer still farmed, the tailor still sewed. The mechanic still fixed cars. The teacher still taught and Nigerians came to the realization that having money is not the same as being wealthy. One evening, an old farmer sat outside his house with a basket of maize beside him. Someone offered him N500 million for it. He laughed and shook his head. “My friend,” he said, “what will I do with your money if there is nothing left to buy?” For the first time, people understood the meaning of value, especially the politicians who had hoarded bundles of money that were now worthless. It was now a level playing ground!!
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