Lorna Izoma
Imagine you woke up one morning, hungry and you set out to get yourself bread and the bread seller tells you it costs, ₦10,000.
You laugh because she is joking right? There is no way.
But she looks at you straight in the face and says, “ti o ko ba fẹ ra kuro nibi,” - If you don’t want to buy it, leave here.
You blink, still waiting for the joke to land. No jokes, no landing.
You then zombie-walk back to your apartment and you get a text from your landlord which read, “rent will increase to 1 million this afternoon.”
Which rent? For this face-me-I-face-you house?
You stare at your phone, and suddenly remember the nightmare that is your life.
Like a crashing wave, your memories flood in, and you recollect the hyperinflation that started in the year 2034, when the Nigerian government thought it would be wise to print more Naira notes.
Now prices rise daily, and naira notes mean nothing.
They even printed a ₦100,000 note, further plunging the country deep into economic ruin.
You look at the chaos that is your country, shake your head and go out to buy the ₦10,000 bread.
I can hear your God forbids from here, and I am saying it with you.
But What is Even This Hyperinflation?
Look at it this way, in a small town of Okuobiko, with a population of just 1000 residents, there are 3 businessmen, Mr. Okafor, Mr. Kazeem and Mr. Anikulapo.
These men are friends who advise each other, lend each other help and invest together.
Sadly, Mr. Anikulapo makes some bad business decisions and has to borrow some money.
He borrowed from his friends but, luck did not smile on him yet again, and he made no profit.
Now, the time limit given for the money to be returned has elapsed, and he must pay them back – as he is a man who keeps to his word.
Unfortunately for this small town, Mr. Anikulapo owned a money printing machine, so he makes the drastic decision to print out money notes so he can pay his friends, and get back to his feet.
He prints 10 million and pays off his loan of 6 million, much to the pleasure of his friends.
Satisfied with being debt free, he then goes on to embark on more business ventures.
There had been a fishing boat that he wanted to buy so he could invest and start a fishing business.
The last time he checked the price, it was 3.5 million.
He practically skips to the boat store and asks to buy it.
Getting there, the shop keeper tells him, “it is now costs 5 million.”
What? But he checked the price just 5 days ago.
What happened?
What happened was, the money he printed was not meant to be in circulation.
How money works is, there must be a product, which generates value and that in turn, causes people to give value (money) to it.
A product requires work, dedication, and time, and this money printed was not generated from work or dedication.
Hence, this money is worth less.
Meaning, in this small town of Okuobiko, the 3.5million of 5 days ago is equal to the 5 million of the present day.
In other words, if money is worth less, you pay more for the same products.
Now that I think about it, is this not what is happening in Nigeria today?
I sincerely hope the Government is not printing more money behind our backs.
That would be the beginning of the end.
There are different ways Mr. Anikulapo could have stopped this disaster, he could have taken a loan, asked for more time to pay back his friends, or invested in another business.
Literally anything apart from printing more money.
According to my research, the perfect way to pray this inflation away, would be to increase the country’s GDP.
Increasing domestic manufactured goods, which will create value, adds positively to a country's economy.
But how can we have domestic products when we cannot afford domestic resources?
The Nigerian inflation is getting worse daily, and I sincerely hope they are not pouring in printed money into this already crippling system.
I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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