12/04/2025
The Everyday Man -WHAT CAN 50k NAIRA FOR FOOD STUFF BUY? (Unedited script)
Good morning viewers,
Today let’s talk about FOOD! what can 50,000 Naira buy in your “Adaugo”, “Area”, neighborhood market?
But let me talk about my feelings first, because as you wake up matters, from the left or right, that ignites the mood, mine does anyways, this reflects on the tone for the day…
Today, if feeling was a food, I’ll be feeling like a served palatable “decorated” Afang Soup but served to an unskilled man in sucking out periwinkles from its shell, think of the frustration and then think about the overall result, and you soakaway your anger to justify the entire meal as delicious. 😋
Yesterday was a mixed feeling, do you remember the borehole ordeal I narrated few days ago? Nna menh! We’ve still not achieved a full tank o, the engineers finally returned with a new pumping machine that the former one sunk in has refused to be pulled up, that it has been covered with mud or sand beneath and while they tried to pull it up maintenance it got stuck and the ropes broke, whatever that means, but lastly another was sunked in. Did the end justify the means, No! We only experienced epileptic supply of water inside the tank, few minutes the water pumps and few minutes it stops pumping into the tank, and after switching off the machine for some minutes, it picks up water again into the overhead tank, and that’s how we battled after many hours, all these while the engineer had left and am left to do all these observations and report back to them. Ikegwuru my people. Abeg let me leave the matter for now, I think am learning civil engineering or do I call it borehole drilling technique lessons or do I see it from the wisdom point of view, by asking purpose driven question, “what Iife lessons do I learn from all of these?”… for now let me derive it from the proverbial “periwinkle sucking frustration”. Hehehe! 🤭
Back to the other palatable part of story…
Yesterday, I spent 50k on groceries, I practically went to market all by myself; please don’t judge me by nagging, which kind Chief Dey go market? Which kind “stingy” husband that will go to market to avoid giving the wife money? Aaah! Please don’t hang me yet!
I’ve told us on this platform of The Everyday man - that I enjoy, infact I derive joy from the market square, you know the hustle and bustle of a typical market, the noise, the smell, the euphoria that comes with it, the negotiations, the laughter from a crafty sales person to the unsuspecting customer, the frustrations, and all the challenges that’s come with going and returning from the market, please come and heap them, all the troubles on my head, am comfortable carrying it like tray of dry “panla” fish! 🤪
I will repeat, my granny of blessed memory, thought me sales, I have been buying and selling since I was a child, I grew up, in famous sangrous markets, obalende, Lagos Island, where I interacted with, the low, middle and mighty class of customers, I’ve slept in shops, my granny was a rich woman, who had bought many shops in the market back in the days,I even heard of a case, where one of the girls she trained had to sn**ch one of her shops and diverted her customers, but in all my granny was a good woman and prosperous woman, I learnt a lot growing up with her, I was spoilt silly, based on the her first grand son na, I was her pet and even my cousins envied me, lol 😆
let me leave that part of the story and jump right into what you can learn from todays episode, but at a point in my life I’ve envisioned- importing stock fish and becoming a major player in the traditional food supply chain. My childhood dream. 😴 Will I fulfill them?, keep followingg my series, especially on, “My, How I intend to change my hate, so that an everyday man won’t suffer my hate anymore”. AGRITECH is my thing, keep your fingers crossed 🤞
So, I’ve heard about many markets in Abuja, and on each occasion I take the opportunity to scout the market and see how the tradespeople fair, I basically, buy and observe, learn and unlearn, because as a marketing professional, every avenue for buying and selling is an opportunity to explore. I’ve been to Wuse market, Garki, Karimo, Apo Fish market, kaura market, lugbe market and yesterday I went to seek lessons from the Almighty Gosa market. That market is the bomb, the price of farm products are cheap, between Gosa and Karimo market which one do uou think is more competitive in terms of price of goods?
Karimo market sells on Tuesdays, and Gosa on Fridays, these are markets designed for off-takes from other market retailers, so these special days graces farmers from far and wide villages and you can literally see trucks moving in and out of the market yesterday.
Though I arrived as late as 5pm to the market after my ordeal with the pumping machine, and also from waiting to see if the cloudy weather which was looking like its was going to rain cats and dogs, but alas, no droplet.
My arrival was greated with shops owners whom have closed for the day for fear of the rain but still didn’t affect 80% of the market population who are strong willed to see to the end of the day, come rain or sunshine. I met stubborn people like myself, guess what? As I headed to the market, i remembered myself reciting a faith text from the bible, “He that looks at be weather will not sow”, meaning I was ready for the rain to do its worse, funny enough, between 5pm of my arrival till after 6.30 pm when I left the market no drop of rain, even as I type this morning. What an irony of life.
In Gosa Market as at 11/04/25:
A mudu of Garri - 800/ 900
Mudu of beans - 1700/1800
Mudu crayfish- 5k/6k
Basket of tomatoes- 5k/6k
Basket of Atarodo pepper -9k/10k
Basket of Tatashe pepper - 4k/5k
Basket of shombo pepper- 4k/5k
Kilo of goat meat - 5k/6k
Kilo of cow meat - 5k/6k
75cl of red oil - 1400/1500
Generally, farm produce are very cheap compared to other neighboring markets, and you get the best of bargain depending on your time of arrival to the market, and for unsuspecting customers, the mudu for measurement especially for grains is different in size from the norm, it’s a plastic instead metal you’re used to, it’s believed anyone who comes to the Gosa market are retailers, so they sell to you to resell to make profit. If you carry this mindset, you’ll make a kill.
The day ended, with my first wife cooking a deliciously well prepared Afang soup, the one with periwinkle shells, that how I was dragging with this shell with my mouth, to bring out its goods and services, lol 😂 until I ran out of patience, most of it I tucked in one side of the tray, maybe because I was tired from the day’s activities! The frustration from the periwinkle didn’t take away the glorious, tantalizing and satisfying dinner moment with the delicious afang soup. Thanks Wify!
Today, am headed back to the market but to a different market, this time to get rice and other food items to stock the house. Will I love to return to Gosa Market, Yes! Yes! Yes!
This everyday man dey survive!
Stay tuned to these series—more tales loading.
And remember: the market is my therapy.
Chief Obinna Onuigbo