It was John Gunther who said that ‘Africa is like an exploding mass of yeast … it is springing in a step from black magic to white civilization’. While I do not completely agree to Gunther’s remark, however my first visit to Owerri ShopRite gave me some thoughts. It made me remember the assertion made by a scholar so many years ago, that Africans have been uprooted from their old ways , and have not found their place in the new and changing society in which their destines are now cast, yet all over the continent the Africans are on the move. They are people going somewhere without being quite sure of the direction.
When I got inside the shopping mall, it looked as if I was in a strange environment, because so many persons were trying to buy, eat and take photograph at the same time, all of a sudden it occurred to me that the capitalist are not sleeping, as they are busy thinking of what to do to grab our pocket. I observed the beautiful environment and the pretentious attitude of persons inside and outside the mall, and was tempted to announce to them that the state economy and our local markets may die, if we do not control this unrepentant quest for branded foreign products. It then occurred to me that I will be seen like a mad person because the people are ignorant of the intention of the capitalist. What will I tell a young child of seven that the beautiful environment he/she is running up and down is a phantasm, how will I explain to a beautiful damsel who came to see a movie that the capitalist are just after her money, how can I begin to explain to a housewife who is buying a cheap product in an air-conditioned atmosphere that she is creating more poverty in our land. I would have been branded a fool, old fashioned, enemy of progress or a Jew man.
In Nigeria, particularly in Imo state, we do not produce or manufacture products, the only thing we are very good at doing is the trade of buying and selling. How come these merchants have left all the big businesses to compete with us in this same buying and selling trade? For the purposes of the persons who do not understand the implications of these things, you may not be doing the economy of the state well, when you buy everything you need in ShopRite because the owners of the business transfer their profits to their parents country, contrast this with what happens when you enter the market or go into any small super market shop to buy things. When you buy from the local people you are indirectly taking some people aware from hunger , idleness, unemployment etc ,they in turn will also use the money locally; they will pay their children school fees, take care of their dependents, patronize the taxi men on the street, and give their offering on Sunday.
As a progressive, I am not adverse to development; neither am I ignorant of the changed and changing trends in the international business environment which is a process towards globalization. However, I am worried at the public perception to these trends which concentrate wealth in the hands of few privileged individuals instead of the redistribution the commonwealth. On the other hand, the government should develop an effective tax policy that will tax citizens and businessmen based on their incomes and use the money to better the lots of our people.
Uwakwe Roland C.
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