Abuja residents confront tough times with roasted yams, plantains, corns
Abuja residents in desperate need to survive
Recession: Boom for roadside food vendors
By ROMANUS UGWU and RUTH AGADA
As Nigerians continue to groan as a result of the current recession residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have devised means to combat the life-threatening situation.
Call it survival instinct and or recession antidote, certain menu like roasted yam, plantain and corn, hitherto ignored have been made popular. Many now avoid expensive popular eateries.
Little wonder some of these joints providing those previously considered “poor man’s food” are currently experiencing boom. People with exotic vehicles now line up at these joints especially during lunch hours.
Owners of those joints, which could be categorised as roadside food outfits are, expectedly, smiling home with burgeoning purses on daily basis. One man’s misfortune has become another man’s blessing. The pangs of recession on the popular eateries have become a blessing to roadside food vendors, especially roasted yam, corn and plantains.
Increased patronage
For Esther Abba from Kogi State, who is into the business of roasting yam, plantain and smoked fish, the recession can continue for all she cares: “You know say no matter how things hard reach, hunger must come and people must come to eat.”
She admitted her business has witnessed a dramatic turnaround since the tough times and recession came to town. She claimed that more people are patronising her since good stable food are increasing becoming far from the reach of many peoples.
Cited at very strategic position along the road at the ever-busy Ndola Street, Wuse Zone 5, housing Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), banks, multi-million naira businesses, hangout garden and the FCT headquarters of the National Youth Service Commission (NYSC), Abba confessed her business is really booming now. She has been in the business for eight years:
“Before the hard times, I used to buy 100 tubers of yam weekly, but since the hardship started I have increased the quantity of yam I buy from 100 to 200 tubers weekly. It is the same thing with plantain and fishes.
“There are many people around this area and the difficulty has forced many to patronise roasted yam now. I am happy that recession or no recession, people must be hungry and since a plate of food here is still very cheap compare to big eateries, people are now coming very well to patronise us.
“Business is moving and that is why I have to even employ one person to help me cope with the number of customers coming to eat here. I feel happy when rich men park their cars by roadside and tell me to package many plates of food for them. It is not as if they don’t demand in the past, but such demands have increased now.”
She is not the only person enjoying the boom. Her neighbour, Madam Ukeme, from Cross River State is not left out: “I sell a plate with Pomo (cow skin) for N300 or N250 without Pomo. It is true that more people are coming to buy this food now than before. I have been in this business for over five years, we have not seen people buy and eat roasted yam before like now.
“I now buy over 100 tubers of yam and 80 bunches of plantain weekly. More people are even joining us in the business to give the consumers more varieties. Those that don’t want to take yam with stew can settle for plantain and groundnut.”
Consumers’ reactions
The joint is God-sent for corps members for an understandable reason that the price is within their reach. A corps member from Imo State, Amadi Obinna, said he has no choice than to patronise the joint. He lamented that the allowance was not even enough at the time of plenty let alone now there is recession:
“I would say that eating roasted yam is a carryover from the village. You are right to say that I am a product of my childhood just like every other man. I eat it because I like yam since it is a stable food while growing up in the village.
“But again, come to think it, how can some of the corps members cope without eating this kind of food which can hold you for a whole day considering the allowance the Federal Government pays corps members monthly.”
Asked if he can take his girlfriend to the joint instead of the big eateries, Amadi said: “Although I have not tried perhaps because I don’t have a girlfriend in Abuja. I have, however, seen many big ladies coming to buy it as takeaway.
“It is just obvious that the economy is biting hard and a joint like this where one can buy food which can sustain for hours at a relatively cheap price can help. It is an alternative to keep hunger in check.” When Daily Sun ran into a lady banker, to find out her preference for roasted yam to patronising big eateries: “Forget that ladies just want to show, we all know that it is healthier eating roasted yam than eating all those junk food we buy at eateries. The only difference is the packaging. I do patronise these food vendors from time to time and I do go to the eateries sparingly especially since they gave me rotten chicken.
“I had finished eating the takeaway fried rice I bought only to bit the chicken before I realised that it was rotten with offensive odour. Placed both of them side by side, I would settle for roasted yam even though I don’t eat it all the time. My perspective has nothing to do with cost implications but from the viewpoint of healthy eating.”
Like roasted yam like corn
For the residents and new arrivals to the FCT, near the National Stadium, along the express road to Berger roundabout from Area One, Garki, could be described as the depot and home of roasted corn in and out of corn seasons.
It is not surprising therefore for passers-by and drivers to wonder what is happening seeing large number of exotic cars waiting patiently for the suppliers to settle them.
While many of the super regular customers get patronage by remaining inside their air-conditioned cars, others prefer to come down, make choices and supervise the roasting of their corns, just as some love to consume it steaming hot with pears or coconuts to complement.
Like their yam sellers counterparts, the roasted corn sellers are equally making brisk business. An elderly woman admitted patronage has increased: “Some of us have been in this business of roasting corn for years. Some of us even trained our children and sustain our families through this business. I am not surprise the kind of cars we see here daily because it has always been like that since I joined others here.
“You know that things are very hard now and since you can satisfy the hunger with two medium size corns costing just N10, many come here to patronise us. Apart from the hunger, they also said that corn is good and nutritious for their health.”
It is the same business boom to the mobile cooked corn vendors traversing the length and breadth of the FCT to supply the ever-willing consumers at very affordable prices.
Dog meat in Kuje
Elsewhere in faraway Kuje Area Council, a suburb of FCT, healthy tribal competition goes inside an area popularly called forest on every market day, as each tribe tries to “out eat” the other in the consumption of dog meat.
Operating in coded style, the joint functions in such a way that only those initiated into the world of dog meat eaters could find and join others in the consumption of the delicacies.
A trader near the forest market told Daily Sun that since many don’t consume the meat, its relative low price provides alternative and substitute to other forms of meats like cow tail, cow head among others currently out of reach of the ordinary Nigerians:
“Dog meat is very medicinal and that is why a part of this market is always a beehive of activities on every market day. The patronage of dog meat cuts across tribes because you can see the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba among other tribes.
“Dog meat is cheap. A plate can go for N200 or N300 compared to the price of other forms of meat consumed at various pepper-soup joints around Kuje. It is a good substitute in this era of recession even though it is not everybody that likes to consume dog meat.”
Other joints absorbing the shock of recession include the Amala joint popularly called Matosh Kitchen located at the Wuye District, a two-minute drive from the Berger roundabout and Ofe Owerri joint, near Eden Garden known for its notoriety as haven for prostitutes, in Utako District.
Unlike other joints the patronage of the Amala and Ofe Owerri joints, serve both the rich and poor. They are admixture of flamboyance and diet nostalgia. The prices are in the category of the rich and poor while the size of the customer’s pocket determines the quality of dish she or he takes.
