By Ray Ekpu
Over the years rice has
grown into Nigeria ’s
stable food. It can be made in several ways: cooked, steamed, fried, ground.
You can have it the way you want it, as coconut rice, waterleaf rice, jollof
rice, tuo shinkafa or you can have it
in a form that those who like it call “combined honours,” that is rice and
beans.
*Ray Ekpu |
In the 50s, in the
Eastern part of Nigeria ,
rice was not the staple food. In the rural communities it is still not the main
event today, Garri and Yams still rule the roost and rice is considered a
Christmas, New Year or special occasion delicacy. But in the urban centres rice
is the king. It is the king of foods because it is easy to cook; even a
bachelor can cook it. It is kind to the tongue and kind to the stomach.
In the 50s, the rice we
ate was grown in Nigeria .
It was not polished. When it was rice day a mat would be rolled out and the
rice poured on it. We would sit around and pull the rice aside in small bits
and fish out the stones. It was fun since we knew that what we were doing was
likely to give us food that will be kind to our teeth. It would be stone-free.
We did not consider rice to be a problem.
Today,
rice is becoming a problem of a sort because of its price tag. A year or so
ago, you could buy a 50kg bag of rice for N10,000 or less. Today you may have
to buy it for N15,000 or more. There is a report that some officials of the
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were caught recently trying to
rebag for profit rice that was meant for internally displaced persons in the
North East. They did not know that rice, while a friendly commodity, has always
had a big hunger for trouble especially when one tampers with its price. They
may soon find out.
The Japanese government
found that out in 1918. For about two months, July to September of that year,
about 10 million people in 33 cities, 104 towns and 97 villages took part in
the most notorious rice riots in history. The problem was that the price of
rice had doubled within a few months while wages remained stagnant. This
generated a spontaneous mass uprising particularly because rice is Japan ’s staple
food. The placards read “sell rice cheap”
“down with wicked dealers.” The
workers raided rice shops and the houses of profiteers. It took huge contingents
of the police and 50,000 soldiers to quell the riots and bring the situation to
normal.