Dear Chief Eric,
If there are ten entrepreneurs I admire in Nigeria, you are
among them. I love your passion for this country (against all the critics). I
watched on NTA and heard on radio, too, the way you sent trailer filled with
goods to the military fighting boko haram (a gesture that our oil moguls have
failed to replicate).
The day I watched your short interview on NTA (I wonder how
I became so addicted to this TV station) my admiration for you grew. You talked
about how your uncle failed to help you because he assumed you were such a
failure. This did not stop you from chasing your dream. After listening to you,
I vowed never to put my faith in the hands of anyone. Never!
I have also seen the way you canvass for people to use more
made in Nigeria. I think that is remarkable especially in the face of dwindling
economy. We need to use our own to grow our economy. You are one of the unsung
heroes of Nigeria today but I hope one day posterity will look on you.
However, something happened today that has made me want to
reconsider my admiration for you. Like most Nigerians, I have lost hope in
Nigerian products because they don't always have us at heart, rather, they need
our money.
I was really broke today (yes, I am not under any
employment) and was very hungry too. I had just two hundred and fifty naira
with me and decided to buy spaghetti and cook because the mama put ration has
really diminished. I bought the spaghetti for 200 naira (the last time I bought
it, it was 150, Buhari factor I guess). The remaining 50 naira I used to buy
your 'Ric-Giko sachet tomato (expiry date dated 2018). If you call it a last
supper, you would be technically not wrong because I hoped to eat and wait for
money to come from God-knows-where. I wouldn't have taken all these pain if I
wasn't on drugs. I am used to going to bed on empty stomach.
I was amazed when I opened your tomato sir. It looked like a
watery poo and tasted like marine nonsense. What options do I have? I have
bought it and had no money left so I had to use it. It ruined my meal and I had
to force back vomit so that something would be left in my tummy to hold the
drugs. Chief, let me pause and ask, "Does your family use that nonsense?"
Chief, if this is your idea of use made in Nigeria then you
need a rethink. Why would that shit cost the same (50 naira) with the tomato
paste imported into the country which of course is of better quality? Why can’t
you strive to stand out in quality and see if Nigerians wouldn't be inspired to
buy made in Nigeria?
Let me tell you a secret I have discovered trading with my
father for over 15 years; an average Nigerian prefers a cheaper alternative and
if the alternative is of fairly same price as the initial, Voila! They stick to
it for life. Believe me Chief, there are more average Nigerians in the country
than you can ever think about. If you improve the quality of your tomato paste,
you wouldn’t be the one preaching use made in Nigeria; Nigerians will beg you
to sustain the production.
Well, I was really pained but what can I do if not to blab
and hope it gets to somebody that knows somebody that... till it gets to you.
Chief, please don't spoil your reputation with bad products. You can do better.
Nigerians deserve better. With my experience today I would gladly run over as
many of custom officers as possible to make sure importation of tomato paste
continues.
I plan to save 8.33 naira every month and hope to try your
product again in the next six months (if the price remains the same). If the
only improvement I will notice is increase in price, then I will unlearn
everything I know of you and tell the tale of one man I believed could make the
difference in Nigeria only to turn and discover he was making a pocket for
himself.
I rest my case.
Yours Sincerely
CC: Anyone that knows Chief Eric Odinaka Umeofia
BCC: Everyone working at Erisco foods.
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