“But why garri?” You actually want to read the beautiful poem about the heroism and the economy of the fantastic food and famous ‘savior’ of generations
Garri, oh our garri
A friend of the masses
A stopgap during emergency
The downtrodden look up to you when famished,
And once satisfied, there is efficiency
The downtrodden look up to you when famished,
And once satisfied, there is efficiency
Garri, oh our garri
You have saved lives over centuries
Dampening man’s underserved fury
You fill us like rains
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Garri, oh our garri
When other foodstuff wear a recalcitrant garb
You resonate hope like flowers newly barbed
Stuffed in a sack, your spectacles appeals
Mothers scramble to undress you, for real
You who adorn yourself in three robes
To be boiled, soaked or eaten raw,
Your fame swirls across Nigeria
To Benin, Togo, Algeria even Ghana
Coursing many parts of Africa
You that is never exhaustive
Garri, the forever dependable
Farmers’ favourite on evening table
When other foodstuff run out,
It’s still same you we can do without
But why garri?
Why did you abandon the very people who chorus your heroism?
Just to consume you now costs a fortune
Your sudden gallivanting cost makes us fume
Gari
Only the rich now happily sing your tune
But why garri?
As you leap when immersed in waters
Same fashion now in prices which makes us wonder
Provider of First Aid against famine
Once available, we need not ponder.
But why garri?
The rich that once despise you for semovita
Now crave you like bournvita
Today, you stand shoulder high with rice
Relegating beans to the gallows, due to price
But why garri?
Since the era of Oga Bubu
You pitched tent with the rich, abandoned the poor
But after eight years came Emilokan
Yet our garium sulphate value bulges like bumbum
But why garri?
You suddenly took flight to the hollow world
Now, our tongues remain sour
To return you, a sacrifice must be made
A re-engineered economy, you crave.
Garri, oh our garri
Do not abandon us please
To you garri, we appeal
You’ve been the last hope of common man
Once you are here, we’re eternally calm.
……………………………………….
Adegunle Olugbamila writes from Lagos
