Letter From Tai Solarin About Hardship In 1983
When were the good old days in Nigeria? This appears to have been written this week.
Credit: Alli-Balogun H.Lekan
30th November, 1983
Dear Parents,
FEEDING OUR 2,300 CHILDREN
We are frightened by the rate food stuffs are rising madly in prices. There was an evening when we had no palm oil at all to prepare supper and a man in Sagamu offered us a drum for N700.00. Of Course we did not buy it. all the same we have bought other items of food for about twice what we paid for them three months ago.
I have travelled to Oyo and 22 miles further north sampling yams, tomatoes, beans and pepper. For this term we have turned some of the members of school administration to food buyers to under-cut the prices offered by our regular purchasers.
Brown beans now go fer N200 a bag.
On November 18th, our bank overdraft stood at N46,000. With food to buy till end of term and 2 months of salary to pay our staff, the figure should rise to well over N100,000. The end of the painfully long road is yet unknown.
If we are to keep our teachers – and they are doing well: of the 281 of our primary 6 who passed out last year, at least 130 got into Federal Government Colleges – we must pay their yearly increments. We are yet Pay these increments from last September.
An increase in fees is inevitable and the way I’m see it N20.00 a term added to each child’s boarding fees from next term would help. It is impossible for anybody to scientifically guess how much increase should be charged, as the cause of our woes is, itself, unscientific. I have no doubt you will understand. The situation is grim.
But we cannot close the school.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Tai Solarin,
Proprietor
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