Tighten Your Belt
Oga Preseedo, we hear you
You say make we tighten our belt
Make we de saakpa, de live a fasting life
Cos dis time naa austere times
But you loose di rope of your shokoto
And sit-don dey chop life
Ten wraps of amala with éwedu soup
With brokoto, shaki and orisirisi
Alone you dey gulp down dis big mountain
Until your bellé blow up like blom-blom
You say make we tighten our belt
Dis time naa austere times
Make we de ride bicycle de go work
Cos the price of fuel e don cost
Now government don remove subsidy
Make bank de charge us heavy tax
Make we de pay charges to collect our moni from POS
Cos we de rebuild our country
But you carri all the moni for bullion van
You go buy for yourself a bullet proof jeep
Make e de jump all the potholes and gullies
And de shield you from di unknown gunmen
Oga Politician, I hail O!
As them de talk'm for street,
Who don blow, don blow
About this poem
This poem is written in broken English (pidgin), to depict the language of the common man in Nigeria and what they suffer in hands of the political leaders. They ask us to tighten our belt for this is austere times. But we watch them live the most unimaginable ostentatious live, while the mass live penury. What a double vision!
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"Tighten Your Belt" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/180943/tighten-your-belt>.
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