SURVIVAL: A PLAY WITH BINARIES
By Victor Agusiobo
I did not write this play in a library. I wrote it in the market.
I have listened too long to men with files telling hungry people that they are not hungry. They quote GDP. They quote inflation. They quote reserves. And while they quote, the woman selling garri cannot afford the garri she sells.
This play asks a simple question: Who is progress meant for?
If progress cannot be eaten, cannot pay rent, cannot cure malaria and if it cannot keep a shop open, then whose progress is it?
I am not an economist. I am a Nigerian. I have seen Buhari,Tinubu, Obiano, Soludo. I have seen files grow fat while stomachs grow flat.
So I have chosen a different measurement. Not the bookish parameters. The street parameters.
How many days work buys a basin of garri? How much of your wage goes to transport? How many months salary is one year rent? Can you buy malaria drugs without borrowing? In your street, how many shops opened, how many closed?
If those five are better, we are better. If those five are worse, we are worse. No matter what the book says.
This is not a play against any government. It is a play for the people who survive government.
Survival is our GDP.
CHARACTERS:
- BOOK — A well-dressed economist. Speaks in percentages and in means. Carries a laptop. He has never bought garri with his own hands.
- STREET — A market woman from Awka. Carries a basin. She speaks in prices.
- CHORUS — The people. They answer both.
SETTING: A market stall in Awka. Morning. No light. Generator noise in the background.
SCENE ONE: THE FEEDING
BOOK: (Proudly) Nigeria is growing. GDP grew 4.2% in the first half of 2026. Inflation has fallen to 15.2%.
STREET: My brother, how much is garri?
BOOK: Inflation is down.
STREET: I did not ask for inflation. I asked for garri. Last year, a basin was N800. Today it is N2,500. My children ate yesterday. Will they eat today?
CHORUS: (Together) We are still hungry.
BOOK: But the rate of increase has slowed.
STREET: If a man is beating you, and he beats you slower, are you not still being beaten?
SCENE TWO: THE HOUSE
BOOK: Housing investment is up. Real estate is a growth sector.
STREET: My landlord increased rent from N250,000 to N600,000. He said, “Tinubu removed subsidy.” I said, “I did not remove subsidy.” He said, “Pack out.”
BOOK: That is market adjustment.
STREET: Adjustment for who? I moved from two rooms to one room. From one room, I will move to where? To the street?
CHORUS: We are sleeping tighter.
SCENE THREE: THE SHOP
BOOK: Revenues are up. Federation revenue rose 69%. Reserves are over $54 billion.
STREET: Count the shops on this street. Three closed this year. One opened. The one that opened is a POS shop. The POS shop is lending money to people to buy food. Is that business thriving, or is that business surviving?
BOOK: The macro indicators are positive.
STREET: My macro is my shop. If my shop dies, your macro is a lie.
CHORUS: We are not thriving. We are surviving.
SCENE FOUR: THE HOSPITAL
BOOK: Health sector revenue is growing. Private hospitals are expanding.
STREET: My son had malaria. The hospital asked for N45,000 before they would touch him. I had N12,000. I went to a chemist. The chemist gave me half dose. My son is still shaking.
BOOK: But access has improved on paper.
STREET: On paper, my son is well. In this body, my son is shaking. Which one will you bury?
CHORUS: (Quiet) We cannot afford to be sick.
SCENE FIVE: THE VERDICT
BOOK: (Confused) Then what do you want me to measure?
STREET: Measure what we measure.
- How many days work buys a basin of garri?
- How much of my wage goes to transport?
- How many months salary is one year rent?
- Can I buy full malaria drugs without borrowing?
- In my street, how many shops opened, how many closed?
BOOK: Those are not standard parameters.
STREET: They are the only parameters that do not lie. GDP can grow while we die. Your book can be right while we are dead. We do not want to be right in your book. We want to be alive in our street.
CHORUS: Survival is our GDP.
(Lights go out. Generator stops. Darkness. The market woman continues to sell in the dark.)
SCENE SIX: ANAMBRA
Lights come back. Same market. A new banner: AWKA.
BOOK enters with a file. STREET is still selling.
BOOK: Anambra is a success story. Poverty fell from 53% to 14.8%. Debt has been reduced by over 83%. Over 400 kilometres of roads awarded. Over 8,000 teachers recruited. Free education in public schools.
STREET: Which Anambra?
BOOK: (Confused) There is only one Anambra.
STREET: There are two. Your Anambra and my Anambra. In your Anambra, Obiano built an airport. Soludo built roads. In my Anambra, I still pay for transport to go to Onitsha to sell.
BOOK: But Soludo has not borrowed. He is cleaning the debt Obiano left.
STREET: My brother, debt is not my problem. Hunger is my problem. If Soludo pays debt and I cannot pay school fees, who has been saved? The state or the child?
BOOK: Obiano left liabilities. Soludo is fixing them.
STREET: Obiano left an airport I have never entered. Soludo left a road I enter every day. Both are good. But can I eat a road? Can I eat an airport?
CHORUS: We cannot eat concrete.
BOOK: Then what do you want from a governor? An airport or roads?
STREET: I want what every Anambra woman wants. Let my trader in Onitsha move goods without paying ten touts. Let my farmer in Ayamelum sell without fear of gunmen. Let my child in Awka learn without me paying for chalk. Let my patient in the general hospital get drugs without cash in hand first.
BOOK: Those are not in my file.
STREET: That is why your file is fat and our stomach is flat. Obiano or Soludo, professor or politician, APGA or any party — if the market woman is still surviving, the governor has not yet governed.
BOOK: (Quiet, for the first time) So how do I judge Anambra?
STREET: Same test. Same five.
Can I feed better? Can I pay rent better? Can I move goods cheaper? Can I treat my child? Are shops opening or closing in my street?
If yes, Anambra is better. If no, Anambra is only bigger on paper.
CHORUS: Anambra is not a file. Anambra is us.
(BOOK closes his laptop. For the first time, he buys garri from STREET. He pays the street price. He is shocked.)
BOOK: This is expensive.
STREET: Welcome to Anambra.
(Blackout.)
END
