With the Nigerian economy in dire straights, members of the Economic Team speaking at cross-purposes and there being a debate about whether recession is just a word or a reality, ZingerNotes.com has compiled 8 amusing, but palpable, real-life indicators of Nigeria’s economic predicament. Enjoy!!

The Gala Index
The Concept: The Gala Index is a unique economic indicator in the Nigerian market, which suggests that the popular Nigerian beef roll, Gala, is such an integral part of the economy that variations within it reflects what's going on in the economy.
The Proof: The National Bureau of Statistics conducted a study on the correlation between Nigerian popular beef roll, gala, and the Nigerian economy. It was found that during the ongoing economic recession, when the Nigerian economy shrunk by 4%, Gala lost a lot of weight and there was a proportional drop in the beef to flour content in Gala as indicated by photos on social media.

The Hawker Running Tenacity Index
The Concept: The Hawker Running Tenacity Index as a unique economic indicator in the Nigerian market puts a measurement on the fitness of hawkers by suggesting that a hawker trying to sell his wares to car occupants in a moving Nigerian traffic will chase after a car for a longer distance in an economic downturn as opposed to the shorter distance that he is willing to run in a buoyant economy.
The Proof: More and more pairs of bathroom slippers are currently visible in the centre of major hawking routes in the city (such as Osbourne Road, Idi-Iroko to Maryland) This phenomenon is evidence of the number of hawkers pulling their slippers while running to sell their wares in traffic.

Mall on Sunday Occupancy Index
The Concept: The time it takes to find unoccupied parking space within the major shopping mall parking lots reduces during an economic downturn as consumers turn to less expensive and flamboyant options outside the mall for their daily needs.
The Proof: In the months before the 2016 recession freed-up parking space at the major malls on a Sunday was at a premium. One would drive round the lots several times seeking where to park. It wasn’t uncommon to see two cars competing for a space about to be vacated by another car. Following the recession there has been abundance of parking in the major malls even in the popular parking lots closer to the shopping mall entrance/exit.

LIB Commenter Indicator
The Concept: When the going gets tough, the tough start gossiping. People with Internet data and nothing else to do post more and more hurtful comments to everyone and anyone on the internet (they are frustrated) during an economic recession.
The Proof: Nigeria-based entertainment and gossip blog lindaikejisblog.com noticed a pattern in its site activity during tough times that seems to indicate that people seek to pass more gossipy comments particularly when sentiments sour, perhaps as a means to keep all the misery at bay. The second quarter of 2016 was the gossip website's busiest in over seven years during which harsh and critical comments nearly quadrupled compared to just a year earlier.

Sallah Ram Giveaway Index
The Concept: Sallah [/i]holidays in Nigeria occur only a few times during the year, but can reveal a lot about the economy, says the [i]Sallah Ram Giveaway Index created by the office of the Sultan of Sokoto. It compares the change in volume of gift meat given to friends and colleagues during the Sallah period in Nigeria with the change in its GDP, showing a strong correlation between the two.
The Proof: If the economy is contracting, less economic activity leads to less gift meat given away, while a booming economy is likely to lead to increased gift meat given away. So if this indicator starts heading south, it may be inferred that the economy is not doing well. During the September 2016 Sallah, many of those expecting the usual gift meat from their Muslim brothers received only a reality check when the Sallah celebrations came and went without the accompanying gift meat.

Fragile ‘Doubling’ Nylon Bag Index
The Concept: In an effort to protect profit margins, producers of popular nylon bags reduce the ratio of the chemical mix for their products, making them more fragile and prone to doubling up.
The Proof: In the middle of the 2016 recession producers of the black nylon bags and the yellow and black stripes nylon bags which are popularly used to sell products in most Nigerian markets halved the ratio of chemical mix, while increasing the product price. Too bad if you bought beans, rice or garri and the nylon caved in and spilled under the same weight which it used to be able to withstand.

The Full Tank Index
The Concept: During boom periods car owners visiting the fuel station are likely to purchase full tanks of gasoline. During recessions they are unlikely to purchase full tanks of petrol.
The Proof: During the current recession fuel attendants have been finding an increase in the negative response to their famous question “fill up”. The overwhelming response to the question has been “No”.

Pure Water Vs Dispenser Water Index
The Concept: “Usually, in an economic downturn the middleclass find themselves gradually embracing ideas they had previously found untenable such as substituting “pure water” for dispenser bottled water.
Proof: As the price of the dispenser bottled water increased from N350 to N500 in the space of four months, middleclass Nigerian families begin to make excuses for their acceptance of the cheaper sachet AKA pure water which they had previously labelled, “water produced in unhygienic conditions.” They base their reduced caution on the NAFDAC registration number on the sachets which they hold unto as indicator of production quality control.

That's the bitter truth. I'm a business person and gala is one of the things we sell in our shops. Initially, one sausage roll usually weigh 100g, but since the price of 50kg bag of flour rose from N6,400 to N10,500, they reduced the size to 90g. Not only that, they equally reduced the quality of the carton they use to pack the gala.

Talking about the packing lot, I can attest to that! People have even revert to buying things from the mini stores instead of buying from the supermarket. Reason is that some have this notion that they can actually priced goods in an open stall compared to a supermarket where the price-list are tagged along with commodities.