The harsh economic situation economic situation in Nigerian has not been without some positive side effect on our socio- economic life. Truly, however gloomy the cloud might be, it will always have a silver lining. Take cash farmers for examples. For a long time, after petroleum have become the chief earner of foreign exchange, no one gave any thought to the potentials of cocoa, palm- kernels and ground nut. For every Nigerians, petroleum, the black gold was the only attraction. However, with the massive devaluations of the local currency, each pounds or dollar from the world markets translates into a much higher volume of local currency for exporters. So, while the price of farm produces have not significantly increased in the international market, each farmers now earns more in local currency from every tons of produce exported. Then there is the revival of local industries, The affluence of the past decades had mean the importations of many finished products. The local industries, mostly in their infancy, were faced with a stiffed competitions. Now, with hardly sufficient resources to supports Nigerians’ unbridled appetites for imported goods, the inevitable alternatives is to turn to previously neglected local products, accept them and bear with their inadequacies. Quite apart from these, Nigerian are now learning to maintain what they have. Ageing equipment is no longer discarded for new ones. Nigerians are discovering that a car can keep moving for up to two decades. Car owners, worried by the possibilities of being reduced to using public transport, now nursing their old cars as mothers nurse their babies. Frivolous celebrations, too are less common, Nigerians no longer squander thousands of naira is remembering their long – dead grandparents. Regular parties goers, too, now have to engage themselves more profitably. Everyone has had to learn to handle money with discipline. The truth is that most of those who have not have paid dearly for it.
As soon as I took the newspaper from the ____38_______ I quickly ______39______ through the pages, and stopped at the sport page. There, the picture of Marvin Hager, the boxer, attracted me. He was preparing for _____40______ of his tittle. The ______41______ harped on Hagler’s previous fights and ______42______ and easy victory over his _____43______. I then read through the ______44______ which usually state the papers opinion on current issues. The ______45______ were very many, with some of them taking up full pages. There was only one _____46______ by an artist whose intention was clearly to _______47______ readers. There was also a full page _____48_____ announcing the death of a prominent Chief. In the column for serious- minded readers was a ______49______ on political transition, one of the _______50______ Issues of the time.