The more high and wicked sounding, the better” says Anozie Okeke, a spirits and drinks retailer at the Area 2 Shopping Centre in the Garki area of Abuja. Anozie is right. As we chatted about Nigerians and their new found love for energy drinks; I counted about 10 different brands on display with brand names such as Battery, Power Horse, 911, Burn, Red Alert, Effect, Wellman, Erectus, Red Bull and Acid. According to Anozie,....
Na "Erektus" wey make me laff pass. Even see as dem draw the figure for that yellow can. Na wetin dey project from im 'groin area' sef?
Seriously though, this new-found love for energy drinks seems to be on the rise everywhere. In the U.S.,
Red Bull is King. The caffeine-content in these drinks is unbelievably high. Perhaps, one can attribute the trend to the ever-increasing pace of around-the-clock lifestyles, or just plain
copycatism by my brothers and sisters in living in Naija. Or both.
Then again, I remember that back in the days in Naija (early-mid 90's)....when we wanted to do heavy-duty drinking, we would prepare for the (often-times) all-night sessions by buying copious quantities of
Alabukun and gworo (kolanut). The former was to take care of hangover-associated headaches, whilst the latter was needed to keep a 'clear-head', whilst consuming ever more booze. Chei...man pikin really abuse im body back in those days.
Apparently, not much has changed...just the level of 'sophistication' has been upped.
Perhaps, the worry about excessive consumption of caffeine-booze combination would gain more traction and better perspective, when it is weighed against the
long-standing propensity of many Nigerians back home to consume kolanut (which has a high caffeine content) and beer/kaikai/palmwine/ogogoro..etc.
If this is done, we
may just discover that the fancy energy drinks only amount to old wine in new bottles.
Nice one, Uche.
DW