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I cooked this piece’s title from Alice Urquhart Fewell’s ‘Soups for the Sick’ published in 1920. I went for it after I found William Bascom’s ‘Yoruba Cooking’ (1951) very inadequate for my lessons on what has been happening in the kitchen of Nigeria since the current chef took over.

President Bola Tinubu met the 36 states broke, sick and malnourished. He thought of what to do. His diviners whispered the solution in his ear. They took him into the kitchen and showed him how it is done. And he did just as he was told. One dollar that gave Muhammadu Buhari N470 started giving him N1,500. Like Orunmila who rejoiced and danced after achieving a major spiritual breakthrough, Tinubu went back to his diviners; he ‘praised his priests and his priests praised Olodumare.’ What was not enough now abounds in excess.

One day in February 2025, Tinubu told his APC state governors to their faces that monthly allocations to their states had tripled under the watch of his wizard: ‘If you were getting N40 billion before, you’re now getting N120 billion.’ February 2025 was not the first time the President would count increased FAAC money as a product of his genius. He and his government have repeatedly driven that nail into the vulnerable heads of the governors. In July this year, he told some obas from Oyo State that ‘states are taking four to five times more money than in the past.’ He took the credit for that, describing the billions as ‘the money I am pushing to the states’. That is very true. But truth sometimes has adjectives.

Alice Urquhart Fewell’s ‘Soups for the Sick’ is a century-old five-page recipe for feeding the infirm: plenty of water, a little meat and bone, then hours of simmering to extract whatever nourishment is left. That appears to be the manual our chef read backwards. The man poured a bucket of water into the family pot of soup. Now the pot is full and everyone has something to lick and drink. But has anyone been better fed?

Who would tell the chef that what he cooked was a pot of conflict between nominal abundance and real nourishment? Could that be why he repeatedly supplements his own 52.68 percent share with borrowing and more borrowing? Drum makers grapple with exactly that problem when the hide is not enough to cover the face of the talking drum. You may stretch the hide, but stretching does not create more leather; it only makes what you have thinner and more vulnerable to rupture.

If you are a Tinubu person and you insist that volume is nourishment, maybe you should read Franz Kafka’s ‘A Hunger Artist’ (1922); you may also go a little further back and read Knut Hamsun’s 1890 novel ‘Hunger’. Check their protagonists and their encounters with water.

What is the way out? Nigeria’s problem is not the quantity of the medicine but the appropriateness of the prescription. Someone should tell the self-adulatory to stop beating his chest of bare bones. The right diagnosis should prescribe the right medicine. If we do it the way it should be done, it will turn out the way it should. The way we pound boiled yam is not the way we pound dried yam: pounded yam binds into a cohesive mass; dried yam crumbles into powder (Ìgún iyán kò j? ti èlùb?´; mímú ni iyán n mú, kíkù ni èlùb?´ n kù). Wrong diagnosis and wrong medication are tickets to the theatre of death. Someone should tell the president that his medicines are complications for the sick. The casualties are all over the country.

When you have an almost empty pot of soup and you think the only way to make it go round a hungry household is to pour a bucket of water into it, what you produce is not more soup but more water and a household condemned to perpetual hunger and malnutrition. That is a fitting metaphor for Nigeria’s watery billions.

Every recession arrives with a familiar, thunderous soundtrack: widespread panic in financial markets, fear echoing through public conversations, and a chorus of voices declaring economic collapse. Yet, throughout history, downturns have never signaled the death of wealth; they have only marked the end of specific types of wealth. Money does not simply vanish into thin air-it shifts, reorganises, and migrates toward the places where value is most concentrated at any given moment.

As we have seen in an earlier edition, a recession is not a disappearance of money or resources, but a redistribution of them.

Those who grasp this fundamental economic truth about how value moves do not retreat during a downturn. They step forward. They reframe, adapt, reposition, and, above all, take ownership and responsibility for outcomes. The path through an economic storm requires a decisive shift in mindset: a call to own land, own a business, own a skill, own a clear value proposition, and own your future. Ownership remains the single most powerful tool for thriving instead of merely surviving when the financial climate turns harsh.

The belief that wealth completely diminishes or becomes scarce during a recession is one of the most enduring economic myths. Capital does not evaporate into thin air; it simply changes hands. It moves steadily toward those who make themselves indispensable, resourceful, and focused on solving real-world problems. A recession is not defined by an absence of money, but by its reallocation. This explains why one individual can lose everything in a market slump while another acquires lasting assets. The difference between those outcomes is rarely a matter of luck. Rather, it is a matter of value alignment. And meaningful value alignment always begins with ownership.

Ownership is the foundation of economic stability. In his book, ‘The Mystery of Capital’, Hernando De Soto opines that poverty in the developing world is not because there are no resources but because of a lack of capacity to convert assets to capital. This is largely so because many homes and lands have no title deeds that assign ownership.

In many faith-based and philosophical communities, the concept of ownership is often misunderstood. People are frequently taught that we came into this world with nothing and we own nothing but are merely stewards. While well-intentioned, this view remains incomplete. True stewardship cannot exist without a prior foundation of ownership. Stewardship is the act of management, but ownership is the acceptance of ultimate responsibility.

A recession punishes passivity while rewarding active responsibility. This makes ownership essential during tough times. What you truly own, you have the power to grow, leverage, and multiply. Ownership grants you a seat at the table when resources and opportunities are being redistributed.

Ancient wisdom and historical patterns repeatedly reinforce the fact that ownership comes before stewardship. Like Adam in Eden, when a person is entrusted with a garden or a domain, the mandate is clear: cultivate, guard, shape, and develop it. Effective stewardship flows naturally after one embraces full responsibility for and owns an assigned task.

Consider the classic parable of talents. The unfaithful manager failed not because he lacked raw ability, but because he lacked a sense of ownership. He buried his resource in the dirt and blamed his master for his own fear-driven inaction. His response to his boss betrayed his heart: ‘I knew you were a hard man…’ Blame is always the language of those who refuse personal responsibility.

Conversely, faithful managers embrace ownership entirely. They take full accountability for what has been entrusted to their care. Multiplication is the natural harvest of accepted responsibility, and an economic downturn quickly exposes the difference between those who bury their potential and those who expand it.

To give meaningfully to others, one must first possess something of value. Just like you cannot give what you do not have, you cannot steward what you have not first owned, nor can you multiply what you refuse to embrace. An economic downturn presents a crucial moment to build, acquire, and take charge of a tangible asset or take responsibility for solving a problem. When the economic tide eventually turns-as it always does-those who hold true ownership are best positioned to lead, influence, and uplift those around them.

History demonstrates that economic downturns open rare doors of opportunity that rarely exist during periods of stability. Real estate becomes more accessible, existing enterprises seek new leadership or partners, specialised skills command higher premiums, and market barriers fall as established competitors thin out. A recession is not a closed door; it is an open gate. The real question is never whether opportunities exist, but whether you are positioned to seize them. As a traditional Yoruba proverb reminds us, a shared feast offers little joy if no one brings a dish to the table. A downturn is the ultimate moment to bring something valuable of your own.

The origin of the word ‘salary’ traces back to the Latin salarium-referring to the salt paid to Roman soldiers based on their rank, which they would later exchange for currency. Sweat, fittingly, tastes like salt. In modern terms, a salary represents what an asset owner has decided your sweat and time are worth.

During a recession, business owners often adjust compensation downward or cut overhead to protect their core assets, even while increasing prices, leaving traditional employees to absorb the financial shock. Because of this, relying solely on standard employment is rarely a complete, recession-proof strategy. Employment works best as a training ground for future ownership, rather than a permanent substitute for it.

To increase your return, you must elevate your baseline value. Upskill, expand your knowledge, and deepen your capabilities. Ultimately, economic resilience favours those who own an asset, a brand, or a solution.

In a recession, there are five areas in which you should seek to exercise ownership. The first is land. Real estate remains one of the most reliable forms of long-term stability and future appreciation, because God is not creating more.

Own a business and be willing to start small. Nimble, adaptable small enterprises can thrive during downturns by staying close to customer needs and pivoting quickly.

Third, own a skill. High-value skills travel across industries, scale easily, and compound in worth over time.

Own a Value Proposition. Conversations sometimes reveal needs. Listen to the environment to identify pressing problems and create reliable solutions. Genuine value attracts capital, even in lean economic times.

Finally, own your niche. Focus on your specific expertise, voice, and unique contribution.

Ownership is not strictly physical; it can be intellectual, creative, or relational. Resourcefulness is key and will always outperform resources.

Even in employment, have the mindset of an owner. Employees often focus on assigned tasks; owners focus on overall outcomes. Employees measure hours spent; owners measure value delivered. Employees look for instructions; owners search for possibilities.

Adopting the mindset of an owner-even before you acquire physical assets-provides an immediate advantage. Ownership is ultimately a framework of thought. It is the foundation upon which effective management, sustainable growth, and genuine generosity are built.

A recession is not an insurmountable threat. It is an economic transfer, an open window, and a clear invitation to take charge, build strategically, and multiply your efforts. You cannot manage or deploy what you do not own, nor can you thrive in challenging times without accepting responsibility for your path.