“The most cheerless Christmas of my life,” the 45 year old man said somberly. “In good time or bad time, Christmas time has this special aura about it. And my brother, I have had my fair share of bad times in this life, but even in those times, Christmas has an allure that makes it one of the special moments of life. But this year, no be so.”
While his view may be subjective, and not 100 percent reflective of public opinion, it is nevertheless, not totally wide of the mark.
Activities that usually characterized Christmas––mass travelling, effusive giving, cheery outing, gaily-decoration of buildings and the associated razzmatazz––are low-ebbed and happening only as a matter of necessity. A Saturday Sun reconnaissance of the city came up with a drab picture of Christmas in recession. The perennial jinx of petroleum scarcity further compounds the trauma of economic hardship already corroding the morale of the public.
A hampers-less Christmas
The atmosphere of this Yuletide is best portrayed by the tone-down frenzy about hampers, one of the symbols of Christmas spirit of giving.
Apongbon market on Lagos Island is the city’s informal hamper headquarters. In the past, the vicinity is choked with human and vehicular traffic in the Christmas week.
On Thursday, Dec 21, the usual hustle and bustle of the market was non-existing. The market was scanty. The commotion and traffic common to the Apongbon Bridge and road were absent. The road was free. The delay on Broad Street, adjacent to Apongbon, was caused by the traffic light.
Save for the wares shed and stacks of children’s Christmas toys in their frontage, there was hardly a sign of Christmas. Apongbon was a shadow of itself.
Traders gisted with one another to kill boredom. Not used to hustling for customers, they were this day, practically begging and dragging buyers to their stores.
A trader, Iya Ibukun sat with all her senses alerted to grab from the few customers available. Her stock-in-trade was hampers, which she displayed at her shed under the bridge.
When approached by a reporter, she at first mistook him for a customer and could not hide her disappointment when she discovered otherwise.
“Oga, I was thinking you want to buy hamper, but who knows,” she stated. To the reporter’s request for an interview, she asked him to buy anything in her shop so she’d not start her business day with discussion. The reporter complied.
She started her lamentation with how she borrowed from a friend to stock her wares for the Christmas season, a move that turned out a mistake. Unfortunately, she might end in a big debt if her luck does not change soon.
“Last year, the big-size hamper was sold between N18, 000 and N20, 000. This year, due to inflation, we have to increase the price to N25, 000, whereas the items in the hamper worth more. We can’t increase the price because there are few customers in the market. Yesterday, I sold only two big hampers and four small ones of N7, 000 each. Today is Dec 21, banks and organizations have not placed orders for hampers. This is rare. This put us in a very tight position. Anyway, we still have hope, that there will be an improvement once workers are paid their salaries,” she stated.
Among the few customers perambulating the scanty market was a family of four, a mother and her three children. The woman who declined to give her name hinted that coming to the market was merely an act of “fulfilling all righteousness,” so as not to kill the morale of the kids.
She said: “My husband refused to come with us, because he didn’t know how to tell the children. In such a matter, I am a better manager than him. Ordinarily, he doesn’t run away from an outing such as this. On a good say, you would see him hovering around us in the market, ensuring that his children get the best this market has to offer.”
Less travelling
The Christmas week in Lagos is usually characterized by frenzied travelling triggered by the annual exodus of ‘Lagos Igbos’ to the eastern hinterland. The frenzy transforms transport hubs across Lagos such as Mazzamazza, Jibowu, Okota and Mile 2 into a vortex of movement.
Saturday Sun observed a sparse crowd at the Jibowu axis at 9 am on Dec 21. The crossroad, known to be a no-go area, because of thick traffic, was surprisingly free. Transporters such as Chisco and Ifesinachi were done with loading for the day. The main office was empty. An attempt by Saturday Sun at further inquiry was rebuffed by an official of the transport company. “We are not allowed to speak to the press,” he pleaded.
The apparent lack of travellers, however, did not lower the fare. As it has become customary with Christmas, transport fare skyrocketed and is still rising. Some passengers openly lamented the adverse effect of this. It was for this reasons A Mr Dike is travelling with his older children and leaving the younger ones at home.
“We have a function coming up in the village and it is an avenue for them to learn and know the tradition of our people. They need to start knowing their family members, if not I would not be spending N8, 500 each for one of us,” he stated.
At the Libra Bus station in Isolo, similar gagging order not to speak with the press was in place. There too, travellers freely spoke their mind.
Munachi Okoye who was heading home to Umuahia, Abia State, avowed “travelling this year was because it was inevitable for me.”
She said: “Going home to my people is a kind of therapy for the kind of trauma I have been subjected to this year by Nigeria’s economic situation.”
She added: “My travel is not about Christmas this year. I pray never to experience this kind of hard Christmas in my lifetime again.”
Saturday Sun investigation showed a steady fare spike. Most travellers resorted to booking their ticket online as it significantly saved them a few thousands of naira. Imo State fare, previously pegged at N9, 600, was upped by at least 30 percent, to become N12, 600, if booked online.
From Dec 26, prices are expected to go higher.
Stanley Uchechukwu is an example of one of those with Christmas frustration: “I took a bag of rice to the park in Mile 2, and they asked me to pay N4, 000 for the rice after spending N18, 000 for its purchase. I simply sold the rice and sent the money to my father in the village.”
He continued: “We have been through worse times in this country. But this is no way to celebrate Christmas.”
Austere spending
Transporters are but one of those having a ‘bad’ Christmas. The long list of people having a rough Christmas includes food sellers and storeowners.
At a popular store located along Apple Junction, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, bags of rice and other Christmas were arranged in neat stacks.
One of the store assistants said: “The bags of rice are still out there, you can see them. This time last year, we were out of stock and running helter-skelter seeking for ways to replenish our stock, even at crazy prices and unbelievable profits. We have not sold five bags in one week. The ones we sold were at no extra profit because of the rice wahala throughout the year, so there is no way we could expect Nigerians to pay even more. A bag is N18, 700.”
She continued: “besides individual buyers, we have midsize organisations that give their employees rice and tin tomatoes. They are our biggest customers. Last year, we sold a total of 84 half bag-size rice and 36 big bags. This year, none of the organisations patronised us. Even when we send in our quotation at even cheaper prices. Times are hard, was one company’s response to us.”
|Sun