Tough times never last but tough people do, they say. OLALEKAN OLABULO, SHOLA ADEKOLA, OLATUNDE DODONDAWA and AKIN ADEWAKUN tell of how Lagosians’ never-say-die spirit got them celebrating Christmas against all odds.
TO the faithful, Christmas marks the birth of Jesus Christ and a time to show love, which Christ represents. But some see the significance of the period as going beyond that. For them, it is a time to roll out the drums, show some affluence. Even when it is glaring that the nation’s economic realities at the moment never support such ostentation, everything must be done to add colour to the moment.
This culture is not alien to this part of the globe. The average Nigerian is known to stretch himself/herself beyond his/her means when it comes to festivities. This year’s Christmas celebration proved an avenue for some Lagos residents to re-enact such ostentatious tradition.
Checks by Saturday Tribune revealed how many residents adopted some rather unusual strategies to cope with the demands of the time during Christmas.
While some turned to menial jobs, it was gambling and other practices for others. Yet, others became roguish, going as far as collecting loans from micro finance banks and disappearing into thin air to dodge repayment.
Jamiu’s was one of such unusual cases. Popularly known as J. Boy in the Isolo area of Lagos, Jamiu resorted to gambling when it was apparent that his December salary would not be available before the Christmas celebration. “I used to place football betting before now but never in my life had I depended on it the way I did a few days before Christmas when it became clear that I would not be celebrating Christmas with my salary. We were told in the company where I work that our salary might not be ready until after Christmas. I had to speak with experts in football betting in the hope that I would be lucky to make some cash from it for Christmas,” he stated.
Unfortunately, the venture ended in regrets for J. Boy who spent his extra cash on the gambling ‘project’. He wasn’t lucky. His bet never panned out. He spent the Christmas in hunger.
“If I had known, I would have allowed Christmas to just go like that. I lost the little money I had on me to gambling in my desire for extra money for the celebration”, he lamented.
Raphael Gbadebo was, however, lucky. The electrician had continued to hope against hope, especially in the days preceding the Christmas Day. Given the state of his finances, it was pretty clear that this Yuletide for this father of four, who lives in the Aboru area of Agbado in Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, was not going to be as memorable as in previous years.
“I had explored the option of visiting those that owe me money to get them to pay up so that my family and I could celebrate Christmas but the move yielded no results. I resigned to fate and decided to face the embarrassment of staying indoors on Christmas Day. Fortunately, on Sunday morning, a call came: a friend of one of my clients needed me to put the installation of his house’s electrical wires in order. He had returned from the United Kingdom only to discover that the wiring in some parts of his five-bedroom duplex was faulty. Ordinarily, I don’t work on Christmas Day, especially in the morning when I should be in church thanking God for the opportunity to witness another Yuletide but I had to do this one job. I have no idea what the Christmas celebration would have been like if I had not got the job. It was, for me, a godsend”, Gbadebo said.
He described his inability to attend the church service that day as an “unusual sacrifice” to enable him and his family members have a good celebration.
Jimoh, on his part, had to undertake an unplanned journey a few hours before Christmas to be able to provide chicken and rice for his family. The 35-year-old mechanic journeyed to Aba, in Abia State, on the eve of Christmas to drop a client’s wife, who was spending the Yuletide in the south-eastern part of the country, for a fee.
“I wouldn’t undertake such a journey, when traffic would be at its peak, if things were all right. Besides, I’m a mechanic, not a driver. I should be in my workshop attending to faulty vehicles. But I had to go if I was to enjoy Christmas. Even my wife, who would ordinarily object to such idea, didn’t fight me on it because she understood the family’s financial state”, Jimoh said.
Jimoh had returned to Lagos by public transportation and eventually met some of the demands of Christmas celebration on the N10,000 he made from the job.
Wale, a marketing executive with a Lagos-based micro finance bank, in his efforts at getting more customers, met a new female client that sold wares. The woman had requested for N200,000 as additional capital to stock her shop. After completing some formalities, Wale said, the bank’s management approved the loan and the woman collected the money.
According to him, this happened in the first week of December. On 20 December, which marked the time the money must have been paid back, the woman’s shop was found locked. Wale’s investigation into why the woman suddenly shut her shop revealed that she had travelled to the east to celebrate the Yuletide with her family. Her phone was switched off. She had left without a trace. Wale soon learned that his colleagues had been victims of such dubious people in the past.
According to him, some people obtained loan for their spouses to buy gifts and clothing for their families during Yuletide at the expense of their businesses. He lamented how Nigerians preferred to borrow and enjoy the Yuletide while they allow their businesses and creditors to suffer.
Mummy Christiana, who lives in Shasha, Alimosho Local Government Area, is married to a driver for an airline company. After the hope of the man receiving his November salary a few days to Christmas was dashed, the responsibility of the family celebrating the season fell on Mama Christiana who, prior to the period, was a full housewife.
In order to put food on the table for her husband and their two children on Christmas Day and even for New Year, Mama Christiana decided to go out of her way to do something: knocking on people’s doors on Sahsha streets and begging to help sweep their compounds and wash their dirty clothes for a small price.
The woman found favour with those she approached. Within two days, she was able to rake in N15,000 and get some foodstuffs, part of which the family used to celebrate the Christmas. The leftover, according to her, will be used to launch the family into a new year.
No doubt, Mama Christiana and her ilk are only living up to the description of the average Lagosian as possessing that resolve of not being cowed by depressing moments, a reason, perhaps, one still sees a semblance of celebration across homes in the city, when it is evident that the economies of the nation and individuals are in pain. As the New Year celebration beckons, Lagosians are certain to embrace their can-do spirit for a final pull through a tough festive season.