The decision of one of the telecoms service providers to fete about 2,000 Lagosians at the Rowe Park, Yaba recreational facility recently as a way of showing love during this Yuletide season, no doubt, laid bare the fact that the harsh economic situation is eating at Lagosians, irrespective of social or economic class.
Since the average Nigerian has a tinge of arrogance and pride in him, one would have expected that the major beneficiaries of the feeding gesture of the telecoms service provider would be those at the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder – since the upper and middle class people can, at least, feed themselves, even if not adequately. But the event proved such a calculation wrong.
Those from the lower class were never in short supply. They besieged the place and patiently queued for a package of jollof rice with chicken and cold drinks. The spectacle of the day, however, was people deemed as members of the middle and upper classes also joining the rice queue.
These rich Lagosians had come to play basketball and other games within the Rowe Park complex and seen the goodies as one of the fringe benefits of the day.
“Hmmm… this economy may be worse than we thought o. In a normal situation, these people you are seeing are definitely not of the lower class. These are big men who have come to use the recreational facilities here. But look at what they are doing,” observed an individual in the crowd.