‘Why we won’t blow banger this Xmas’

In Lagos, even months before Christmas, there were signs that the festive period would be markedly different. Many saw despair, while some others believed that the human spirit would triumph. In this report, NAZA OKOLI, CHUKWUMA OKPARAOCHA and SYLVESTER OKORUWA examine the pulse of the nation’s most populous city as the wave of the season passes through it.

MRS Njideka Obasi lives at Egbe (Ikotun) in Lagos. This year, she and her family cannot travel home to Agbor, a Delta town close to the state’s capital of Asaba, for Christmas and New Year.

“I have sent some money to my mother,” she told Saturday Tribune on Wednesday. “They want to see me but I cannot afford to go home and still give them money. I have sent them the money I would have given them if I had come home. It’s cheaper that way because I don’t have to worry about transportation.”

The consensus in the nation’s commercial capital appears to be that it is the “worst Christmas” in a long time. The general atmosphere is gloomy, as many residents seem to bear the scars of their sorrow on their faces.

The effect of the economic recession has had a most profound effect on this city. There have been hundreds – perhaps thousands – of job losses in the months preceding Christmas. As prices of goods and commodities continued to soar, workers’ earnings have remained the same, even as traders complain incessantly of poor patronage.

“If things continue like this next year, I don’t think any of us will be alive to talk about next Christmas,” Mr Chukwujekwu Nwachukwu, a trader at the Fancy and Furniture Section of Alaba International Market, Lagos,  told Saturday Tribune.

“This year has been the worst so far. As I am speaking to you, I don’t think my children can go back to school, after Christmas and New Year. I even borrowed money to pay their tuition last term.”

Even young children appear to have full understanding of what is going on. For instance, at the large field at Muslim Junior College, Egbe, where a group of boys played football Wednesday evening, 10-year-old Chikaodili Onugha, one of the boys, described this Christmas as “bad”, because bangers now cost a lot more than they used to.

“This Christmas is very bad,” he said. “One banger is now N40, and that is for one sound. It used to be N20 for one sound last year. Two sounds is N80. Nobody wants to blow banger anymore.”

Market forces

Days and hours before the Christmas festivities, traders and buyers in many markets in Lagos have continued to lament what many of them have described as “the toughest Christmas” Lagosians would be celebrating in years. While traders have largely centred their arguments on “slow sales,” as characterised by the number of buyers in the markets, buyers on the other hand have continued to bemoan the high prices of foodstuffs, particularly those usually in high demand during Yuletides, including items like rice, vegetable oil, other basic cooking condiments as well as poultry.

In some instances, the prices of foodstuffs have increased by as much as 50 per cent. Residents claim that the hardship they are facing has been aggravated by the fact that no significant increase has come on their sources of income, a situation they say has significantly reduced their purchasing power.

Generally, traders have continued to associate the development to the current economic difficulties in the country, a situation some of them believed had not also been helped by some of the policies of the present administration, including policies guiding the nation’s import duties.

A trader and rice dealer at Agege/Abattoir Market, Mr Akinola Adams, posited that, at this stage in previous years, he would have sold no fewer than 13 bags of rice, but for this Yuletide, he had barely sold five.

“Things are not looking good at all. A lot of us traders are struggling to make any serious sales. We have never had it so rough. But I believe that as the Christmas Day approaches, things will pick up”, he said.

Another trader at the Daddy Savage Mini-Market in the Iju area of Lagos, Mrs Areola Aremu, said she had not made any reasonable sales despite the fact that Christmas was just a few days away.

“Usually, by now, my shop would have turned into a beehive of activities, as people wishing to buy various food condiments would have been falling over one another to buy things. But now, I could go an entire day with just a few customers to attend to,” she said.

“This suffering is too much; people are hungry and there is no money. This is what we have been turned into”, she added.

Meanwhile, based on findings made by Saturday Tribune, a bag of parboiled rice, popularly known as Aroso, goes for N20,000. Only a few weeks ago, it was N18,000. Similarly, a bag of “Agric” (another popular brand of parboiled rice) has shot up to N18,500 from N16,000.

Spirit of the season

But the tales of woe in Lagos that have continued to dominate discussions among Lagos residents are also about blocked opportunities, lack of empathy, and the loss of what is often called the “spirit of Christmas”.

Adewale Oni, a deacon at God’s Seed Ministry, Egbeda, Lagos, said, on Tuesday, that people were becoming less willing to spend money.

“I am not talking about giving money to the Church. I am talking about giving gifts to one another, which is an important part of the celebration”, he said.

Indeed, Oni attributed the state of affairs in the country to the moral failings of society. “In the Bible, the people of Israel were punished many times because they turned their back on God. What we need now is fasting and praying because this one (hardship) is beyond us. It is in God’s hands,” he said.

According to Saturday Tribune’s findings, many organisations, which used to offer gifts like bags of rice and extra money to their staff at Christmas, were not able to do so this year.

A respondent, Mr Taiwo Omidire, 45, who works at a factory in Ikeja, also described this Christmas as the worst in years. He decried the high number of job losses recorded in the private sector in Lagos alone and called for stiffer government sanctions against indiscriminate sack of workers.

“If you ask me about this Christmas, I can tell you it’s the worst ever. But the major reason many families in Lagos are suffering is because people are losing their jobs. An airline sacked 150 people a few days to Christmas; an oil company sacked 150 people; a milk company sacked 80. In all, many of the banks have sacked up to 1,000, while those still working have been forced to collect half salary.

“The sack whirlwind cuts across many companies in Lagos. Even the media is affected as most of the media organisations are reducing their staff due to shortage of revenue. Workers are not sure of collecting their salaries to celebrate Christmas as most companies that used to give their staff rice and other products to assist them to celebrate the yuletide could not give their staff anything as they could not even organise end-of-the-year parties.

“A bag of rice, which was sold for N9,000 last Christmas, now sells for between N20,000 and N25,000. Prices of foodstuffs have gone through the roof with prices of other commodities going up on daily basis, getting out of the reach of the masses. The hunger in the land is biting so hard that the state government intends to sell a bag of subsidised rice for 13,000 to help the masses.

“The festive period, which gives workers the opportunity to travel home to see their loved ones, is uncertain due to the high cost of transportation for this period due to the increase in the price of fuel to N145 per litre. Travel fare from Lagos to Benin, which was N4,000 last year, is now between N6,000 and N7,000”, he said.

Escapism

However, it has not all been gloom and despair. Most parts of the metropolis have been elaborately decorated with bright Christmas colours. The many shopping malls in the city have continued to play host to thousands of residents, who in spite of the prevailing economic conditions, have continued to strive for happiness.

Many others have found solace in the virtual space where, with the aid of humour, they have attempted and, in many cases, succeeded in creating for themselves a season of laughter.

“Please, with just N5,000, how practically modestly can one entertain guests comprising seven adults and leave smiles on their faces?” asked a Facebook user, Japhet Prosper, in post, on Tuesday.

Another user, Cynthia Eze, responded: “Go to the nearest hospital, take a bed and a sachet of drip. The seven adults will come looking for you at the hospital, and when they see you recovering, they will be happy.”