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…Many won’t be able to travel to celebrate
• As insecurity, transport fares skyrocket
By Cosmas Omegoh, Agatha Emeadi and Olakunle Olafioye
Once again, Christmas is here. In a matter of days, the residents of towns and villages across the country are expected as usual to roll out drums in celebrations.
Usually, during this period, the people will be getting set for the grove of the Yuletide, a season of joy, happiness, love and giving.
But this year, Sunday Sun checks revealled that not many at the moment have that usual good feeling that Christmas is in the air.
So many do not even care a hoot about what the season might bring. Rather, they are consumed by the hassle of the day and how to make ends meet.
The air around them is simply somber and uncertain. And the reason is simple: they are hungry.
Indeed, many people are hungry and in pains. Therefore, besides trying to make ends meet, they might not be drawn by any form of niceties unless something magical happens to change the tide of things. For now, they are only managing a cheer.
Sunday Sun checks across homes and hamlets showed that, that usual great feeling associated with the Christmas does not appear to be there this year.
Thus, what the findings suggest is that a great proportion of the people might have a bleak Christmas. Some might not even celebrate the season at all, not because they are averse to it, but because they cannot afford the basic things they require to do so. To some, the aggregate of what they are expecting to eke out this season might just be acutely insufficient to give them something to make merry. That is why they are unhappy. They are lashed on all fronts unprotected by the current harsh economic realities.
Our correspondents, who went to town to gauge the mood of the people, found out that the refrain on every lip was how to put food on the table this season.
They equally discovered a people who the majority of them are complaining about the bad times. Most of the people were rather more concerned about surviving the hard and harsh times than anything else as they kept lamenting that the value of the little cash they get is brutally being eroded hour after hour by galloping inflation.
Therefore, many of the people have begun to plan on how to skip the usual fanfare and the huge expenses associated with Christmas.
Our correspondents also found out that even the now amorphous middle class is not being spared as checks also revealed hysteria in that rank.
The situation is one that most people who ordinarily are adjudged to be doing well are now uncertain about their future and particularly how to cope during this Christmas season.
Indeed, the current high cost of food, transportation and fuel have threatened to torpedo their plans for the season.
According to those who spoke to Sunday Sun, the high cost of air fares, which is still climbing higher, is devastating their budgets.
Another challenge, they noted, is the escalating insecurity in the land.
Some of them said that they are afraid of their dear lives.
The thought of falling into the hands of armed robbers or kidnapers, or herdsmen or gunmen or their bullets now compels some persons asking themselves whether travelling to their towns and villages to celebrate Christmas this season is really worth the trouble. Everything points to one thing: the emerging reality that this year’s Christmas and New Year seasons might end up being like no other in the near and distant past.
High cost of transport is killing
Mr Afolabi Dada, an auto technician, said until now it was customary for him to travel to his hometown in Ogun State to mark the festivity with his extended family members.
But the coming Christmas is set to be an exception as he had concluded plans to mark the occasion in Lagos where he currently resides.
“I have informed my parents back home that I would not be coming home for this year’s festivities due to the high cost of transportation.
“To travel to the village with my family this period will cost me at least N100, 000. That I cannot afford for now because business has been very slow and dull over the past months. Many vehicle owners now park their vehicles at home, and this has resulted in reduced patronage. I hope there will be improvement next year,” he wished.
There are countless other Nigerians in Afolabi’s shoes. Mrs Vivian Ogbeide is one of them.
She belongs to the group of Nigerians who have shelved their plans of traveling to celebrate this year’s Christmas and New Year festivities.
The mother of four told Sunday Sun that her family would, for the first time in a long while, break the tradition of traveling to Edo State to celebrate Christmas owing to the prohibitive cost of transportation.
“My elder sister who travelled the last time told me that the transport fare from Lagos to Edo State was N23, 000 and I am sure it will be close to N30, 000 in the next one week. That means I should be looking for almost N300,000 for my family to and fro if we will be traveling.
“As much as I would have loved to travel home for the celebration, it would be unwise to spend such a huge amount of money on travelling alone for the Yuletide,” she reasoned.
Another fellow, Kelvin Kanu said that his family always travels to their hometown in Abia State every Christmas.
According to him, he has ruled out that ritual this year.
Kanu cited the ridiculous high cost of petroleum products, and the falling value of the naira as the reason he was reconsidering his tradition of travelling home this season.
“I drive a Toyota Highlander jeep which carries my family of six. Two or three years before now, a budget of N50,000 was well enough for us to get home and back to Lagos.
“But with the present high cost of petroleum products, that will never work neither would it support our commercial transportation home. So, travelling this year is cancelled. It is out of the way.”
Sunday Sun checks revealled that bus fare from Lagos to the East which cost between N25,000 and N35,000 depending on company and the health of the bus, has begun to rise. Intending passengers now fear that the fare might hit N65,000 and surpass that threshold in a matter of days from now.
Our correspondents gathered that some more established transport firms are currently charging N56,000 for a bus ride from Lagos to Port Harcourt. More increases await the passengers when they surge forward in the days ahead.
An intending passenger, Frank Ogbuagu, was close to shedding tears while expressing fears regarding how fares would rise in days to come.
He said that he and his family of five are compelled to travel this season because his first daughter would be getting married traditionally in the village.
“We are travelling because my daughter will be getting married on December 27. “Transportation fare alone would be eating up our entire budget, yet we have not got home to face other financial challenges.
“If we don’t leave Lagos early enough, we might not make it again because by then, the cost of transportation would have risen astronomically,” he lamented.
Ogbuagu wondered why the Federal Government was not sustaining last year’s programme of providing buses for the masses.
“I thought the Federal Government would this year give the people buses like it did last year even when fares were not as killing as what we have now. That would have provided a lot of relief to the people now that things are getting out of hand,” he said.
Now, travelling by air this season is becoming as difficult as water flowing uphill for the average Nigerian.
Our correspondents learnt that a one-way economy ticket from Lagos to Owerri and Port Harcourt this season has risen as high as N280,000, where they are available.
A travel agent who didn’t want to be named told our correspondent that “all the airline tickets are currently fully booked. Anyone who did not do so months back might not have any opportunity to travel by air especially from Lagos or Abuja to the East this period. From December 20, virtually all the airlines are fully booked.”
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High cost of food items and Christmas
Beyond the prohibitive cost of transportation, the skyrocketing prices of food items and other edibles pose another source of worry to most families at this period. Traditionally, food items rise as the Yuletide draws closer.
It was gathered that already many families are planning low key celebrations.
For Mrs Yemisi Oladele, the era of having a bash during the Yuletide might have gone for good.
Oladele said that Christmas celebrations in her family used to mark a reunion which rekindled flames of love and helped to cement their family bond.
However, she expressed worry if they would have that opportunity again this season.
“I grew up in a family where we understood that Christmas festivity must be enjoyed with both members of one’s immediate and extended families as well as one’s friends. That is the impression I grew up with and which has been a way of life in my own family since I got married.
“But the current economic condition in the country has already changed things for the worse. It does not support that tradition any longer.
“Nearly the prices of every food item and drink have quadrupled in the last one and half years. A bag of rice now costs well over N100, 000. That was an equivalent of what we spent organising a lavish Christmas celebration a few years ago. To have such a Christmas celebration now, one will need well over N500,000. We are now in an era where such celebration is no longer possible. What that means is that everybody should just focus on their own immediate family in order not to plunge into debt after the Yuletide,” she suggested.
While agreeing with her submission, Kanu said: “That a bag of rice has risen to a whopping N100,000 and beyond is not funny at all. What do we say about other food items? A carton of frozen chicken is N49,000 now, while 25kg cooking oil now goes for N120,000. That is the best one can get in the market currently.”
Then he queried: “How many workers have had their salaries increased to match the present cost of living? It is a situation that brings tears to every eye.”
He, therefore, emphaised that “for these reasons, my family and I cannot travel for Christmas this season.
“We cannot afford the cost.”
Insecurity in the land
Last week, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, assured that policemen would deploy to areas they identified as flash points so as to secure the lives and property of the citizens during this period.
Even the Nigerian Army said it would review its operational strategies ahead of Christmas and the New Year celebrations.
But none of those assurances has taken away people’s fear that uncertainty still hangs thickly in the air.
Mishak Ofoegbu, for instance, is one of those who fear that insecurity in the land is still a nightmare.
“I learnt that some parts of the East are still challenged. That possess a huge problem to people who might be going home to celebrate Christmas,” he reasoned.
Edet Asuquo said in the light of the high cost of air fares, everyone had been left with the option of land travels.
However, he is afraid that “these days when we hear that an entire bus and its passengers are kidnapped and taken to an unknown destination, that gives cause to worry about.
“Imagine setting out with joy to celebrate Christmas with loved ones at home and ending up with kidnappers.
“We hear about these incidents happening on Abuja road down to the South. We hear about such incidents happening on the East-West road between Delta and Rivers states.
“We saw the video of a lawyer and civil servant alongside his nice who were kidnapped on the road in Cross River State the other time and where they were kept in a hole in the bush before their rescue.
“These might inspire fear in everyone who might be travelling this season.”
Equally, Tony, from Ihembosi in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, wondered how people from the area would be celebrating Christmas in the face of the alleged faceoff between unknown gunmen and the Nigerian Army.
With a video recording of some devastated buildings and shops in the area, he alleged that the destruction was recently carried out by the Nigerian Airforce fighter jets targeting unknown gunmen.
“In the light of this, how do you expect indigenes of the area living in the cities to return to celebrate Christmas at home?” he queried.
Daniel Lot from Plateau State told our correspondents that despite assurances by security agencies, people in the Middle Belt still have uncertainty around them.
“Residents of Bokkos, Mangu, and their environs will not believe that this is time to hang loose. These areas have witnessed frequent attacks especially during this season over the years.
“Even residents of Southern Kaduna know this. We know that about this period, agents of Satan always come out to harm people. It has happened several times in the past. So, you will not blame any indigene of those areas who stays back in the city for fear of their lives.”
But Ibrahim Bunu, Convener of Middle Belt Patriotic Front and a youth leader of Conference of Autochthonous Ethnic Communities Development Association, a coalition of ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt region, assured that security had improved within the axis over the months of the current President Bola Tinubu administration.
“To be honest with you, security has improved in our region since the current administration came in.
“I don’t think we will have any security challenges this season.
“All over the Middle Belt right now, there are vigilantes working round the clock. You can see them in their uniforms keeping vigil in their respective communities,” he said.
Shortage of cash
While many Nigerians worry about what they will eat as the season approaches, a new twist which might hamper Christmas and the New Year festivities, lack of cash emerged.
Our correspondents learnt that nowadays, most banks’ ATM machines hardly dispense cash.
And getting cash over the counter in some banks is said to be as difficult as pulling chestnut out of fire.
Some persons who have experienced the trend fear that if it persists, and possibly extends to the peak of Christmas, they might not have any cash to spend.
Recalling his experience, a bank customer, Kola Olawale, told our correspondent: “I went to my bank (name withheld) the other day to withdraw cash and was told there was no money. So, I kept wondering what was going on.
“When I persisted I must get something at least to get by, I was only given a paltry sum.
“But when I emerged from the banking hall, to my surprise, a vendor loitering around with her POS machine had lots of cash to give out. What is going on, please,” he asked.
Then he further asked: “If one doesn’t get even their own money at the bank to spend this season, is that not double trouble?”
A POS operator in Lagos, Mama Buki, admitted that she too was having difficulty getting her money from the bank for her business.
“I have been to my bank thrice over the past days to get money but was denied.
“In this our business, if one does not have money, they are as good as being out of business.
“If our customers do not get cash to buy their basic needs this season, it then means they will have bleak Christmas and New Year.”
