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• Gov. Alia, Christians, partner light up Benue streets for Yuletide
From Scholastica Hir Makurdi
The mood in Makurdi, Benue State, is nothing but enthralling. Excitement is all over the place as thousands of Christians make last-minute arrangements to mark the birth of Jesus Christ.
It is not entirely unexpected anyway. The reason for this is that almost everybody in the state is a Christian, subscribing to the historical experience of Christ and His mission on earth as the salvation to mankind.
The economy might be tough but the spirit of the people is tougher. Benue people are recommitted to an amazing experience during the season. In this regard, many families have decorated their homes, while others renovated theirs.
Equally, some families have stocked up their kitchens with tantalising eatables, while others set their eyes on the highways awaiting the homecoming of their beloved ones.
Gabriel Okoh, also known as Bones, is a middle aged Christian: “In my house, I have been preparing even before now. I have made my arrangements and my chickens are on ground already. I have enough rice and other items that would make the celebrations worth my while. Even a bag of flour for the making of cakes and chin chin has been bought. So we are all excited.
“I’m not waiting until I kill a goat or a cow before I will celebrate a great Christmas. That will be missing the point. This Christmas will still be celebrated in style. Bad economy or not, we are waiting for the D-Day.”
Vivian Torsue was visibly elated: “We thank God for bringing us this far. So far, I have bought rice, oil and chicken. I’m waiting for other things to follow and I am sure it is for good.”
The mother of two said she had taken her children out for shopping. She confessed it was tough though: “Because God is alive, we must celebrate. T-Pain cannot kill my joy.”
Daily Sun gathered that most families long embarked on some forms of cooperative enterprises or contributory payment scheme. The result is the availability of cash and food items days before the festival.
Janet Timbee joined a food sharing group, organised by one of her friends. They pulled their resources together, paying a certain monthly amount to buy food stuff , which they shared ahead of celebrations:
“For us, it was simply a scheme where we buy without tears because since January, we were dropping little amounts each time we collect our salaries. So you can hardly feel the pains.
“We have shared out goods early in the week and I got rice 25kg bag, five litres of groundnut oil, maggi, spices, salt, flour for chin-chin, sugar and so on. So, at the moment, my family is excited and waiting for the festivities to come up.”
Traders are equally excited. A wholesale foodstuffs seller at Wadata Market, Makurdi, Garba Aboki, said: “This is our season. I have taken a soft loan from the bank to stock my shop. I’m sure of repaying the loan after the Christmas sales.”
A rice miller, Agatha Tule, said: “We are working almost round the clock to mill enough rice so that people will have enough rice for the celebration. I am happy that they are making big sales even as the people are complaining about lack of money.”
Operators of fun centres, beer palours and bars are not left out. For sure, the notion of the celebration in this part of Nigeria is “to eat and drink enough.”
Churches have kicked off with their Christmas carols. At St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, Shachi, Makurdi, the English Choir just held its Christmas carol and it was fun. Entitled “Carol of Six Lessons”, the night of songs attracted parishioners and invited guests who were thrilled with songs and sermons all through the event.
Vicar General Pastoral, Holy Ghost Parish, Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Moses Iorapuu, said: “The Church is not left out in the preparations. Even when things are bad , the message of Christmas is that things will get better. We are anticipating a golden moment when God puts an end to the sufferings, evil, sins, failure, misfortunes, sickness and death.
“You are anticipating what is greater than what you are going through and the message is that That which you are anticipating is not too far and so you don’t need to give up. That is what keeps people going.
“In my parish, we are doing the same thing here, putting the thing we have together so we can support the families that are worse off, those that at are not able to do anything for Christmas, those who are badly hit, this is the time to bring joy to them by providing things that would make their lives different so they can feel like human beings. These are what we are doing outside the normal traditional Masses.”
Meanwhile, Makurdi is wearing a new look for Christmas. Governor Hyacinth Alia facilitated the decoration of the city with Christmas trees and lights. They included the giant Christmas tree and light decorations at the Wurukum Roundabout and another giant C tree decorated at Savannah bus stop in Makurdi. Most street have restored their street lights.
Most government offices, especially Benue State House Assembly, have been decorated with Christmas colours, trees and things that lighten up the heart of the people.
