Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital city, has apparently shut down for Christmas as activities gradually wind down and residents massively travelling out of the town majorly occupied by migrants.
Most offices looked deserted on Thursday, including the very busy federal secretariat. Civil servants in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as private business workers – the few still remaining in town – are beginning to wind down as celebration mood sets in despite the tight economic situation in the country presently.
Vehicular movement is also decreasing as was observed, except for some parts of the city centre where traffic was noticed, possibly due to rush to complete some last minute transactions.
However, longer queues were observed in banks as customers move for last minute transactions, especially ahead of the celebration.
The Federal Government has declared long holidays for the Christmas and New Year celebrations on December 26 and 27, 2016, and January 2, 2017, public holidays, respectively.
But even ahead of the announcement, which came on Wednesday, some agencies had already closed down operations to enable their workers travel to other parts of the Federation. BusinessDay also observed that even most churches looked deserted last Sunday as fewer worship turned up even in large churches.
While work has slowed in offices, activities have expectedly moved to the markets and shopping malls, though weakened by the tough economic conditions.
In Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory observed that most motor parks were beehive of activities as people travelling to various parts of the country jostle for space to embark on their journey.
Obinna Okafor, one of the Coordinators at the popular Peace Mass Transit Park, told BusinessDay that the lull in the economic activities did not affect many people, who are determined to travel.
“People call our customer service and book for their spots ahead. We also get to see people come to the park as early as 4am to secure a space for themselves and for their loved ones. There are increasing demand for travellers such that we have to recall some of our buses in the city centre to support our businesses. We will ensure we give them best of services.
“We have also observed that many people who had wanted to fly by air are resorting to take advantage of our services because of the increasing price of air fares and flight delays that characterized most of the air flight due largely to aviation fuel. Many of them call on us to book their seat ahead for us, and we are battling to even contend with the crowd,” the vehicle attendant said.
Further findings also revealed the transport fare have not gone up astronomically, as the price of fuel has been fairly stable.
Osinachi Ezeaku, another worker at the Peace Park told BusinessDay that Abuja to Umuahia costs N7,000; Abuja to Owerri also costs N7,000 whereas Abuja to Enugu costs N5,000.Abuja to Onitsha costs N6,000 which he said is not significantly different from what the price used to be.
On the other hand, BusinessDay observed that there are lots of transactions going on in the Automated Teller Machines in various banks located in Kubwa,as people are looking to make last minute withdrawals for their various transactions for the Christmas celebrations.
Cyprian Okoye, a distributor of sports materials in Kubwa told BusinessDay that despite huge withdrawals, sales have been slow, as people buy more on food items.
“I sell sports materials and I make bold to say that the market is slow for people are now prioritising their spending and not patronising us much as they used to in previous years,” he said.
A visit on Wednesday to NEXT Cash and Carry, a popular mall in Abuja that prides itself as having “everything under one roof” showed slowed activities as formerly is the case on days like this in the past years especially few days to Christmas.
Enquiries revealed that despite the various customer loyalty offers from the management of the Super-store to its customers, patronage of the wares on display did not witness any remarkable improvement.
Neil Pape, NEXT general manager, declined to comment on activities around the mall, however, he dismissed insinuations that they are witnessing a lull of business adding that their customer loyalty offers is surely encouraging patronage.
Our reporter, who is a regular patron of the mall, observed that the usual long queues at the points of payments in the mall, was no longer there as well as the traffic congestion caused by the volume of vehicular traffic to the mall.
Around this period in previous years, the mall usually witnessed a large number of patrons who really come to buy stuffs, tourists, window-shoppers and children who are brought to visit the Santa Claus grotto mounted outside the mall.
The story is also not different from the popular Wuse Market, located at the centre of the capital city, as traders in the market have been lamenting over the continued lull of business activities in the market.
The market known for its offer of cheap rates for items is a Mecca of sorts as it always bubble with boisterous trading activities especially during festive seasons.
Some of the traders spoke with lamented that the few buyers who managed to visit the market are all complaining of low purchasing power occasioned by the current economic crises in the country.
Enendu, a dealer in rice and grains, lamented that bulk of his customers this period of the year are members of co-operatives who within this festive period of the year besiege him with request for many bags of his products which they usually distribute amongst the members of their cooperatives.
He explained that his customers are complaining of lack of funds to finance their usual end of the year items distribution among themselves.
Dealers in clothing and other house decor items are not also left out in the general outcry over low patronage.
Ironically, despite the complains of the Traders, our Reporter still observed the heavy traffic congestion at the entrance of the market’s gate which extended to the major roads and expressway around the market.
It was also observed that the young men who hang around the section of the market where livestock are sold to help buyers prepare the chickens and Turkeys were seen standing idle and chatting way as they also complained of “no business.”
However, hundreds of staff and security operatives who resumed at their duty posts and offices in the National Assembly since Monday, were busy scrambling and soliciting for assistance from few Senators and members of the House of Representatives who are yet to go to their Constituencies.
Some lawmakers and Legislative Aides who spoke under condition of anonymity, also lamented the paucity of funds and delay in payment of their salaries and allowances.
Meanwhile, a truck-loads of foreign turkeys, groundnut oil and 50kg bags of rice were delivered and distributed to the offices of members of the House of Representatives all through Tuesday.
The distribution of the items was strictly monitored by uniformed men till evening period, as cleaners and other outsourced staff assure in the dispatch.
The situation however was a little better for some the National Assembly staff who were members of the National Assembly Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited who enjoyed flexible payment for 50kg bag of rice at N18,000 while price for non-members was N19,000 per bag.
While the cost of palm oil/groundnut oil for members was put at N13,000 non-members were to get it at N14,000.
According to the internal memo pasted on notice boards across the complex, all interested co-operative members and non-members were enjoined to provide October/November pay slip and photocopy of ID cards
Also on Monday, hundreds of hampers filled with assorted provisions and wines were seen distributed to members.
Our correspondent who monitored activities at the State House observed that there was a rush to carry their rice given by the state house because most people say they will travel after today.
Some Ministers are already planning to travel tomorrow to rest for the year as FEC meeting on Wednesday looked like the last for the year.
Some of the staff complained that they may not be able to travel because of the hike in transport fares, so they will be in town for the Christmas.
The villa corridors were relatively full today as most of them came to ask for favour from Ministers who they say they will not see until next year.
Against the usual tradition, a handful of FCT staff seen carried small bags of rice and 2 litres of groundnut oil, which were distributed by Co-operative Societies.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
