Once again, Christmas on a lean pocket

…low key celebration

…families shelve outings

…few travels due to cost

Christians in Nigeria would tomorrow join their counterparts across the world to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. For Christians, there is no other festive season ranked above Christmas, especially as it ushers in the New Year.

But the current socio-economic challenges of the country, no doubt, is posing a huge concern for many families. Coping with life at this difficult time is also another cause of worry to many households, who are not sure of where their next meal would come from.

However, for many people this would not be the best of yuletide celebrations, as the majority of the citizens are going through harrowing times due to the unfavourable economic situation.

In line with the above, for many, the 2023 Christmas celebration calls for sober reflections, as things might not have been the way they have planned them to be with the high cost of living.

The economic reality is forcing many Nigerians, especially Christians to shelve some of their plans for the yuletide, amid budget cuts and no celebration for those who cannot afford a low key show.

Equally, the cost of petrol and diesel has increased significantly, resulting in very high intra-state and inter-state transportation fares, leaving many who had planned to travel by road to rethink.

As well, many who had also hoped to travel through by air had their hopes dashed due to the astronomical rise in airfares from domestic airline operators in the country.

As of yesterday, the average return ticket on an hour-flight goes from N400,000 to N500,000, leaving those without the means to resort to the road transport option, which many do not dare because of the bad roads, insecurity and extortions by security operatives along Nigerian highways.

At the top of the essential commodities whose prices are rising steeply is rice, Nigeria’s foremost staple food, which was on display yesterday at one of the outlets of a popular supermarket in Ikoyi, Lagos bearing a price tag of N65, 000.

It is a Nigeria-grown 50kg bag of rice and the cheapest of such local rice options in the open market in Lagos is N50, 000 per 50kg bag, while foreign rice was selling for as high as N65, 000 per 50kg bag.

Prices of chicken, turkey and beef that go along with rice are also still rising. A large size of chicken was going for N25, 000 last night at the popular Oshodi market in Lagos.

Many Nigerians have lamented the socio-economic situation in the country, they noted that the festival would come and go without the usual festivities attached to it.

Some people said the situation is so bad that one can hardly afford to buy rice and another needed food this period; they noted that prices of essential commodities like rice, pepper, vegetable and palm oil have gone beyond the reach of the people.

“It is Christmas, but I don’t know if it’s merry for most Nigerians,” Badru Saleh, a public affairs commentator based in Lagos. According to him, the hardship across the country is better imagined.

Taiwo Ogun, a civil servant, said that the current unfavourable economic situation would make the yuletide celebration this year low key.

“Things are so bad that I can’t even afford to buy rice for my sisters and mother, because after buying for the children I don’t have much left. It is so sad”, he said.

A transporter, Lanre Yinka, noted that there was nothing to celebrate, stressing that the hike in prices of petroleum products was responsible for the economic crunch in the country.

While noting that there is hunger in the land, he said many now shun public transport due to the high cost.

According to him, “There is nothing to celebrate actually because things are expensive right now, if you enter the market with N10, 000, I bet you can’t buy anything, our money is like paper.

“I would give my family what I can afford, I can’t kill myself. When Bola Tinubu became president, I thought there would be change, but it is like things are harder now”.

Also speaking, Lola Kuku, a trader at the Oshodi market, blamed the high cost of food on the hike in fuel price, which led to high cost of transportation.

She exonerated traders on the high cost of goods in the market and called on the government to do something tangible to alleviate the sufferings of the people.

However, in several states, many Nigerians would be celebrating the yuletide season in darkness over the shutting down of the largest power generating station for maintenance days before Christmas by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

In a statement dated Monday, the TCN said the power station was shut down for maintenance. It said the shutdown was necessary to address a gas pipeline leak.

The development has resulted in power outages in certain parts of the country, as the generating set is said to be Nigeria’s largest thermal generating station.

As a result, there will be a decrease of 676MW of power supplied to the national grid for the duration of 72 hours.

However, finding reveals that up till Saturday night, several parts of the country were still in darkness.

Several Nigerians have accused the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu for insensitivity and incompetent on social media in the last few days.

However, Emmanuel Udofia, immediate past primate, African Church, told BusinessDay that Nigerians should learn to be content with what they have, no matter how little. According to him, moderation should be a guiding principle in celebrating Christmas.

The clergyman advised that being moderate would cut in half the economic pressure that most Nigerians go through. “Whatever anybody has; he should be satisfied with that, and be happy, be joyful, and should also have a habit of a heart of thanksgiving unto God who gives us life to witness this Christmas,” Udofia said.

According to him, Nigerians should share love during the yuletide season as a sign of fellowship with God. “It is by loving people around us that we can make the world around us believe that truly we are Christ followers.

Speaking further, Udofia said that Nigerians should learn from the example set by God in giving his begotten son to the world. He said that if God has so much loved us, by giving the world a saviour; then it behooves on the world to show the same level of love to others around them. “My Christmas message to everybody is that we should use this period to show forth the life of Christ in us”.

Similarly, William Kumuyi, the general superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, in a recent press conference, urged Nigerians not to despair over the present economic crisis but to have a positive attitude towards any situation they are in and seek a solution, which he said can only be found in Emmanuel.

Kumuyi also urged Nigerians to think outside the box, and adapt to self-help where necessary. According to him, nobody should sink with a sinking situation around them. “The situation is there and I cannot avoid it, the question I should ask myself is what should be my attitude to this problem, fretting and deliberately worrying myself will not solve the problem, what can I do?

“In the church, pastors and church leaders should look at the members of the church and see what the church can do, it is good we evangelize but we can spend some of our resources to help the people in the church.

“And the government, we have been talking about palliatives, the government should do something practical, something workable, so that the people will feel the effect of palliatives,” Kumuyi said.