The current economic recession in the country is a major problem confronting majority of Nigerians as the world celebrates the Christmas. The parlous economy has made life hard for the people, in general. In the face of scarce resources, prices of items in the market have continued to skyrocket. For many Nigerians, life has become very tough and many people cannot even make ends meet.
Christmas, observed by Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ widely regarded as their saviour, is usually widely celebrated with a lot of fanfare. But against the backdrop of the current economic situation, prominent Nigerians across different sectors told ZAINAB ONI that this year’s festivities would be greatly toned down by the doldrums.
For them, this year’s Christmas will not be celebrated with the usual razzmatazz due to lack of adequate funds to spend during the festive period.
- Lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN
Obviously, recession has affected everybody. All my children schooling abroad, I have managed to bring them back to Nigeria. But I will not go to the village as I have always done. My empowerment programme under the Mike Ozekhome Foundation has been scaled down but this year. I was not economically strong enough to buy work tools for my empowerment programme due to the recession.
I have always given my staff, who work for me, a big of rice each at the end of every year. But this year, two workers have to a bag of rice because a bag now costs N22, 000. Whereas last year Christmas, it was just between N8000 and N10000. So, it has also affected the regularity of payment of salaries, where I have always paid my workers 26th to 27th of every month, but sometimes now, salaries don’t get paid not until the first week of the following month. But I ensure that workers do not suffer salary arrears. The country is in shambles and one has to cut his coat, not according to his size but according to his cloth because your size may be too big.
It is a time we need to cut down our expenses but unfortunately the government at all levels in the country is not doing the same. Ministers and governors still move about in long convoys, the budget is still up to 75% recurrent, which means payment of salaries are massaging their egos and only 25% is allocated for capital expenditure. No country develops like that; that is why if you travel all the roads in the country, you will find out that they are all bad.
Workers are laid off, companies are relocating to neighbouring countries and there is mass disinvestment in the country. The picture is gloomy. President Muhammadu Buhari must quickly put together a very strong and competent economic team to turn the country around because great leaders like Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Murtala Muhammed and others pulled out their countries whenever they had national crisis; not through lamentations, but through concrete measurable actions. That is what I urge this government to do.
2. President, Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Mike OgirimaÂ
It is like asking someone how that person will celebrate his or her birthday, even if there is nothing at hand because it will surely come. So, celebrating Christmas is like a birthday, a day we set aside to remember the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, whether you have money at hand or not, you thank God for the fact that you have witnessed it and in this economic recession, whatever you did before that you don’t have the money to do now, you reduce your capacity since your purchasing power has reduced. So, you must tread along that way.
For example, if you are used to killing a goat for Christmas, you go for a chicken since there are alternatives. But for it not to be celebrated at all is uncalled for because witnessing it means celebrating it.
3. Deputy Vice Chancellor, Redeemer’s University, Professor Kayode Adekeye
For me, Christmas is not different from any other day. So, I don’t see it as something so special that I will have to look for money to do anything special because I see every day as important. Every day for me is Christmas; so, I don’t believe in doing anything special.
It’s a thing of the mind, as far as I am concerned. Any day I wake up, I see it as Christmas. Of course, in the religious parlance, Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ but people still go to church as they do normally on every other Sunday. It is not like those days that we would buy Christmas clothes. Although people in the villages might see Christmas as special because in those days it was only two to three times that we would eat rice- on Christmas, New Year and Easter days.
That was when I was still young in the village, but now, it is not the case again. Rice has become a staple food that almost everybody takes daily. So, what is now different on the Christmas day that people have not done before?
4. Immediate past president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Remi Ogunmefun
The spirit of festivity is on but not what it used to be like because people don’t really have much money in their hands, coupled with the fact that business is very low for many business owners. People are really finding it hard to make ends meet.
I assume that I’m one of the few privileged Nigerians that will, at least, have a little bit of means to celebrate Christmas, even though it will be Christmas with caution and understanding that a lot of people have nothing to eat. And one would not stop the idea of being our brothers’ keeper at this period and also giving to those who don’t have; that is the way I see the celebration of Christmas.
5. Former Nigerian national football team captain, Chief Segun Odegbami
The way I see it is that I believe Christmas is a symbolic celebration of the day Christ was born, even though we all know it is not in December according to Biblical history. Beyond that, it provides a period away from work that enables us to get away from the daily grind and stress of living in the rat race of an existence.
With the recession, we know things are very challenging for everybody but we should still make the most of it because I believe in what President Buhari is doing by focusing on ridding the country of the looting of our common wealth by our leaders and prosecuting those caught
