Yuletide: Hard times as another Christmas beckons

IMAGINE celebrating the Christmas year in Nigeria with many homes not able to afford the traditional rice dishes. Think about children celebrating Christmas in their old dresses instead of new colourful Christmas outfits. xmas-shopping-cele Ponder about the likelihood of many not being able to travel for the festive celebration, to attend marriage ceremonies and other events slated for this season. Visualise being in a grocery shop for Xmas shopping only to find that there are fewer and fewer quality items to purchase.

Now, picture an average Lagos street without the traditional Christmas street carnivals and the register of a corporate organisation with no entries of Christmas hampers.

These scenarios which depict hopelessness, best capture what awaits Nigerians this Christmas season or perhaps what people are already experiencing given the harsh effect of the prevailing economic crisis, especially on the average Nigerian.

Extreme hardship

It is a situation of extreme hardship that left Nigerians, whose purchasing power had been diminished by the continuous depreciation of the Naira without alternatives. Virtually, every means of survival in the country is experiencing the stifling effect of recession, while the inflationary rate keeps increasing.

Unlike in the past when Xmas could be felt in the air from first and mainly the second week of December, findings by Vanguard Features, VF, showed that there is virtually nothing to suggest that Christmas is less than 11 days away.

The atmosphere remains gloomy, devoid of its envisaged merriment, reminiscent of Bob Geldof and Midge Ure’s 1984 song entitled: “Do they Really Know Its Christmas at all”, which was written to bring to the fore the 1983 famine in Ethiopia. Indeed, some lines in the song are relevant in describing the current bleak Christmas season in Nigeria, where the only gift most Nigerians would get this year is life given the prevailing hunger in the land.

Skyrocketing prices of food items

The key factors discovered by VF to be responsible for the emerging low-key festive season include skyrocketing prices of food items, especially staple foods like Rice, beans and garri; volatility in exchange rate/scarcity of FOREX; inability of importers to import goods; non-payment of salaries by employers; massive job loss in public sector; depreciating value of the Naira and shrinking purchasing power.

None of these was found by VF to be of less concern to Nigerians, as the combination of them heightened the current state of hopelessness among the populace. Notwithstanding, the roof-top nature of prices of food items, many told VF across different parts of Lagos, is making it more difficult for people to make Christmas purchases with a currency that had lost over 85 percent of its value.

While sellers are lamenting low patronage and high cost of purchasing commodities from importers and producers, buyers are disturbed by the rising prices and cash crunch.

However, non-availability of products was found to be contributing to the high cost of most items across major markets, given the inability of most importers to bring in goods at the current exchange rate of N485 per dollar and the scarcity of Forex. An importer of clothes, who also owns a hitherto thriving boutique in FESTAC Town, Mr. Olisa Chinazom, told VF that most of his contemporaries were not able to import clothes and shoes specifically for Christmas season.

‘’The situation is getting from bad to worse to the extent that majority of us no longer import. It is of no use to import products you can’t sell. Even if one had the intention of travelling, where can we buy Forex? Today, there are different exchange rates not within the reach of every business man.

This problem that started since APC came to power has killed our businesses because we no longer have capital. I lost money as a result of the last business trip I made because people could not afford to buy my products at the rate which I bought. I had to sell below cost price to prevent the good from holding my money down.

For instance, in my retail shop here in FESTAC, I used to sell a pair of jeans at the rate of N3,000 but that I can’t do that now even if I imported jeans; I will sell a pair at the rate of N7,000,’’ he stated. Another Lagos-based importer who owns stores in Trade Fair Complex, Mr. Kenneth Ndubueze, told VF that those, who have products, are recording poor sales, adding that this season’s sale appears to be lower than the previous year.

‘’In the past, this period used to be very busy for us because it is less than two weeks to Christmas. What we are seeing now is not surprising because things have been difficult all through the year, but it is painful because this is my means of livelihood.

We are not making encouraging sales because people cannot afford to buy at the prices we are selling. I have not travelled to China since this year because of the dollar crisis.

My counterparts in China and Hong Kong send these hair weaves and other beauty products but the cost of clearing the goods at the port is too high,’’ he stated. Continuing, Ndubueze said: ‘’Last year was not like previous years but it was fair, but what is on the ground now is a confirmation that the worst is here. Most of us are usually idle when we get to our shops because of the absence of activities.

‘’ Also speaking to VF a trader, who sells food items at Oyingbo Market in Lagos, Mrs. Busayo Olanipekun,said: ’’For us selling food items, the sales are not that bad, it is just that our customers complain so much about the prices.

The situation has forced most of them to reduce the quantity of what they purchase. Before during this period, some of my customers buy things in bulk for the Christmas, especially those who will be travelling, but none has done that since we commenced Christmas sales.

We are still expecting that it might improve next week but nothing about our sales to suggest that we are in a festive season.’’ At Balogun Market in Lagos Island, where VF observed that the traders were experiencing poor Xmas sales, it was learnt that the prices of clothing and shoes had witnessed about 40 percent increase.

VF noticed the absence of the yearly Christmas rush. Sellers of Christmas items like hampers, decoration materials, and fireworks, among others, complained bitterly about the poor patronage this year.

Miss Ifeoma Gerald, who sells children’s clothes and shoes, told VF thus: ‘’Most people cannot even afford to do Christmas shopping for their children. Ask my neighbor, she will tell you what we have been experiencing.

We thought the sales will improve this week but nothing of such. People are hungry, so we don’t expect hungry people to prioritize Christmas shopping.’’ She added: ‘’You know how this place used to be by this time before, but you can see that it is only a handful of people, who are making purchases. Even some of them here are not even serious buyers because when you tell them the prices of the items, they will run, some will even start abusing us.’’

At the popular rice market in Daleko, Lagos VF learnt patronage has not been as impressive as it used to be considering the high cost of a bag of rice and multiple sources of relatively cheap brands of rice. A rice merchant, Alhaji Isiaka Mudasiru said: ‘’Our prices start from N17,000 depending on the brand.

Nigerians will always eat rice no matter how bad the economy has become, though the quantity of what people buy has reduced drastically. This is usually the peak period of our sales but it has not peaked because of the troubled economy.‘’
Source:Vanguard