XMAS THEN AND NOW

FROM THE SUN NEWS ONLINE
...Senior citizens remember past Yuletides with nostalgia
By TESSY OKOYE
Wednesday, December 19, 2007

By Tuesday, the world will mark the birth of Jesus Christ. The event has become so universal that it has broken religious barriers. Today, Christians and members of other faiths celebrate in December.

However, despite the jingling of bells and decorations with bunting that signal the season, there are indications that the harsh economic realities prevalent in the country now might make this year’s celebration a low-keyed one. The general complaint now is lack of funds, which suggests that many might not experience the real joy of Yuletide this year.

In the spirit of the season, Daily Sun went to town to sample opinions of senior citizens, Nigerians from age 60 and above, about the significance of the celebration and how they plan to savour this year’s event. To many of them, it is a time to reflect on the lost values of the season. To others, it is a time to reminisce on Christmas of past years and things that made them tick.
Their responses will tickle you:

• Paul Emmemo, 67
Christmas is a time to be happy and make merry. It is a time to reflect on past years, make amends with God and seek better relationship with other human beings. It is also a time that calls for sober reflection.
As a teenager in the early 60’s, Christmas was something we looked forward to with enthusiasm. Three months before Xmas, the atmosphere would have become fully charged. My mother, who was a petty trader in those days, usually shopped for our clothes months before December.

Once the clothes are bought, my siblings and I would take them to our grandparents for blessing. That was the tradition. After they had inspected the clothes and approved of them, they would then come to the house and thank our mother for making good choices. They would also pray for her.
Already-made clothes were not common then, so we make do with materials which were made into desired styles.

If the clothes were not ready before Christmas rice is served, we would be so angry that we wouldn’t eat for that day. That was how memorable those days were.
Now, everything is different. I don’t even want Xmas to come. I have nothing to celebrate than hunger. I still wish for the Christmas of those days. Money has lost its value and prices of goods have skyrocketed. Christmas too has lost its flavour. In those days, three pounds can take you to the village and back. But now, you have to set aside a huge amount of money for fare. That is excluding other expenses.

Despite having the memories of the wonderful celebrations, my most memorable Xmas was when I was nine years’ old. My father killed a goat for the year’s celebration. As a kid, I was so carried away by the euphoria of the meat that I almost ate myself to death. The next day, which was Boxing Day, I was so sick that the mere smell of goat meat made me throw up. From that day, I became scared to eat anything associated with meat. Up to this moment, I dread meat.

• Baba Mudashiru Alabede, 87
Though I am not a Christian, I remember that many activities usually accompanied the celebration in the past. As a bicycle repairer in Martins Street from 1920-1947, my business enjoyed more patronage during Xmas celebrations. It was also a time that the whole country was thrown into a jubilant mood. Now, people are too busy looking for ways to make ends meet than to start thinking about celebrations. Things have really changed.

Even the Ileya Eid el Kabir has taken a different shape. People no longer celebrate elaborately as before. With just one shilling then, you would buy and buy, and still have some balance in your pocket. With N2.50, you could buy a very big ram, which was different from what is being experienced in Nigeria of today. It is very pathetic.

Everything boils down to leadership. This country has been ruled by very bad leaders. These are the things that make us wish for the return of colonial days. Though we believed that the whites fleeced us, we had enough and were contented. Our roads and drainages were good. And there was orderliness in the society.

What we need to do is pray for this country. The forthcoming celebration is a time for us to pray for God’s touch on Nigeria.

• Magdalene Alfred, 60
Christmas is very significant in the life of every Christian. It reminds us of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a time to be happy and rejoice about human liberation made possible through the birth of the Son of God.
Remembering the way Christmas was celebrated in my days makes me crave for my childhood days. I can’t believe the celebration is just around the corner. It is a complete departure from the traditional Xmas we were familiar with. But I won’t blame people for being oblivious of the season. The economy is grounded.

For many, the celebration is non-existent. Things have gone from bad to worst. Things were not easy then, but it cannot be compared with what is obtainable now. It was the pride of every parent to see their wards look good on Christmas day. In fact, it was more of a competition for them. We placed value on every little thing that was bought for us.

We usually kept vigil and prayed for the day to break, so that we could show off our prized sunglasses, toy wristwatches and sandals to our peers. We enjoyed just walking around the neighbourhood, visiting friends and showing off our clothes. Today, the value of Christmas is lost. Every Xmas celebration was memorable to me. The joy of eating white rice with stew and chicken was overwhelming. It was like eating an intercontinental dish. The food tastes differently on that day.

The excitement is gone with Nigeria’s harsh economy. The prayer of an average Nigerian now is for God to provide them with means to get their daily bread. The thrills are gone. I don’t have any special plan for this coming Xmas. I believe the fact that I am alive is enough for me.

• Pa Osho Omojola, 75
Christmas means nothing to me. I have visited many countries abroad, and have seen their unique and mature way of commemorating the birth of Christ. We are the ones over dramatizing things. We try to emulate the whites, but in that process, blow things out of proportion. Why is Christmas a do-or-die thing for us in Africa? It is because we expect so much that we always make comparison. We Africans don’t have independent way of thinking. We still cling to colonial values. Let me borrow a Bible passage that says, ‘when I was a child, I behaved like a child. But now that I am an adult, I have to throw away certain things that are peculiar to children.’ Right now, I see things differently from my younger days.

And so, place no emphasis on such flagrant display of childish excitement.
Nothing is missing in today’s Xmas. We are the ones living in a world of make belief. If I flash back to the Christmas of the past years, I shake my head in regret. People are coming to terms with harsh realities.

There was no money in the olden days. There is more money now than then. So, why are things different. That is why I would keep saying that we have lost it. It is high time we retrace our steps and retrieve our values.

• Christiana Fayokun, 70
Christmas is a time of joy. It is a period every human being must give thanks to God for sparing their lives and that of their family throughout the perilous year.
In the 50’s, my parents usually bought me three different clothes for the celebration. What I used to do on Xmas day was to show off those clothes to my friends. For us children, it was a time to eat and visit neighbours.

Things have changed drastically. It is more of an economic problem. And it can’t ever be the same. Then, with two pounds, my mother would go to the market and buy meat that would last throughout the whole festive period. But now, N7,000 worth of meat cannot even last for the Xmas day alone, not to talk of the next day that is Boxing Day.

I also remember that in the 70’s, I used to shop for brand new Xmas clothes for my children at Balogun market. Now, many parents cannot afford that luxury. Children have to make do with second-hand clothes. Our leaders have failed us. I must confess that there is really nothing to celebrate this year.

• Mr. Silas Igbojionu, 62
Christmas, for me as a kid, was a time for re-union, rice eating and visitations. Many things are missing now. Then, money had value. The little things our parents bought for us were highly appreciated and prized. Even the thought of fireworks was exciting. Fireworks were never abused. Neither were they used to desecrate the house of God, like our youths are doing now. It was a sacred moment for us as teenagers.

The older generation cannot say exactly at what point, or when things went awry. But we still pray for the younger ones to have a taste of the good time we enjoyed. My most memorable Xmas was in 1958, when my mother was still alive. That year, she bought me a very beautiful singlet for Xmas. It was so beautiful that I couldn’t sleep that night. On the D-Day, I strolled round the whole neighbourhood in the singlet. I was the toast of the day as all my friends and age-mates gathered around me to admire the beautiful designs on it. I even slept in the singlet that night (laughs).

The only thing that gives me joy in this coming Christmas is the fact that I would be surrounded by my children and grand-children. I would also go to church as usual and settle for a dish of deliciously prepared rice and meat later in the day. That is enough to last me till the end of the New Year.

Lagos and Abuja

Some four years ago, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo made a profound statement in respect of Lagos. On a visit to the former Federal Capital City, the then president famously described the place as a "jungle". Not a few Lagosians felt scandalised that their beloved city had been branded so by none other than OBJ. Others felt that as chaotic as Lagos is, it would be an exaggeration to call it a jungle.

In fact, to say that Lagos is chaotic is to put it mildly. This fact became more obvious when this writer breezed into Abuja a few years ago. One had barely reached the "new" Federal Capital City when the difference between the the two cities hits one on the face. Take, for instance, the traffic situation. Over there in Lagos motorists indulge in all sorts of lawlessness.

Comparatively, orderliness holds sway on the roads here. In Lagos, miscreants, area boys and touts reign supreme, making life nightmarish for all and sundry.
But here in Abuja, one hardly sees such undesirable elements. The ritual killers who have infested virtually all parts of Lagos is another sore case.

On a typical day, unsuspecting Nigerians board buses only to end up in some strange places where they are butchered for money-making rituals. Muggers, kidnappers and sundry criminals are also constantly on the prowl there. Living in Lagos, in short, is like living in hell. To be fair to that city, it is padded with all manners of excitement. It is truly full of fun. Ask some Lagosians and they would swear that despite its ugly side, life in Lagos is so full of a series of adventures that they would never exchange it for any other city or town. "Lagos is the place to be," an acquaintance declared to this writer recently.

"Even when I leave here for a few days, I would become Lagos-sick, I mean home-sick. The place may be rough, may be dirty, may be a jungle, but there's no other place in Nigeria that is full of so much fun".
That may be so. But life, they say, is not all about fun. And this is where Abuja stands out. When it comes to fun or social activities, Abuja may not earn high marks, particularly when compared with Lagos and other cities. Whereas it appears that Lagos, for instance, never sleeps during weekends (remember the now famous owambe parties?)

Abuja is somewhat lifeless at weekends. What this city lacks in social activities, however, it has judiciously made up for in areas such as serenity, an impressive road network, admirable planning, and orderliness. Here, much of the madness that has turned Lagos into a "jungle" is more or less absent. The result? Living in Abuja is relatively devoid of the wahala that is your constant companion in Lagos. That, at any rate, was the situation that has held sway here over the years. In the past couple of months, however, the situation has become akin to what obtains in Lagos. Go-slow has become the order of the day in some parts of Abuja. Consider the road leading in and out of the city through the Nyanya/Keffi axis.

On a typical day, the 'go-slow' on this expressway stretches all the way from the satellite town called Nyanya through Mogadushi Cantonment (formerly Abacha Barracks) to A.Y.A Junction - a distance of about three kilometers -during the morning rush - hours.
Come and see a legion of vehicles crawling bumper-to-bumper at a pace that would "rival" a snail.
Come and witness drivers desperately shuffling here and there in a manner that would shame the crazy drivers there in the nation's "center of excellence".

Not even the fact that each portion of the dual-carriage expressway could accommodate, at least, four lanes of vehicles at a time, helps. Rather, the impatient drivers lay siege to the road, with the result that five or six lanes of vehicles would be seen sneaking from Nyanya to Abuja. Needless to say, their impatience and single-minded determination to get to their destination by all means intensify the bedlam...

The situation is more or less the same in the evening, particularly between 5p.m and 8p.m. Have you ever tried to wriggle yourself out of a suffocating traffic snarl in say, Oshodi, Lagos? Then you have got an idea of the nightmare motorists and commuters alike endure when heading to Nyanya from Abuja during evening rush hours. A sort of journey to nowhere. Starting from the Federal Secretariat junction (near Asokoro) to the A.Y.A junction (near the ECOWAS secretariat) movement on this road during these hours is a veritable nightmare, with hundreds of vehicles scrambling for right of the way. To compound the situation, many impatient drivers swerve crazily to both sides of the road in their desperation to "beat" the intimidating "go-slow". The result? Bashed or dented cars here and there; broken-down vehicles; buses or cars stuck in the gutter all over the place.

Ironically, the traffic bottleneck has been compounded by the government's efforts to ameliorate the situation. Following the people's outcry in the heat of the seemingly endless go-slow, a contract was awarded at the tail of the Obasanjo regime for the construction of "access roads" on both sides of the expressway. But, alas! Even as work is "in progress" here, motorists' and commuters' misery continues to worsen. So much so that as "early" as 4p.m on some days the ubiquitous go-slow would have reared its ugly head.

The Nyanya/Keffi-Abuja expressway is, of course, not the only king of go-slow in this city, with many of the areas around Wuse bus stop being notable examples. In fact, as the population of the FCT continues to balloon, thereby stretching the lamentable infrastructure thin, slums, "area boys", go-slow and other notorious features of "Looney Lagos" are crawling up "by the day. Indeed, traffic chaos reigns supreme in Lagos. Ogba is barely a stone throw from Oshodi. But during a typical rush hour of the day, your vehicle would be stuck in the traffic for between one and two hours. And even as you crawl through the seemingly endless go-slow, the antics of other impatient drivers, area boys and predatory government revenue officials would stretch your endurance to the limit.

By the time you reached your destination, you are most likely to be tired, edgy, stressed and irritable... Little wonder, for some of us Lagos, an otherwise beautiful and exciting city, is like a lost paradise. After all, once upon a time, Lagos was relatively serene and orderly. But that was once upon a time... Over the years, bouts of madness have torpedoed Lagos from its paradise-like pedestal to the level called a jungle by a certain Olusegun Obasanjo. In other words, coming to live here in Abuja after spending many years in the jungle (oops, / mean Lagos) is like waltzing from hell to a haven. Abuja, mind you, has its own shortcomings. It has its fair share of madness. The biggest madness here is the authorities' boundless zeal for demolition of houses.

Even then, to people like yours sincerely, Abuja is the place to be. With its orderliness, serenity, cleanliness, etc., one dare say there's no place like Abuja. In other words, this is like a newly found paradise. One area where Abuja needs to "learn" from Lagos, however, is that city's large-heartedness, so to say. Whether you are rich or poor, Lagos has a place for you. For instance, you don't need to be a millionaire to be able to live in most parts of Lagos. The rich and poor alike live side-by-side in areas such as Ikeja, Festac, Ikoyi and even Victoria Island.

This is veritably rare in Abuja, as even some well-to-do folk find it difficult to cough the Shylock rent needed to live in virtually all parts of Abuja. In Lagos, the average folk could chop and belle-full with an amount as low as N50. All one has to do is to waltz to a Mama-put "joint" and, voila, one is in Promised Land. Not in Abuja. Here, you need to cough a comparatively princely amount to be able to afford your "daily bread".

In fact, virtually all the mama-put "joints" in Abuja have been wiped out, thanks to the demolition craze that raged during the reign of Mallam Nasir el-Rufai. Whichever way one looks at it, Abuja and Lagos are two interesting cities with different tales to tell. Cities padded to the brim with the good, the bad and the ugly. Cities paved with gold here, with dross there and with silver and/or bronze elsewhere. Cities that are so similar in some respect and very dissimilar in other aspects...