Today is Christmas day when the whole world is agog over celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ about 2,000 years ago. In the spirit of the season different folks celebrate today in equally different ways. While some may engage in noisy bouts of revelry, (and create scenes that are better considered as ‘Satanmas’), others opt for more discreet activities to mark the day. Meanwhile, all over the world businesses and academic institutions shut down while vacations as well as travels hit fever pitch. It is one mega festival day and season which literally transforms the whole world, to the extent that even sworn enemies at war often suspend hostilities in order to make the best of the day. Warring soldiers in opposing sides of a war have been known to exchange gifts of cigarettes and liquor among other items across their trenches during this season, only to commence killing each other as soon as the day closes.
In the Nigerian situation the Christmas season often accentuates the great divide between people of various income levels, as their chosen pattern for celebrating, often betrays the depths of their pockets. For the affluent the season offers the the opportunity for travelling to choice and exotic vacation spots around the world, just to be ‘spoiled’ with treats of pleasure, while the less affluent also find their levels in some other comfort zones usually within the country, and the LIGs (low income group) take whatever crumbs of comfort they see as their lot.
An interesting feature of the Christmas season in Nigeria is the ‘hamper culture’. Ordinarily the season in Nigeria is not complete without the ubiquitous hampers which are gift baskets used for delivering goodies to valued friends, clients and business associates, among others. Not a few Nigerian have queried the practice whereby many supermarkets often preload the hampers with gift items at prices that are much higher than normal. The hampers have therefore become swindle baskets for such shops and thereby hamper the budgetary circumstances of buyers.
In the same vein the hamper culture often serves as the most viable source of contracts for government offices where dubious contractors, acting in concert with unscrupulous government officials use it to steal public funds. Just as beauty is in the eye of a beholder so the contents of a hamper is determined by the loader. And since no two hampers may attract the same complement of items, no two can equally be the same price. Hence it becomes difficult to audit or vet the content as well as distribution of hampers as anything can go as a gift item in a hamper. This author recalls an instance in the past when a contractor delivered a hamper to a Muslim top government official, who did not realise that one of the items in the basket was a bottle of vintage Remy Martins brandy! The unsuspecting top-gun was taking his ‘prized’ hamper home when this author met him, disposed of the Remy Martin brandy and saved him the embarrassment of taking alcohol into his bosom, and thereby defiling himself.
Another angle to the story of Christmas hampers is the diminished ubiquitousness of the facility especially during this festive season. While in the past, hampers where all over the place during this season, to the extent that hardly will ten cars pass by strategic parts of major cities in the country, without four or five carrying this cargo. In recent times, this has not been the case. Rather they now pass by sparingly, as if there was a ban on them placed by President Muhamadu Buhari as part of his herculean crusade against the culture of unbridled ostentatiousness of Nigerians. Even if he had to ban the distribution of hampers, it is obvious that even he will allow hampers that contain only made in Nigeria products. The President is as generous as that!
Lamentably however, were Buhari to allow only hampers that contain made in Nigeria products, he will be in for a major disappointment as the only made in Nigeria item he will find in most of them is the basket itself. Courtesy of the dexterous basket makers who inhabit the shanty and slum areas of our cities, and resurrect into prime relevance during Christmas season, at least the baskets are proudly made in Nigeria.
Incidentally some have argued that the hamper is actually no more relevant in Nigeria as the prime mover of gift items. These days people simply distribute bank account numbers and wait for benefactors to send in money, which should have been the discrete channel if not for the kill-joy Bank Verification Number (BVN), that allows no hiding place for chua chua money. But why send anyone a gift through a bank account number when such may not be acknowledged, and the accolades for the giver lost. This consideration returns the hamper basket to the throne as the number one gift-packer for Christmas. At least whenever the hamper is delivered it is always with glaring visibility especially when it is branded.
Talking of Christmas season brings to the fore the issue of diminished visits to the markets by a greater number of Nigerians due to the lean times. It is no secret that Nigeria is facing hard times courtesy of the recession into which the economy has taken a dip. Experts say this is not the first time Nigeria’s economy has lapsed into recession. That may be good news to an extent since the African proverb says that death is less painful to a victim who knows not what killed him. Mass ignorance of the past periods of recession may have helped to assuage public resentment by Nigerians over the economic privations of such periods. Now that the world plays out on a daily basis on the social media, hardly can the public be denied access to information on governance and otherwiswe.
The implication of this development is that citizens now follow governments bumper to bumper, in assertion of their right to be part of the processes of administering their affairs. In the course of this newfound assertiveness citizen networks are growing and getting more articulate and the same time shortening the threshold for any government ride roughshod on the people.
In coping with the lean times Nigerians had been fed on the opium that the 2017 budget will assuage their problems. Now that the budget has been presented the quality of life for the ordinary man on the street has not changed. It will only do so when the government does the needful.
Afterall, no be budget we go chop. And so much for running government with empty propaganda.
Meanwhile this is to wish all Daily Trust readers a Merry Christmas, till we see in the new year.
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