By tomorrow, most parts of Abuja and its environs that are usually jam-packed with human beings will become empty as thousands of Nigerians are moving out to their respective towns and villages for the Christmas celebration.? But in doing so, some are merely managing to cope with the harsh economic reality in the country. Life is difficult and there is no need denying the obvious. This has become the lot of most Nigerians despite the heavy yearly budgets announced by the government.
Deputy Editor, SONI DANIEL, takes a look at bleak Christmas despite the huge sum budgeted for year 2011.
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Samie Akpan, a native of Nto Otong in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State is? not a happy man. He has four little children who are all staying with him in Karu, one of the suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory.? Samie, a plumber, has been working hard and saving money to be able to travel for the celebration of this year’s Christmas. He was certain he would raise about N17, 000 needed to transport themselves to Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital before the end of the year. However, he has just come to discover that the money needed to do the all-important trip has suddenly been doubled by transporters and he needs to raise about N40, 000 to do so, or perish his thought of going home for the Christmas.
For him, there is no way out, except someone comes to his aid. His entire savings is not up to N25, 000 and he has since jettisoned the idea of all of them going home.
“As it is now, I will leave my wife and children behind and go home so as to attend important family meetings and return to Abuja before the New Year,” Samie lamented.
He is not alone in the dilemma. Most commercial transporters have since doubled or tripled their fares before the yuletide set in. The arbitrary hike in fares has since become the norm in Nigeria whenever any festive period beckons. Nigerians have also taken the unwritten position as a way of life and have not bothered to challenge the anomie. But this year has become particularly different because of the planned fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government and the general high cost of living in the country.
A survey of major motor parks and airports in the country, reveal that airlines and land transporters are deliberately devising means to exploit the travelling public in order to maximise their profits. One of the airlines who has a predominant presence at the Akwa Ibom International Airport,? and operates more like a monopolist there, has since turned its airline into a money machine, ripping off unsuspecting customers as Christmas approaches.?
The airline now claims to be selling its tickets based on what its computers compute at the time of buying the ticket for any of its routes. However, Awashima Ikya, who bought one of the airline tickets to travel to Uyo for a business meeting on Monday was shocked to see the level of exploitation by the Asian dominated airline. While the medic bought a return ticket for N33, 000 in one of major hotels in Abuja, where the airline has its office, she was shocked to discover that she had to pay the same amount of money to be able to change her flight from Uyo to Abuja since she could not fly on the designated date and time.? All pleas by the embattled woman to convince the airline staff to see reason with her and charge the minimal ‘No show’ penalty of less than N3000 fell on deaf ears. The woman was forced to part with an additional N15, 600 making her one-way ticket fare to stand at above N33, 000.
The officials later explained that their action was not exploitative but based on what the computer brought out at the time.
They are not alone in the exploitation game. In Uyo, the? Akwa Ibom State capital, the bus terminals along Ikot Ekpene and Oron roads, are already bustling with stranded passenger, desperate to go home in order to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones.
Some motor parks visited by leadership were jam-packed with commuters alighting from long distance journeys and heading for their villages.
Majority of them had arrived Uyo from Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and Kaduna and were transiting to the villages to celebrate Christmas with members of their families.
But the celebration is likely to be without the usual fanfare as Nigerians are paying heavily to go home.? At the popular AKTC Garage along Ikot Ekpene road in Uyo it was discovered that a trip to Port-Harcourt and some parts of the South East now costs a minimum of N2000 as against the previous fare of N700, while commuters travelling to Calabar, the Cross River State capital are paying as much as N1,300 as against the previous rate of N600.
The same spiralling fare applies to other routes within the state Lamenting the ugly situation, a traveller, who identified himself as Mr. Okon Jacob said his plans “have been frustrated as he has little or no money left on him after paying for himself and other family members.
Another commuter, Mr. Odunayo Ojo told leadership that transporters now charge as much as? N7,000 for a bus ride from? Uyo to Lagos? instead of the N3,500? charged before the Christmas season.
“The price is too high. How do you expect somebody that earns N20,000 to take his family home. I came as early as 5.30 a.m. and I bought ticket for the third bus but there is no sign that we can travel today,” he said.
Another passenger heading for Lagos Mr. Cletus Akaniyene said he could not afford the outrageous N7, 000 fare to be able to attend his sister’s wedding in Lagos.
The story is the same in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. A large number of passengers were seen everywhere struggling to board available vehicles to their home towns for the celebration. But when the drivers called the fares for the intending passengers, some of them, carrying heavy luggage on their backs and shoulders, broke down in tears.
“We may have to forget about this year’s celebration and stay back here so that we can even pay our children’s school fees when they resume in two weeks’ time,” an elderly woman carrying three children, said at the park.
But desolation and penury are not new in Nigeria despite the geometric improvement in its yearly budgets. This year, the government set aside a whooping N3.348 trillion based on a benchmark oil price of $75 per barrel.
The expenditure profile of the budget put capital expenditure at N1.147 trillion, 22 per cent higher than the N936 billion spent in the extended (15-month) 2010 budget, and the highest in 10 years. Not many Nigerians are convinced that any tangible results came from that huge capital outlay.
Despite the huge budget, prices of essential commodities have continued to rise daily, giving the average Nigerians no sense of security at all. Electricity for instance, whose tariffs have been since been revised upwards by the government, is still far from the reach of the common man, just as water, decent accommodation and health care facilities have become very expensive over the years.
As a rule it is as if the more money is appropriated by the government, the more squalor is being added to the lifestyle of the majority of Nigerians. In the coming year, for instance, the government plans to spend a stupendous N4.479 trillion but the fortunes of Nigerians are not likely to improve given the way previous appropriations have not given any significant hope to the people.
“This government has been taking Nigerians for a ride and it its time it sat up to make things happen for the common man, says a wood maker, who lives in Lagos. It is the way the government at the local, state and federal levels has been handling the issue of citizen’s welfare that is responsible for the current level of suffering in the land.
“If they want us to take them seriously they should begin to bring down the cost of basic amenities so that they ordinary man can survive and have a sense of belonging in the country,” insists a mother, whose two children have been jobless since graduating from school in 2006.
But of all the problems that loom in the land, none is as threatening as the planned removal of fuel subsidy by the government with effect from next year. That declaration by the government has already taken? a toll on the people even though the government has not given a definite date for the take off of the controversial policy. Fuel marketers desirous of making a fortune from it, have already created artificial scarcity in the capital territory and other parts of Nigeria so as to double their profit.
A few days to the Christmas, almost all the stations in the country returned to their old method of cheating. Everywhere one turned, the story was the same: ‘No fuel’, the signpost clearly stated. Those who sold to the public hiked their prices.
That unpatriotic act effectively put a wedge to the joy that always comes with Christmas, as many could only travel with difficulties.
With only a few hours to the celebration of Christ’s birth, many in Nigeria are still wondering whether to go home or to remain at their respective locations. If they can travel, what will they eat and if they eat, what will they use in paying their children’s schools fees upon return from home?
A few days to christmas, the prices of essential food items like goats, rams, chicken, rice and yam have since soared. A medium-sized goat or ram which could be bought for N 15, 000 now goes for between N35,000 and N45,000 while a set of five tubers of yam now sells for N2,000 instead of the normal N1,000 in Abuja and its suburbs.?
These salient questions may continue to dog the minds of Nigerians and as they struggle to find answers, it is clear that many would like to take the obvious decision: to stay put and forget the celebration or go home and come back to lick their fingers in the new year.
Whichever way they decide to go, one thing is clear, even with the huge budget of this year and the coming one, Nigerians are yet to have the benefit of the funds as their economic woes have continued to rise by the day without any succour from the authorities over the years. Will they listen to their cries this time around?
Additional reports by Bernard Tolani and Anayo Onukwugha.