Imagine celebrating the Christmas season with no new clothes, new shoes, staying home and not being able to visit vacation spots and seeing Christmas lights on the houses across the street and at home it seems like nothing is happening. This Christmas is certainly going to be low-key for many people, not thanks to the current economic crisis that many countries around the world are experiencing.
Although there are confirmed reports of countries that are already out of recession and some, like the United States of America, about to come out of it, the truth is that the world has been severely hit in the last two years by harsh economic situations that they have not been so attested in a long time. The UK, for example, is still struggling to get by and it doesn’t look like it will end before Christmas.
In Africa, the situation is no better than in the developed world. It is known that Africa has a higher concentration of poor countries and people than any other continent in the world. Although planning for Christmas, even without the economic collapse, has never been good, the effect of the tough economy is going to aggravate an already dire situation.
The percentage of rich in a country like Nigeria, for example, is less than 9% of the total population, but Nigeria ranks very high among countries rich in natural resources. Many families may not be able to buy quality Christmas clothes for their children this season, but the minute-rich will fly to Europe and other resorts with their families to celebrate the season.
THE STREETS ARE DRY
On those days you can hardly walk through the beautiful streets of Lagos without feeling Christmas in the air. You come across beautifully decorated shops, banks, hotels, post offices, museums and schools and the feeling was just nostalgic, but now it’s all gone and vanished into thin air. All the streets are dry and everyone seems keen to continue their legal business without showing any sign of preparation, all due to the harsh economic crisis. The effect cannot be measured and one only wonders what Christmas Eve will be like.
OUR HOUSES ARE NOT WHAT THEY USED TO BE
The fathers are worried, the mothers are confused, and what about their children? They don’t know what to expect and they all have long faces almost every time they come home from school. They’re worried because all they talk about these days is what Christmas will be like and as long as parents continue to keep quiet about celebrating the holiday season, their faces may never change.
THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL