The Nation Newspaper

Tag: festivity

  • Food prices ease as supplies pick up after festivity

    Food prices ease as supplies pick up after festivity

    After the usual hike in the prices of staple food items during the Yuletide, TONIA ‘DIYAN reports that prices of food items have returned to normalcy. Some items sold in small quantities are now more, while others which were never available can now be bought. 

    It has become a tradition, especially in Lagos markets for prices of foodstuff and other commodities, to remain unstable or relatively high after festivities. But this year, the reverse is the case as major staple food items have either drop in price, become available or increased in quantity.

    Visits to some markets in Lagos and a survey on other major markets have shown that prices of commodities have dropped by more than 50 per cent having seen high level of irregularity since December last year, during the Christmas celebrations when some items were sold twice their usual prices. Ordinarily, prices should return to normal after festivities, but the reverse is the case with staple items, particularly in Lagos.

    Prices of pepper, tomatoes, onions and beans amongst other staple food items have dropped in most Lagos markets due to the dry season.

    At Mile 12 market in Lagos, The Nation Shopping observed that pepper and tomatoes are no longer as expensive as before. A tomatoes seller, simply known as Madam Ramota, confirmed that the price of the produce have reduced due to the season. “Before now, we sold a basket of tomatoes for N18, 000 and N25, 000, particularly at Christmas. It is cheaper now because it is the season for plenty of pepper and tomatoes, we sell for N3, 500 and N4000.

    At Mushin market also in Lagos, Mrs Olowu, a tomatoes and pepper seller confirmed that tomato is in its season- the reason the produce is cheap. “We buy a basket of tomatoes for N3, 500 and N4, 000, last month; we bought the same basket of tomato N17, 000 per basket,’’ she said.

    A basket of tatashe (bell pepper) cost N3, 500 against its former N7, 000 per basket. Ata rodo (small round pepper) which used to sell for N18000 and N17,000 per basket sells for N5, 000. Earlier, housewives avoided cooking with fresh tomatoes because of its high cost; they rather went for alternatives like tomato paste and try grinded pepper. Now N150 worth of tomato and pepper can make a pot of soup. This reduction in price, it was learnt, would last till April, after which there would be scarcity because rain would not allow the produce to grow properly, therefore, the little available ones will become expensive.

    Also at the market, price of onions has reduced. A basket of onion which was formerly N30, 000 sells for N13, 000 and N15, 000 now.

    According to Mrs Awoyemi, an onion seller in the market, “Baskets of onion comes in large quantities and are less expensive compared to last month when the produce was scare, few quantity available and very expensive too.”

    She however explained that the low price rate is not going to last for than two months before it becomes expensive again.

    Secretary, Tomato dealers in Mile 12 market, Lawan Bilya Adam, said the arrival of fresh tomatoes was the major reason that forced the price to reduce.

    He said: “We thank God that the price has significantly reduced due to availability of new tomatoes in the market. Even though the prices vary but we hope that they will be stable and come down finally to a reasonable level so that people can buy the basket without problem. The new commodity is supplied to market on daily basis. To that effect the price will come down.”

    The price of fish has remained relatively expensive, according to traders who sell the item. A fish seller at Oyingbo market known as Mrs Rashida Onanuga said fish is expensive. According to her, she buys a cartoon of fish for N18, 000, the type she used to buy for N12, 000 few months ago.

    Also at the stock fish section of the market, Steven Aguwamba and his brother Bethel Nwachukwu own a shop where they sell stock fish in bulk to people who resell. They buy directly from the importers. Stock , they said, is imported from Iceland and they used to buy from the importers for N45,000 or N35,000, now they buy between N38,000 and N50,000 and sometimes, N100,000 because the amount paid on a 40-metre container is about N1. 4million. They, however, advised that the government should help with the dollar exchange issue and fish sellers to grow the cat fish business in Nigeria instead of concentrating solely on crude oil.

    At Daleko Market, the price of a 50-kilogramme bag of rice ranged from N7,300 to N9,500.

    Mrs Yinka Okunola, a rice seller at the market, said the prices of rice went down due to availability of local variety.

    “The locally produced rice has penetrated the market and is competing favourably with the imported rice and this has forced a reduction in the prices of rice.

    “The lowest we sold imported rice was N10,000, but now with N8,500, you can purchase some of the various brands,” said Okunola.

    However, the costs of cartons of frozen turkey and chicken had gone up slightly.

    A carton of turkey goes for N8,000 from N7, 700, while the chicken sells for N7,000 from N6,500.

    Mrs Adijat, a dealer in frozen foods, attributed the price change to increase in foreign exchange rate and epileptic power supply.

    At the Iddo market, a bag of beans sells for N16,300, from the N15,900 it sold last year.

    At the Whitesand Market at Oyingbo, a 25-litre keg of vegetable oil goes for N6,000, an increase of N200 from the N5,800 it sold previously.

    A 25-litre of palm oil goes for N6,850 from N6,600, the drum  costs N50,500, while the price of oil in bottle remained N250.

  • In the spirit of festivity

    THIS title was borrowed. Osaigbovo Ighodaro, a fellow pen pusher, had used same in one of his writings. I checked for a perfect title but found none. Like Hardball – a straight column on the back of The Nation – noted in one of its missives, “unknown to many writers, titles often turn out to be grim albatrosses. Firstly because, most readers only read titles and move on to other things. Hence your headline ought to represent your story. Woe betide, if your title, which is your signpost, is hanging upside down (your error) or is read upside down (the reader’s error).”

    Hence this piece doesn’t in any way means that Christmas celebration is dead, but it is here again. Holiday is at hand. Students smile, workers rejoice. Business men are not spared from the happiness that comes with the season.Their sales double, and sometimes, triple.Churches organise harvests, they call it harvests of thanksgiving. Everyone is up and doing.

    Prices of goods and service are jerked up. Yet no one complains. The season never goes without coming along with its frills and thrills. The laughter. The dance. All these in the name of Christmas.

    Friends re-unite. They tell stories about January till now. They polish the stories to suit the audience. Everyone laughs at the ingenuity of the storyteller. The listeners forget things do not just happen like that; there are always two or many sides to a story. Yet they chose to be gullible. It is joyful gullibility.

    To the less-privileged, Christmas brings bliss, happiness, love and care.There is show of love.Orphanages are jam-packed with gifts. Prisons are congested with food.

    In the spirit of Christmas, many hold God responsible for their successes. They give appreciation to Him for protecting them in the ‘ember’ months. This appreciation goes to churches in form of envelopes as offerings. Some send pastors gifts. Many others give testimonies of victory and salvation.

    All in the spirit of Christmas, God is praised. He is praised by the pastors and members of congregation. The drunkards and the harlots are not exempted. Politicians also sing praises for one reason or the other. They join the troops that flock churches. Some deceive the pastors of the source of their sudden wealth. Some pastors will willingly share filthy lucre with thieves. All in the name of Christmas.

    The drunkards thank God for sparing their lives. God gives all life but not for evil. The drunkards never know that they have another opportunity to repent. The harlots still praise him but they don’t know the reason, maybe for life or good health. They express false praise instead of genuine repentance.

    Like Sam Omatseye, The Nation Editorial Board chairman, crooned: “Even deserved praise must be restrained, hence it sounds like designed praise.” The wrongdoers praise God too much to the extent that people see through their false repentance. It is a designed praise to heal their consciences.

    Christmas has also been a pain for some. It has divided homes. It has deflowered virgins. Some ladies are lost in the frills and thrills of the season and sell themselves cheap. Either for a lap of flavored chicken or an all-expense paid visit to the cinema. Ladies make unwholesome visits during Christmas. Hence they get unnecessary pains too.

    For politicians, Christmas is a time to share part of their loots. Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd) would have joined in the praise song if not for the exposed shady deals that trailed arms purchase under Goodluck Jonathan administration. Chief Raymond Dokpesi would have led the national mass choir in Christmas cantata. These persons have no songs on their lips. They have made others weep.

    The wives of soldiers killed in the fight against terrorism; the ravaged villages, parents of the missing Chibok girls are all in a sorrowful mood, because these people and many others yet to be named decided to abuse and shared funds meant to purchase arms for our troops. They had had their pleasure, now is time for their pain. These persons killed Christmas in the North.

    Listen, those who are supposed to use this celebration to move closer to the celebrator (Jesus) but ran farther in their taste for concupiscence. The ladies who offer their bodies as a earthly sacrifice and men who frequently hold meetings at alcoholic joint. The politicians who use this season to share looted funds as donations to orphanage homes and governors who decide to cut the minimum wage of workers. The president, who decides to retrench 2,000 civil servants, the pastors who refuse to rebuke the politicians for wrongdoing. The parents who send their daughters abroad for prostitution, so they could enjoy the Christmas. These ones are the murderers of Christmas. They all killed the celebration.

    • Ezekiel, 500-Level Pharmacy, UNIBEN
  • Canada’s summer of African festivity

    Canada’s summer of African festivity

    Toronto’s vibrant art scene is partly fuelled by African and Caribbean culture, writes OLUBANWO FAGBEMI after a recent visit to Canada

    Under the banner of AFROFEST 2015, a group of African and Caribbean artistes promoted the concept of cultural integration in Toronto, Canada, using music, art and culture as instrument. Sponsored by the government and its media and corporate partners, the 25th festival of African music and culture appealed to the celebratory mood of the estimated 400, 000 Black individuals in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and their friends.

    To an assortment of music, races mingled on the wide expanse of natural green named Woodbine Park on the weekend of July 4 and 5, days before the July 10 opening of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games. At the same time, stalls vending artefacts recorded impressive customer traffic.

    For long-time patrons, however, “behind Saikou’s stall” was the place to be. In re-enactment of an unspoken annual tradition of spontaneous drumming and dancing behind art buff Saikou Saho’s tent, dexterous drummers, some fresh off the main stage, entertained onlookers for free. Their sonorous output invariably pulled agile dancers before a ring of spectators that stretched and shrank with the start and stop of drumming.

    Northwards, art enthusiasts gathered for a similar fiesta at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre. Crowd response to African dance troupes’ sound check during the July 4 leg of summer events organised by the Kick Up Your Heels charity concern underlined the city’s summertime passion, with the African beat and movement particularly sought-after.

    Dispersing after the first group’s rehearsal with obvious reluctance, a mostly white and Asiatic audience regrouped at the West Jet Stage once the multi-racial cast emerged for a 60-minute medley of traditional and contemporary steps titled Ayo Ni Ijo. The ovation moved Mohammed Allen, one of the performers, to declare the response the best he had yet experienced in his solo career as a traditional dancer.

    The African-Canadian thought his brand of choreography which fused western-style break-dance and pop with traditional African steps and costume a unique contribution to Toronto’s multi-ethnic mix.

    He said: “My kind of dance mostly promotes African culture with the infusion of other cultures. Canadians ask a lot of questions and many of them want to know why we dance this way or that way. My aim is to inform and educate them while promoting African culture.”

    The Pan Am Games next handled the baton of entertainment, with morning and afternoon athletics events succeeded by free concerts beginning July 11 at three venues across the city.

    Tagged Panamania, the shows presented through collaboration of the city and its official partners drew thousands for a five-week period punctuated by a break between the Pan Am and Parapan American Games.

    But Tuesday, July 21 remains memorable. Near-satisfied with a succession of entertainers including Grammy Award-winning long-timers, Blind Boys of Alabama, the reporter retired to the periphery of Nathan Phillips Square, setting of a third of the scintillating series of shows, to contemplate the long walk to his Dovercourt Road residence. Then, a James Brown-like scream pierced the night air.

    It sent the reporter and many others scrambling to the base of the stage. “Yeah, that’s more like it,” he said to himself as the lead singer of Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires launched a soulful delivery that seemed appropriate for closing billing.

    Exiting the stage at some point to change into a shiny, caped costume that all but transformed him into ‘Dr Love’, Charles Bradley wound his audience into a romantic state embraced by couples and welcomed by singles. Registering his determination to fly out to Toronto from his United States of America base against doctor’s orders, the performer professed his love for Torontonians. “I just love Toronto. You guys don’t know what I had to go through to be here.”

    Reducing his hip-thrusting act to a more delicate prostrate pose on stage towards the end, Bradley condensed the pervading mood into a poser as he crooned into the microphone with dreamy eyes.  “What are you looking for? Are you here for love or are you here for lust?”

    The roared response suggested something in between. Unruffled, Bradley extended his late-night prescription until couples merged into singles and singles split in twos. If the reporter seemed to see double, by the way, he pleads Bradley’s extraordinary influence as excuse.

    Next came the Caribana, lately known as the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival after a trademark law dispute between the originators of the festival and the current organisers. Preceded by much hype, the Toronto street carnival featured events that celebrate the music, food and arts of the Caribbean region.

    Rated as the largest cultural festival of its kind in North America, it showcased the Grand Parade down Lakeshore Boulevard, the Annual Gala and the tent villages to the amazement of spectators. By estimates, the festival yearly generates over $400 million for the economy of Toronto and the province of Ontario.

    Said Saho in eyebrow-raising response to earlier enquiries about the festival’s antecedents: “Listen, Caribana’s gonna be big, big!”

    It turned out to be big in more ways than one: big costumes, big crowd, big business and big loudspeakers mounted on big SUVs. That was not all. Typical of carnivals with female participants in skimpy outfits, there were big behinds on show, and a multitude of big male eyes in tow.

    Some eyes apparently went too far as ‘stormers’, an unwanted group of people who crash the masquerade parade (typically without a costume and sometimes with a camera for taking disparaging photographs of female participants), courted usual controversy.

    The position of African and Africa-derived art and culture in Canada remains free of controversy, however. As Allen pointed out, overseas promoters need only ensure backward integration to sustain progress. For starters, he and Canada-based African artistes have slated worldwide international dance and drum festivals beginning with Nigeria

  • Ndigbo and the festivity of their day

    Ndigbo and the festivity of their day

    The Old Parade Ground in the Central Business District of the Federal Capital Territory was a beehive of activities on Monday, September 29, this year when Nigerians of Igbo extraction gathered to celebrate the World Igbo Day.

    It was a day set aside by the umbrella body of the Igbo race, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, to celebrate the rich culture of the Igbo across the world.

    From hundred of metres to the venue, visitors could hear the sound of Igbo music; well dressed men and women danced to the melodious rhythm of the music. Interestingly, even though the atmosphere was a festive one, organisers of the event were, no doubt, conscious of the security challenges in the country.

    Right from the entrance of the venue, the security was tight as visitors were subjected to serious security scrutiny. The fact that the venue shares boundary with the Defence headquarters, may have contributed to the tight nature of the security put in place by the organisers.

    Dressed in their traditional Igbo attire, with flowing beads and traditional caps, among others, both young and old added colour to the event as the different Igbo traditional dresses beautified the place, conveying a typical Ndigbo style of celebration.

    Typical of an Igbo celebration, visitors were ushered into the venue with fanfare as guests were entertained by masqueraders and other traditional dances. Those who were witnessing the day for the first time may think they were watching a film that should not end. There were assorted foods and drinks for everyone’s satisfaction.

    Even though they came from the FCT with their leaders for the celebration, it was not all merriment as they found time to express their thought about various issues which include the need to promote the Igbo language at home, the need for Igbo businessmen to invest more at home rather than states outside Igbo land, the need for equal representation in governance non-imposition of candidates on the people during the 2015 general elections.

    President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Abuja, Chief Emeka Mbagha was excited about the success of the event, especially the large turnout of Igbo resident in the FCT, even though it was a working day.

    He told our correspondent that he had passionately appealed to all Igbo residents in the territory to suspend everything they were doing in order to attend the event. He was excited that the people listened to his appeal, suspending their trading and other businesses to participate actively at the event.

    Mbagha was, however, concerned about the security situation in the country. He said the problem of insecurity in the country has greatly affected his people, even though it was not restricted to the Igbo alone. He expressed optimism that the situation would be resolved through collective effort.

    The Igbo leader in Nyanya, Chief Ifeanyi Nwoye, said the importance of the celebration to them was enormous because it was a showcase for the rich cultural heritage of the Igbo, their character and their identity.

    He said: “What the Igbo are celebrating today is pure culture, custom, what to do, what to eat and what to avoid. Everything being celebrated here is totally Igbo. As men who have versed knowledge about tradition, we want to tell the world that everything we do, we do it for the Igbo.

    “Ohanaeze is the backbone of the Igbo. Anything that happens to an Igbo man here in FCT, he runs to the Ohanaeze. So, our purpose and aim is to protect the interest of every Igbo person in the FCT.”

    Also speaking, Chief Cosmas Okolo said, aside from being a day set aside by the Igbo to celebrate themselves, it was a day to celebrate the new yam festival. For Mazi Paul Nwachukwu, the celebration is a special day to the Igbo race.

    “It is meant to remember their beginning and the events that have evolved in Igbo nation until today. It will enable us to assess and re-assess all that had happened to the Igbo in the time past,” he said.

    The founder, Movement for the Restoration of Igbo People Dignity and Unity, Archbishop Chy Oriaku described the occasion as an opportunity to encourage Igbo parents to always interact with their children at home in Igbo language.

    She said plans have commenced to come up with measures to inculcate Igbo language in school curriculum.

    “If it is enforced, teaching and learning the Igbo language will be made easy. More so, in occasions like this, we won’t need to speak the English language but our Igbo language,” she said.

    Prince Bashiru Osondu Emetumah said the event aimed at preaching peaceful co-existence and progress of the Igbo Kingdom. Emetumah attributed the survival of the Igbo race to God, even as he implored Ndigbo to be at peace with other religions and ethnic groups across the country.

    President, Solid Women Initiative for Development, Chief (Mrs.) Queen Ezike urged Ndigbo resident in Abuja to always remember to invest at home.

    She said: “Whatever we make here, don’t invest all here in Abuja. Go back to Igbo land and invest your money. That is why Chairman of Chisco Transport Company has relocated most of his establishments to Igbo land, especially in Anambra State.”

    Chief Daniel Atuonwu restated the importance of the festivity and urged every Ndigbo to be united in order to forge a common front.

    “We review our activities and see what we have done well. Where we failed to do well, we improve on it. Normally, it is one thing that will bring us together. There is nothing that will bring us together here in Abuja except this celebration,” he said.

    Another resident, Chief John Okpor said there was the need for Ndigbo to come together and assess the progress and achievements recorded by the Igbo people within the previous year, adding that “we are doing these things in remembrance of Igbo Day. Every Igbo community will come out and display what they have to offer.”

  • Graduating students’ day of festivity

    The graduating students of the department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, have held their final year day. It was held after the students finished their final exam last week.

    The event, which witnessed a large turnout of students, featured a lecture titled: “Life after graduation, the challenges ahead” by Dr Mu’awiya Jibirn, a lecturer in the department.

    The class representative, Mubarak Ibrahim, thanked God for making their stay on campus successful.

    The students were filled with joy. One of them, Suleiman Abubakar, said “I have waited for four years to witness today. There is no doubt that today marks a turning point in my life”.

    The students later proceeded on an excursion to the National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI), Zaria. They were led by Prof S.A. Maigandi and Mallam Aliyu Muhammed. The objective of the trip was to expose the students to the practical aspect of artificial insemination. Their counterparts from the Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, KSUST, Aleiro, also took part in the programme.

    During the excursion, the students were exposed to the activities of different sections of the institute, including dairy, small and large ruminants and yoghurt processing.

    Some of the students who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE said the programme was educative.