By Aiyeku Timothy
It’s December and the mood is set for Christmas with the jingle bells ringing already but it promises to be Christmas like no other because of the tone the year had set for it.
More to celebrating the remembrance of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Christmas period is an avenue by many to celebrate the achievements of the year and it is the only major holiday observed by others but how will the its 2020 edition be?
Some have been sarcastic about 2020, claiming that the year did not exist because the entire world was brought to a halt for many months, leaving dreams, plans, aspirations and targets unmet.
This is not an issue peculiar with Nigeria alone as the Covid-19 was a pandemic that paused activities and gave most people compulsory holiday, away from work for many months.
The world is still battling with the effect of the deadly coronavirus pandemic that took centre-stage from March earlier this year with the world’s economy melting down, lost of jobs and death of loved ones.
In Nigeria, the effect is rather untold as some Nigerians had to ‘steal’ Covid-19 palliatives that was supposedly meant for them to be able to survive the heat. Now it has been declared that the country is into recession to add to the economic hardship that is being experienced.
Just after we started shaking off the Covid-19’s compulsory holiday and the redundancy it had caused, the country was greeted with the #EndSars protest that led to the loss of lives and properties, including threatening the existence of the country in October. It has been a year indeed.
With the current recession, the inflation rate is almost unbearable as the prices of goods and transportation has skyrocketed, especially after the government announced the increment of fuel price in November.
Nigeria has been declared as the poverty headquarters of the world with millions of Nigeria’s unable to eat one square meal a day.
Insurgency is monster that has eaten deep into our very existence as a nation. Nigerians have passed through thick and thin, yet it is not yet uhuru.
This article is rather didactic than informative as only the living can boast of hope of a better Christmas. It should be a Christmas that should be celebrated, solemnized with pomp and parade, because the year is most challenging we have witnessed as a country and the world in a long time.
