Imagine celebrating the Christmas season without new clothes, new shoes, staying indoors and not been able to visit holiday resorts and may be seeing Christmas lights in homes across the street and in your home nothing seem to be happening. This Christmas is certainly going to be low keyed for many folks no thanks to the present economic meltdown been experienced in many countries of the world.
Though there are confirmed reports of countries that are already out of recession and some like the United States of America close to coming out of it, the truth is that the world has been severely hit this past two years by harsh economic situations that have not been so witnessed in a long time. The United Kingdom for example is still battling to come out of it and it does not look like it is going to be over before Christmas.
In Africa, the situation is not any better than in the developed world. Africa has been known to have more concentration of poor countries and people than in any other continents of the world. Though planning for Christmas even without the economic meltdown has never been on the high side, the effect of the harsh Economic situation is going to compound a situation that is already terrible.
The percentage of the rich in a country like Nigeria for instance is less than %9 of the total population, yet Nigeria is ranked very high among countries that are richly endowed with natural resources. A lot of families may not be able to buy quality Christmas clothes for their children this season yet the very minute rich will fly to Europe and other tourist centers with their families to celebrate the season.
THE STREETS ARE DRY
In those days you can hardly walk past the beautiful streets of Lagos without feeling Christmas in the air. You come across beautifully decorated stores, banks, hotels, post offices, museums and schools and the feeling was simply nostalgic, but now its all gone and vanished into thin air. The whole streets are dry and every one seem to be interested in going about their lawful business not showing any sign of preparation all due to the harsh economic meltdown. The effect can not be measured and one only wonders what the Christmas Eve is going to look like.
OUR HOMES ARE NOT WHAT THEY USED TO BE
Fathers are worried, mothers are confused and what about their children? They do not know what to expect and they all wear long faces almost every time they get back from school. They are worried because the only thing they talk about these days is what Christmas is going to look like and as long as parents continue to keep mum over the celebration of the Christmas season, their faces may never change.
THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
