Abuja Carnival fails to excite

Those who spoke expressed disappointment at the turnout, saying it wasn’t what they expected. Billy Swahili, a trader who came all the way from Lagos, said “I have been attending this carnival for years now and for the past 3 years since the emergence of insurgency in Nigeria, the carnival has been low-key”. He added: […]

Those who spoke expressed disappointment at the turnout, saying it wasn’t what they expected.
Billy Swahili, a trader who came all the way from Lagos, said “I have been attending this carnival for years now and for the past 3 years since the emergence of insurgency in Nigeria, the carnival has been low-key”. He added: “I spent N10,000 as transportation from Lagos. I paid N1, 000 for the stand but I have not been able to recover the money as a result of low patronage. The only people patronizing us here are the workers in the ministry. This wasn’t the case with previous editions, before the emergence of insecurity in Nigeria. In the past, it was crowded with people from different states and even foreign countries, but today there are only six states out of the thirty six states in Nigeria here.”
Swahili also said government should re-strategize, so that the carnival can get back its lost glory.
Blessing Amadi, a trader and first-timer to the carnival, also expressed her disappointment, saying it was her sister who attended previous editions and told her about the carnival, “So I decided to give it a try, but it is just unfortunate that the high hopes she placed in me about the carnival was not reality. There is low turnout and it is not as colourful as I expected.”  She also added that insecurity is a major cause of the setback. “Sincerely, I have not enjoyed the carnival at all.”
Adiya Bananda, a corps member said, “I have always heard of the Abuja Carnival and I decided to use this opportunity to see what it is like, but when I got here, the whole place didn’t look like there was a carnival. I didn’t see dancers or a crowd cheering. I expected it to be ten times better than the Calabar one. Sellers didn’t have goods that were of interest to me, so the whole place was boring.”
Eno John, a civil servant, described the carnival as being fair but not as good as the years before. “This year’s carnival was taken over by traders and this has helped many of us who may not have the time to go for Christmas shopping to do that now. I personally got some clothes for myself which are less expensive. The carnival made that possible for me.” She however called on the government and all security agents to ensure they bring an end to insurgency so that the cultural heritage of Nigeria can be shown to the world through the carnival.
An official of the carnival, Ladi James, said her role was to make sure that things at the carnival went well, but she said: “This is not the way Abuja carnival was in the past. It was lively, fun and exciting. This is actually the first time I am being an official in the carnival, but I have attended previous ones and I must tell you, it is different from what we are seeing today. The insecurity in the country has played a major role in this and I hope by next year the situation will be different.”
Telecoms giants were also present. Christian Christian, an Airtel official, said: “The turnout this year is very low. This carnival used to be remarkable, but this year is very poor. I pray that by next year things will be different.”