Will drinks go around for this Christmas holiday bonding?
For retailers, even when buyers come around to their stores, they only buy a few items compared to when the cost of cargo clearance wasn’t burdensome.
Since COVID entered into Nigerian lives rounding up 2021 first quarter, living standards started to deteriorate to the grave situation that most find themselves in — and that has continued up until now when a new Christmas holiday is just around the corner. The incessant upward review of tariffs being paid at the ports seems to be making life harder.
Perhaps, there would have been some sort of ease despite fuel subsidy removal in May if not for the sharp increase in the Customs Exchange Rate that importers are currently witnessing.
On the Nigeria Customs Service website, the value set for cargo clearance is ₦783.174 to one dollar which makes transactions way too pricey for licensed customs agents or wholesalers facilitating the distribution of consumables, especially different varieties of wines that Nigerians need for merriment if they can afford it.
Some of those who are affected, like Mr Sikiru Remilekun, who is the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents youth leader, in his vision can only see the gloom. Telling Punch News, he thinks “we don’t need [a] prophet or soothsayer to tell us what will happen next; we should expect up to 70 per cent drop in importation” due to the high cost of clearing imported goods at the ports.
“Majority of the importers have switched and diversified to another business, a lot of clearing agents are roaming the streets doing nothing, [and] many have been depressed as a result of no work. How do we cope when the importers refuse to import due to a hike in dollars?”
And the struggle for survival now trickles down to retailers who are seeing less demand for wine products. Even when buyers come around to their stores, they only buy a few items compared to when the cost of cargo clearance wasn’t burdensome.
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Hovering around social media comment sections, there is a sense of a bad situation developing because there is the recurring “No money for Christmas” for both chicken and refreshments to follow.
“The general atmosphere doesn’t look like there is any Christmas celebration,” says a wine trader identified by Punch as Cynthia Chioma. She trades in Ijesha, a Lagos community that has proximity to the port. Miss Chioma remember things being brighter in the past years, just not now.
“In previous Christmas celebrations”, says the trader, “we used to record higher sales with people coming to buy drinks for celebrations in bulk but it is not the same thing now.
“The whole environment is very dull, and only a few come to buy drinks and smaller quantities. Before now, one customer could come and buy drinks worth N400, 000 but [it] is no longer the same thing now, people hardly come to buy and even if they do come, they only buy a few products.”
Beachside activities or indoor parties usually mount up around the Christmas holiday when it is most convenient to feel laid back. As the time approaches, those who can spark a celebration might be limited in number if they do not find themselves in the mood.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
