A
few hours to the end of 2012, the residents of Lagos and its suburbs
were engaged in activities marking the New Year in style. While many
people were getting ready for the usual crossover church services,
others were busy igniting firecrackers and in the process, sowing seeds
of fear among decent folk and disturbing the peace.
In
some parts of the city, such as Egbeda, Dopemu and Ikeja, the din
raised by exploding fireworks on the eve of the New Year was not only
intimidating, it was so frightening that even the Lagos fire incident of
December 26, which killed a teenager and burnt 15 houses, could not be
compared to it.
Both
the young and the old could not resist the urge to ignite firecrackers.
Not even the sad memory of the devastating fire incident could stop
them.
In
Surulere, the Nigeria Police Barracks, near the Ojuelegba Bus Stop,
suddenly transformed into a huge launch pad of numerous firecrackers.
The
loud noise emanating from the barracks could have been mistaken for the
tell-tale sounds from a battle-field. For about three hours at a
stretch, several bangers exploded like detonating bombs from the
rooftops of the buildings and lit up the sky.
Although
bangers had always been used in Nigeria to celebrate the Yuletide, they
were banned by the government a few years ago. Yet they seemed to have
found their way back to the streets.
Eyewitnesses
wondered why the police, that ought to enforce the ban on firecrackers,
could have allowed the barracks to be turned into a temporary theatre
for fireworks.
An investigation by Saturday PUNCH showed
that the firecrackers were of different types and sizes. For example,
the variety known as ‘Jumping Jack’ consisted of a folded long tube and a
fuse. Once lighted, it pops out with a jerk and ascends to the sky at
the speed of about 70 km per hour. The resulting explosion is deafening
and capable of causing serious injury or death.
The
Thunderflash is the Russian type that explodes in multiple bangs and is
capable of destroying a vehicle or tearing a door off its hinges.
Chinese
Crackers are long strings of bangers, sometimes up to 100 in a string,
connected by a fuse. When it is lighted, it can go out of control,
putting the person handling it at great risk.
The
relatives and children of the policemen resident in the barracks
between the ages of 10 and 20 were ‘armed’ with most of these bangers on
the eve of Christmas.
About
50 of them virtually turned the barracks into a battle zone of a sort
as they indulged in a dangerous game by throwing the bangers directly at
each other and at members of two Christian organizations passing
through the barracks to attend church services.
An
estimated 5,000 rounds of firecrackers were assumed to have been used
up during the strange ‘duel’. Some of them were said to have landed
among commuters waiting at the Ojuelegba bus stop to board commercial
vehicles. In response, some of the commuters threw a few bangers on the
roofs of the buildings in the barracks and ignited a stampede.
Considering the high cost of bangers, a considerable fortune would have been wasted by the residents of the barracks.
However,
there were complaints from other people living near the police barracks
who could not endure the barrage. But they could do nothing about it
except grumble.
“We
have lived with this oppression for many years. We try to complain to
their parents but they don’t care. They do not caution their children.
In 2010, a child was injured while running away from a firecracker that
landed close to him,” a resident, whose home shares the same fence with
the barracks, told our correspondents.
By
12 am on January 1, clouds of smoke emanating from thousands of
exploding bangers filled the sky, especially in Ikeja, Egbeda and
Dopemu.
An
insurance broker, Emeka Iwuh, who worshipped at the Anglican Church in
Egbeda on New Year Day, lamented that intermittent booms from bangers
disrupted the midnight service in the church. He said the noise reminded
him of a previous encounter with armed robbers.
“Each
time I heard the banger shots, I always felt robbers were around. It
took me a little while to realise that the sounds were actually not
gunshots but fireworks. I wish Nigerians will bring an end to this
terrible way of celebrating Christmas and the New Year,” he said.
Rotimi Lawrence, an Ikeja-based medical doctor, had not forgotten the day his car was burnt by a stray banger.
“I
don’t know if the banger was directed at my car, but before I knew what
was happening, the car had started burning. Ever since that incident, I
have always been careful not to move close to a place where bangers are
being thrown and I don’t encourage children to engage in the practice,”
he said.
Even those who preferred to remain at home on New eve felt constantly harassed by the noise from exploding firecrackers.
Fadekemi Aloh, a nursing mother who lives in Dopemu, said it was horrifying staying in an area where bangers were often ignited.
“I just gave birth to a baby, but the sound of bangers did not allow him to rest during the festive period.
“There
is no fun throwing bangers in the society. So I think the government
should take a firm stand against it. While many of us suffer, those who
throw the bangers are ignorant of the pain they inflict on us,” she
said.
Despite the criticism, Bidemi Oki, 20, said he enjoyed throwing bangers during the Yuletide.
“Do
you know what it means to be alive? This is the way I enjoy myself and
expressing my joy in the New Year. I don’t think it is a dangerous trend
and I don’t see any reason why the government should ban it. It does
not happen all year long, after all.”
Both
the end users of bangers and the sellers had enough reason to smile.
One of the sellers claimed that he made a fortune selling firecrackers
during the Yuletide.
He
said, “There is nothing new about the practice. It’s the way we
celebrate each year. We don’t trade in it all the time because it has a
season. Some people were able to exhaust their supplies and some could
not. I couldn’t exhaust mine, but I have to store them in a cool place
till next year.”
He said firecrackers sold between N1,000 and N10,000 while the smaller ones went for N50.
Punch Nigeria
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