Fear of firecrackers in a season of festivity

 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