Old naira notes, fuel scarcity mar church services and attendance in Ondo

 

It is no longer news that the federal government of Nigeria has announced 31st January 2020 today as the deadline for the acceptance of the old naira notes, 200, 500 and 1000 respectively before the rumored shift which has now been confirmed on BBC news pidgin. Now put with the fuel scarcity and price hike of the commodity, these have become another great challenge for worshipers in Ondo city on the last  Sunday of the month. 

Many churches visited by AGES correspondents revealed expressly that the churches were sparsely populated while many seats were apparently empty, with very few people in attendance. Some of the church members interviewed who claimed anonymity said that they have to treck short distance from their homes to the church because of proximity but for members whose homes are far away from the church, such could neither attend service for lack of fuel while some complain about money.

Meanwhile, church offerings also suffered  setback as some members could neither come to the church with old notes nor have the new notes whose wide circulation is still very unpopular. Some came to the church with lower denominations making the church offering bags and trays to be lean and scanty. In other churches visited, a member was heard saying that it was widely circulated on the social media that church members should not come with old note and since they could not lay hands on the new notes, God will not punish them for not dropping offering in the church.

The People's warden of the Church of Messiah Anglican Communion Sabo Ondo, Mr. James Babayele Omotoye, claimed "if members would come to the church with old notes, technically Monday is still there for such monies to be deposited in banks as there is no announcement anywhere by the church authority for members not to come to the church with old notes".

At the church of Messiah Sabo Ondo, it was quite unusual to see the atmosphere very dull because the church could not get fuel and there was no electricity. The organist had to use his God-given mouth and voice to lead hymnal songs while church members follow. The case is not different in other neighborhood churches; CAC, celestial church and few gospel churches around as many did not even use public address system for lack of fuel and electricity. 

In another development, filling stations visited in the town were selling fuel between 450 to 500 naira per litre and despite this high price, there were long queues in those petrol stations. Meanwhile, some popular roads and street like Lipakala were deserted by vehicles with few vehicles moving around and only motorbikes were seen carrying commuters to and from churches. A passersby was heard speaking in Yoruba dialect that her husband just bought fuel at the rate of N450 from a station and that she is not sure if the situation will still be palatable in more days to come. The passerby also remarked that "Nigeria may continue to face this hardship if nothing positive is done by the government". 

Well, popular areas like Yaba,  Sabo and Oka covered by AGES in Ondo city showed many customers in front of some of the commercial banks waiting to deposit their old naira notes in the various banks. An angry customer was heard shouting "everything in Nigeria, we queue for, no money, no fuel, no light. We are tired of these situations o". The angry customer whose identity could not be ascertained said she was in the bank on Friday to attempt to deposit her old notes but was in a long queue and had to return home due to loss of strength.

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