As the holy month of Ramadan comes to an end, Muslim faithfuls are looking forward to the Eid El Fitr festival with modest excitement.
Families are making preparations for the Salah in different ways in view of the current economic hardship.
Mohammed Shehu, a resident of Gwarinpa in Abuja, said: “By God’s grace the little we get we’ll celebrate with it. When we get money, we’ll buy some clothes for the children.
“Why we buy new clothes for kids is to make them happy when they go out to celebrate and mingle with other kids during the celebrations. They may end up crying if they don’t get new clothes to wear, especially if they see fellow kids wearing new clothes without them wearing any.
“But in my own case I won’t cry if I don’t wear any new clothes. I don’t need new clothes to celebrate Salah because I’m already an adult. As adult, I wear what I get.”
Shehu, who has one wife and nine children, said he would buy clothes for all his children and wife. He said the family will celebrate the salah by cooking different delicacies.
“We will make meat pie, chin chin, fried chicken, make some juice, cook rice and stew, do salad, masa and taushe soup.
“We will cook vegetable soup and other delicacies, go out, visit friends and families, catch fun, go to the zoo and show the kids some animals they are not familiar with, and the following day we go to Keffi and watch Durbar,” he revealed.
Mr Umar Umar, another Abuja resident, is having difficulty planning big for the Salah due to the “challenging economic hardship,” but his children would definitely wear new clothes.
“My children will wear their new clothes if the tailor is able to finish the sewing. We will cook rice, paste and soup with meat as usual and if possible we would invite people and go out to visit relatives and friends with the children, if we don’t have the means to do that we would just eat and stay at home,” he said.
In Maiduguri, Munira Salisu (PhD), a housewife, told NewsNGR that her children would also wear new clothes for the Salah.
” As for me, I gave tailor my kids’ clothes since two months ago so that there won’t be any disappointment, “ she said, adding that she got a new chef who will prepare different snacks for the family and for their visitors.
Dr Salisu said her chef would also make her husband’s favourite meal which is masa and jollof rice.
After the home cooking, “I plan to wear my new clothes too and will take the kids to a popular park in the heart of Maiduguri, and later visit my sister at Unimaid quarters.”
Hajiya Hadiza Yusuf, a housewife based in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, said she was not sure of making big preparations due to the hot weather.
Yusuf said: “Personally, due to the heat, I am afraid to go out. So, tomorrow(Tuesday) I’ll go out in the morning to start the preparation.
Her preparations include taking her children’s new clothes ready, buying food items and soup ingredients, and taking her daughters to the salon and doing the traditional Laile decorations for them.
On Salah day, she would make peppered meat, rice, zobo drink and pepper soup, and visit her father. She planned to make her father’s delicacy too.
“He likes his guest to eat pounded yam with egusi soup,” she said, with smiles.
Maimunat, Nna a single lady, complained about the economic situation of the country but said she looked forward to “celebrating love and togetherness.”
She added that “The price of food alone is worrisome, people don’t even talk about the usual Sallah clothes and stuff. Most families just want to see their loved ones and share the little they have.” she said.
However, the harsh economic conditions would not stop her from taking her mother for salah shopping and preparing “different meals for families who would be visiting us.”
She planned to make local delicacies such as “Eje Shekafa with Beans Soup”and “Emagi Soup.”