Author: Emmanuel Bagudu

Getting married in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation is a big deal, seen as a huge prestige following cultural and religious demands.

A married man or woman in Nigeria is seen to be responsible, presentable and a role model.

This makes almost every single adult aspire to get entangled and subsequently get married in the most prestigious manner possible.

To get married in Nigeria, one needs to be morally and financially stable. This probably explains why most wedding takes place at the end of the year.

From the first month of the year, a yet to be married couple conceived an idea of getting married, plan through it and by the end of the year a wedding ceremony happens paving way for a dawn of a married life.

Amidst hundreds of audience the wedding ceremony holds with every attendee getting well fed and given souvenirs to take home as a way of saying thank you.

It’s a huge cost for the couple hosting the wedding but a huge boost to the economy of the country as well.

The wedding industry is considered one of the major contributors to Nigeria’s economy.

It is credited for creating entire industries that didn’t exist or were previously unprofitable, such as makeup arts, ushering business, gate keeper, (or bouncer in local parlance) and even luxury toilet hire companies.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with TheNewsGuru.com (TNG), Paul Alaje an Economist and Financial Analyst stated that the amount of money spent during weddings and it’s attendant positive impact on the nation’s economy cannot be overemphasized.

“Weddings are so very important to economic contributions. They impact several sectors. Hotels, printing, food vendors, fabrics, tailoring etc.

“It was estimated that weddings and major events added about N1.2 billion to the economy in 2014, according to Sales Performance Management (SPM) Professionals, an organisation I am part of.

“During weddings, most people are happy to expend without holding back. This stimulates growth and creates jobs,” Alaje said.

It is end of the year and its not business as usual, wedding ceremonies are not in litanies as usual. Wedding ceremony planners say the smiles to the banks are only done in the dreams.

According to them, social distance restrictions occasioned by the novel Covid-19 is the reason behind low or low keyed wedding activities, which they said had a huge negative impact on their businesses.

According to Chidi Okeke, an Abuja based wedding planner, the year 2020 has been challenging for businesses with the wedding and other event industries being the worst hit.

“The pandemic has affected every sector of the economy but the event industry got the worst blow, due to the social distancing measures required to fight the pandemic.

“It has prevented people from gathering and hence no business for event planners. Life has been tough for us,” Okeke said.

On her part, Anne Bajinta a Kaduna based wedding planner, said that while others choose not to celebrate their wedding at all, others prefer a low key event, either ways, the event planning business has been bad.

“The business is not flowing compared to other years because of the social distance, even those that choose to celebrate it prefer low budget with small amount of invitees there making us go through series of loses because the higher the turn out the better the profit,” she said.

While other wedding planners keep lamenting, business has not been too bad for Fatima Garba also a Kaduna based wedding planner.

Fatima, a multitasking professional in the wedding industry, told TNG that she leverages on the multiple contact she acquired in the cause of business.

In her words, “since the outbreak of Covid-19, I knew we planners are up for a big challenge, so I immediately start keeping in touch with my contact to convince them that despite the covid challenge, we can still organise a wedding in a way that is according to laid down procedures during the pandemic, unlike my other colleagues who just relaxed and say it’s all over.

“No doubt the business of event planning has been bad, but there are other ways one can maneuver”.

Economist Alaje thinks it will take a little time for the industry to resuscitate. He also attributed the failure of the industry to lost of jobs occasioned by the Covid-19 restriction laws.

“Note that the devastating effect of COVID-19 cannot be overemphasized. NBS reported higher inflation at 13.7%, unemployment is increasing at 27.1%. Underemployment still remains 28.6% with youth unemployment at 39.4%. GDP growth is now in the negative at -6.1%.

“They are certainly worrying figures. As economic quagmire continues to hold sway, consumers will withdraw from festivities and none basic spendings,” Alaje said.

As the year 2020 closes in few weeks, the event planners wants the final phase of the Covid-19 lockdown relaxation implemented which is the resumption of normal public life.

According to Okeke, “Government can assist in reviving the business by creating a conducive environment and relaxing the social distancing measure to enable people celebrate”.