• Home
  • About
  • Join Us
  • Contact
My Wedding - For Fashion, Uganda Wedding, Kwanjula and Kuhingira budget ideas
  • Home
  • Vendor List
  • Ceremony & Reception
    • Catering Services
    • Church
    • Decor
    • Music & Entertainment
    • Photos & Video
    • Reception Venue
    • Rings
    • Wedding Cakes
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Bridal Hairstyle & Make Up
    • Bridesmaid & Groomsmen
    • Groom Style
    • Wedding Gown
  • Honeymoon
  • Kwanjula
  • Real Stories
  • Advice
    • Finance / Budget
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Vendor List
  • Ceremony & Reception
    • Catering Services
    • Church
    • Decor
    • Music & Entertainment
    • Photos & Video
    • Reception Venue
    • Rings
    • Wedding Cakes
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Bridal Hairstyle & Make Up
    • Bridesmaid & Groomsmen
    • Groom Style
    • Wedding Gown
  • Honeymoon
  • Kwanjula
  • Real Stories
  • Advice
    • Finance / Budget
No Result
View All Result
My Wedding - For Fashion, Uganda Wedding, Kwanjula and Kuhingira budget ideas
No Result
View All Result
Home Real Stories

Nigeria vote delay throws wedding plans into chaos

Esther Nantambi by Esther Nantambi
February 19, 2019
in Real Stories
0
Nigeria vote delay throws wedding plans into chaos
8
SHARES
486
VIEWS
WhatsAppShare on FacebookShare on Twitter

By AFP

Jude Ezeanyagu woke up last Saturday morning and texted guests the final reminders about his wedding the following week in Delta state, southern Nigeria. Then he got a reply.

“My friend texted me back, ‘Have you not seen the news? They’ve shifted the elections’,” he told AFP. “I had no idea.”

Nigeria’s election commission announced a one-week delay to polling as most people were sleeping and just over five hours before voting was about to start.

That has heightened political tensions- and tempers – but it has also thrown ordinary Nigerians’ plans for this weekend into disarray.

Ezeanyagu and his fiancee, Jessy, had been planning their wedding for two years. They even deliberately chose the date after the release of the official election timetable.

Weddings, as in most places, don’t come cheap. The couple have already spent more than 1.0 million naira ($2,775, 2,440 euros) for their special day.

The cost of having to cancel was “unquantifiable”, said Ezeanyagu, an IT consultant.

Not only will couples set to marry on Saturday take a financial hit from cancellation but some guests may not be able to attend on the rescheduled date.

“It is just a very big loss,” he said.

Holding any event on polling day is problematic. Roadblocks are put up and no vehicles are allowed when polls are open. Land borders and airports are also shut.

All of which scuppers the significant planning that goes into weddings – particularly Nigerian ones, which are often grand affairs, with hundreds of guests.

Businesses, too, will likely take a hit: one hotel in the southeastern city of Calabar said it had to refund 250,000 naira to a couple planning to wed on Saturday.

At the mercy of the nation.

At the Federal Marriage Registry in the upmarket Ikoyi area of Lagos, officials said several couples who had booked marriage ceremonies for Saturday February 23 had already called in to reschedule, creating significant administrative issues.

“We’re at the mercy of the nation!” said one member of staff.

About 50 weddings have been booked for Saturday and it’s not clear how many will go ahead as planned.

“It has not been easy for many of them, even for us who are managing it,” the staff member said, declining to give his name.

Many Nigerians travel to their home towns and villages to vote, taking time off to complete often lengthy and uncomfortable journeys on poor roads.

How many will want or can afford to return on Saturday is unclear. There are already predictions of a low voter turn-out.

Uncertainty guaranteed

The state of the economy is an election issue. Low global crude prices and militant attacks on Nigeria’s oil and gas infrastructure contributed to a recession in 2016.

Growth rates are slow, unemployment is high and the cost of living tough for a majority of the country’s 190 million people.

Kemi Akinolotu, chief executive of a wedding planning company, Eventories, said marriages by the richest Nigerians are largely unaffected but poorer couples have had to downsize.

“Many people spend less now,” she said. “The economy has really affected business and the weddings people can afford.”

For Ezeanyagu, picking a new date was difficult. In Nigeria, uncertainty, particularly around election time, is the only certainty.

“No one trusts (the electoral commission) because just days until the election, they were saying they are ready but now at the dying minutes they changed”, he said.

“Many people are badly affected.”

Facebook Comments
Tags: Delta statesouthern Nigeria.
Previous Post

From rotary project to marriage

Next Post

Different wedding gown colours and their meaning

Related Posts

He does everything in his power to make sure our marriage works
Real Stories

He does everything in his power to make sure our marriage works

February 26, 2021
Bouquets for a cool bride
Real Stories

Bouquets for a cool bride

February 25, 2021
10 questions a Christian woman should ask herself before saying yes to a proposal
Real Stories

10 questions a Christian woman should ask herself before saying yes to a proposal

February 25, 2021
We said ‘I do’ 11 years later
Real Stories

We said ‘I do’ 11 years later

February 24, 2021
“Great marriages are not conflict free”- Christabel Nansubuga Musiime
Real Stories

“Great marriages are not conflict free”- Christabel Nansubuga Musiime

February 23, 2021
I knew she was the one before I met her
Real Stories

I knew she was the one before I met her

February 22, 2021
Next Post
Different wedding gown colours and their meaning

Different wedding gown colours and their meaning

We are on Facebook

My Wedding

RECOMMENDED

This is what newlywed Apostle Grace Lubega thinks about marriage
Advice

This is what newlywed Apostle Grace Lubega thinks about marriage

March 11, 2019
Finance / Budget

Simple does not mean substandard: How the Matsigas pulled off a classy wedding with Shs13million

November 22, 2018

Follow us on Twitter

My Wedding provides reliable information on tips, life stories, experiences and advice for people intending to wed or have introduction ceremonies. Email: mywedding@ug.nationmedia.com. Airtel House, Plot 40 Wampewo Avenue, Opposite Hotel Africana.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2019

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Vendor List
  • Ceremony & Reception
    • Catering Services
    • Church
    • Decor
    • Music & Entertainment
    • Photos & Video
    • Reception Venue
    • Rings
    • Wedding Cakes
  • Advice
    • Finance / Budget
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Bridal Hairstyle & Make Up
    • Bridesmaid & Groomsmen
    • Groom Style
    • Wedding Gown
  • Honeymoon
  • Kwanjula
  • Real Stories

© 2019