Club owners rejoice as Ramadan ends •We missed our Muslim friends —Christian club-goers •Beer parlour operators lament pangs of holy month

AT night, the city of Lagos falls over. Lagosians pick lounges and bars to cool off after the hard day’s work. It is from these usual activities that the ‘Lagos does not sleep’ idea was coined. But all these activities vanish at a certain period of the year.

From Page nightclub in Ikeja to Roddizzio lounge in GRA, stretching to Quilox in Victoria Island and D’Place in Lekki, night club owners and managers groaned. Patronage has been on the low. It has been the holy month of Ramadan.

Ramadan is the holy month in which Muslims all over the world fast from daybreak to sunset. At this period of time, not only do the faithful do away with food but the social enthusiasts among them also avoid alcohol, smoking and other habits that are deemed spiritually perverted and this largely affects patronage in nightclubs, bars and even roadside beer parlours in Lagos.

At Quilox nightclub, which is regarded as Lagos most popular hangout, for instance, it noticeable that business has not been as usual for the past couple of weeks. The structure would have been empty save for the presence of the staffers and a few patrons who huddle in a corner to enjoying their drinks.

One of the nightclub’s managers revealed to Saturday Tribune that Ramadan is the lowest period on their calendar and they always prepare for it. The manager hinted that the club’s management usually close the hangout for renovation for the one month that the fasting is observed. He disclosed further that the owner of the club, Sina Peller, is away in Saudi Arabia for Umrah (a pilgrimage to Makkah, which can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to hajj), given the fact that Ramadan is a period when he does not expect much activity.

“At our best, we make between N25 million and N30 million but during Ramadan, we hardly make N5 million. You can also do the calculation,” he said.

Frank Okamigbo, who manages D’Place nightclub in Lekki, stated that Ramadan is a period of rest and planning for any experienced nightclub owner.

The club manager disclosed that it is a period “when you plan for the rest of the year as all the big spenders, both Christian and Muslim, disappear during the fasting period. Frank, who could not hide his excitement, told Saturday Tribune: “I am glad it is over. Now we can go back to business”.

Beer parlour owners groaned too

It was also revealed that the last one month has not been rosy for operators of pubs, popularly referred to as beer parlours, or simply bars, in Lagos. Many of them have lamented what they have described as a significant drop in the sale of alcoholic drinks since the commencement of the holy month.

It is a well-known fact that Muslims stay off liquor in the month-long fasting season. Alcohol (and tobacco) is generally considered sinful and as such, it is treated as something that must be done away with.

To confirm how efficient this (abstinence from alcohol consumption during Ramadan) has been, Saturday Tribune visited some beer parlours in Lagos where it made observations and spoke with the operators, all of whom lamented to have not been smiling to the banks since Ramadan started as they have been recording poor patronage.

In one instance, at 8.00 p.m., which could be considered a good time for any bar to record good patronage, only a few customers were seen. A large array of empty chairs and tables could be seen all around the partially dark bar, which is situated in the Abule Taylor area of Agbado.

Bar business is widely considered as being lucrative in Nigeria, a situation which, in many instances, causes as many as three beer joints to be sited on the same street only a few meters apart. Perhaps the recent condemnation by a monarch of the proliferation of beer parlour business in a south-eastern state lends credence to this.

But it was discovered that the number of people who frequent bars to, among other things, unwind, socialise, hang out with friends, has reduced drastically in the past weeks.

A beer parlour owner in the Abule Taylor area of Agbado, Mrs Pondra Azubuike, told Saturday Tribune that since the commencement of the fasting period, patronage has dropped by as much as 70 percent.

“Before the fasting season began, between 7.00 p.m. an d 11.00 p.m., which is the peak period for beer parlour business, I would have recorded an average of 50 customers but in the past few weeks, I have barely had up to 15 customers. The few who still patronise me often go for the cheapest brands of beer and after drinking just a bottle or two, they would leave.

“In fact, someone has suggested that I should close shop until after the fasting season but I am not going to do that because I know in the next few days, when the fasting is over, things will pick up again,” she said.

Similarly, the manager of a very popular bar, which has been rumoured to also operate a strip club, in the Fagba area of Lagos said he was not bothered by the current lull in business occasioned by the fasting season. He expressed confidence that things would pick up as soon as the spiritual exercise is over.

“It is only a newbie or an inexperienced person in this business that would lose sleep because of what is happening now. I have been in this business long enough to know that this is not something strange. It is a norm that during Ramadan sale drops considerably but bar business is structured in such a way that in just one week, you could make the kind of sales you couldn’t make in a month,” the manager, who wanted to be identified simply as KC posited.

KC also noted that the conclusion of major football competitions in Europe, especially the Champions League, which was rounded off just days into the fasting season, had also not helped matters.

“One other thing that attracts customers is top quality football competition. Anytime there is a major match, we record almost twice the number of customers here. But since the Champions League was concluded on June 3, patronage has also plummeted. The fasting exercise is what has done the most damage to our business,” he added.

A similar position was maintained by the owner of Spring Bar, another pub located at the Adura Bus Stop end of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Mrs Lydia Akinfenwa, who insisted that from an average of 30 customers per night, she currently hardly got 12. But she was also optimistic that in a matter of days, things would become “normal” again.

“I can assure you that there can be no bar, restaurant or hotel that would be recording the same volume of sales or business transactions as before the commencement of the fasting. We are all waiting for the fasting season to be over. In all honesty, there is nothing new about this. After spending close to a decade in this business, I am aware of how things work. Therefore, I can confidently say that in a matter of days, everything will go back to normal.

“Sometimes when I even joke with some of my customers and playfully inquire why they have not been coming, they would assure me that I should be expecting them immediately Ramadan is over,” she stated.

Apart from pubs, Saturday Tribune was also reliably informed that a similar situation exists among prostitutes, especially those who operate in brothels.

A source who works in a local brothel close to the railway junction at Agege disclosed that prostitutes operating there had been bemoaning low patronage since the fasting season began. According to the source, who craved anonymity because he works in the brothel (the identity of which is also shielded to further protect the source’s identity), a prostitute who attends to an average of four or five men per day now finds it very difficult to have even one or two.

“A couple of days ago, a fracas almost broke out among them (the prostitutes) when about four of them bickered over just one customer who had come calling,” the source said.

Meanwhile, in the course of this report, Saturday Tribune interacted with a young Muslim cleric, Ibrahim Kadiri, who condemned what he described as “lack of attitudinal change” in many Muslim once Ramadan is over.

He insisted that any bad habit, including drinking of alcohol, which a Muslim did away with at Ramadan, is not meant to be gone back to when the spiritual exercise is over, as doing so would amount to nothing but hypocrisy.

“God forbids hypocrisy. Therefore, the end of Ramadan fast is not a licence for a true Muslim to go back to his old ways. Anyone who does this is not practising what Islam teaches and has gained nothing from Ramadan. Such an attitude suggests nothing but hypocrisy which God detests,” he said.

Are there more Muslim ballers than Christian?

This seems to be a big question asked by many. It is a poser raised every Ramadan season as social activities during the holy month is always unusual.

Tosin Odukale, an estate agent and a Christian, reasoned that “fasting period is the same everywhere. There is no point comparing the social activeness of both religions. During the Christian fasting (lent), social activities are also crippled.”

James Onuh, a businessman and a Catholic faithful, had a different opinion. He said: “Muslims are the ballers o! I don’t frequent clubs or attend parties during Ramadan. Most of my friends are Muslims and we go out together. I have missed them. I can’t wait for them to finish their fasting.”

Akeem Azeez, a politician and a Muslim, said: “Ramadan has always been the same since I was a boy. It is a moment of holiness we observe all over the world. As Ramadan moves to an end, it is important to embrace the new lifestyle and maintain it. The period encourages the best behaviour and attitude as many faithful jettison some of their immoral and sinful activities in order to be pure. So, why go back to such activities after Ramadan?” he asked.

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