Work Resumes After New Year Break

Normal work resumes throughout the country today after the New Year break which commenced last Friday.

The Federal Government had declared Friday the first of January 2010, as a public holiday to enable Nigerians to celebrate the New Year.

The period has provided the opportunity for the people to travel to their various communities to celebrate the New Year.

However, when The Tide visited some parks in Port Harcourt city to assess the situation, some of those who traveled to the countryside for the New Year celebration were seen returning back to the city.

Some of those who spoke to The Tide at the Abali Motorpark said that the celebrations were low keyed as a result of the hardship occasioned by fuel scarcity, while some complained that they left without salaries.

They however said that the celebration this time around was very peaceful in most communities across the state, a situation which they attributed to the amnesty programme.

Mrs Helen Sotonye who hails from Okrika told The Tide that she was grateful to God for the peaceful atmosphere of the New Year in Okrika.

Mr Joel Egele also told The Tide that the celebration at Ngo was very peaceful, stressing that the only problem that people had was the increase in transport fare.

Mr Oti Amadi told The Tide that he was grateful for the peace that prevailed in the state throughout the period of the festivities a situation which according to him was not common before now.