MON, JANUARY 1 2018-theG&BJournal-180 million Nigerians celebrated the New Year in worship grounds, bars and on the streets and with fireworks as they ushered in 2018, with many expressing not only their joy but wishes and prayers for a better Nigeria in 2018.
“I wish that as we begin the New Year, all the political and social mistakes of 2017, will be a thing of the past,” says Dwanye Chukwuma, a student of political science in one of Nigeria’s universities.
Worldwide, it was a glorious moment marked with fireworks, singing and dancing. In London, the famous Big Ben rang out at mid night to welcome the New Year before over 10,000 fireworks lit up the sky before over 100,000 ticket holders who braced the very cold weather.
North Korea ushered in the New Year with mixed messages of conciliatory tone and nuclear messages. He also called for improved relation with South Korea. He called out the US again reminding the US President Donald Trump that the “nuclear Button is always on my desk.”
New York Times (NYT) reports that in Sydney, rainbow fireworks sparkled off the Harbour Bridge in celebration of Australia’s recent legalization of gay marriage. (Sydney was among the first major cities to celebrate with fireworks at the stroke of midnight.).
In Japan, people paraded in fox masks to attend the first prayer of the year at a Shinto shrine in Tokyo and in the In the Philippines, NYT reports that revelers gathered, phones in hands at the Eastwood Mall in Manila to watch ballons and confetti rain down at midnight.
In Beijing big pots of tea were prepared for New Year’s eve celebrations. China is also celebrating the Lunar New Year in February.
