Funseekers who trooped out in their thousands to witness this year’s Calabar carnival have bemoaned the inability of the government to light up the city, especially the procession routes of the carnival.

Some of the funseekers spoke in separate interviews in Calabar on Wednesday on the sixth day of the annual carnival.

The respondents noted that the non-functional street lights on the routes robbed the carnival which started on a high note during the day of the shine it deserved.

The 12km route runs from Eleven Eleven Roundabout on the highway to Effio-Ette junction along Marian Road and down to the end point at the stadium.

They noted that the government should have done better by ensuring the functionality of the street lights long before the carnival period.

A respondent, Pascal Bajie, an entrepreneur based in Calabar regretted that the 2022 edition of the carnival which last took place in 2019 lacked the usual glamour.

He pointed out that before now the street lights that had only functioned occasionally for years, should have been fixed for the purpose of the carnival.

He expressed disappointment in the government who are the organisers of the carnival, saying it amounts to a waste of time.

“There is no fun because we can’t even record the procession this night because of non-functional street lights.”

Similarly, Theresa Ogwu, who resides in Calabar said many of the funseekers who came from outside the state would be greatly disappointed with this outcome.

“The night activity was expected to be highly entertaining and fun to watch should there have been functional street lights.

“You can see how poor the illumination is on the carnival routes. It wasn’t like this in previous editions and the government ought to know better.

“In previous editions, the streets lights are usually turned on even before 6pm but its 7:30 p.m. now and the lights are not on,” she stated.

On his part, Andy Akin, a visitor to the town, who also bemoaned the absence of street light, said an international event like this that saw participants from no fewer than 14 countries should have better be organised.

It would be recalled that the annual carnival which started during the administration of Donald Duke, has not been held for the past two years.

The carnival was suspended in 2022 due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic while no reason was given for the carnival not being held in 2021.

Efforts were still being made to put some facilities in place for the 2022 edition of the carnival which was hurriedly put up.

The 2022 edition of the carnival had on Tuesday suffered a tragic event when eight persons died and 29 injured when a vehicle lost control and rammed into a crowd of onlookers during the day fifth day of the carnival.

(NAN)