Millennium Park, the venue for the Children funfair for the 8th Edition of the Abuja carnival on Sunday witnessed low turnout compared with the previous years.

A cross-section of the children said that they were happy but regretted the low turnout of other children who should have made the carnival more interesting.

Miss Ifeoma Ojinta, a student of Government Secondary School Tudun Wada, Abuja, said that the low turnout of children was due to the insecurity challenges in the country.

"This year's carnival is incomparable with the previous years as there are few people that attended.

"What I can say is that insecurity situation in the country might be responsible. People are afraid to bring their children for fun. Just imagine there is bombing in Kaduna today," she said.

Miss Zainab Isah, a student of Stella Maris Private Secondary School, Abuja, also attributed the low turnout to finance; pointing out that salaries had not yet been paid to civil servants who were expected to bring their children.

"I believe lack of money prevented many people from celebrating with their fellows," Isah said.

Mr. Odey Sylvester from Orozo Technical College said that the low turnout was as a result of government's policy to mark the event on a low key. He said that the previous year, the event was more interesting and bigger than this one.

Mr. Tobi Temisan, a student of Government Secondary School, Gwagwalada, justified the low turnout by attributing it to inadequate publicity.

Temisan said that the publicity ought to have started three months before the event to create more awareness for people to attend.

"The publicity started late. This is the major cause of not seeing many people at the event when compared with the previous years," he said.

NAN