With more than a week to the Eid-el-Kabir (Sallah) celebration, commodities’ prices, especially rams, are going out of the reach of most Muslim faithful. Across various markets visited, the patronage seems to be low. However, the coming days are expected to witness higher sales at a higher price of commodities, JANE CHIJIOKE reports.
As a yearly ritual, Musa Ibrahim, a middle-aged businessman, takes time to prepare well ahead of Eid-el-Kabir (Sallah) celebration. As part of his early preparation, he ensures that three weeks before the festivities, he gets ram to slaughter, rice, groundnut oil and other food ingredients required by his family to have a merry celebration.
This, according to him, helps to avoid last minute rush for these items, whose prices would have quadrupled in most cases. But this year, Ibrahim got the greatest shock of all times, getting ram three weeks ahead of time did not yield the envisaged result. A medium-sized ram, which he usually bought for N35, 000 at such periods, now sells for N55, 000.
Ibrahim had to settle for the seemingly inflated cost of ram after visiting four various ram markets only to realise that there was a very difference in their prices. Indeed, many Muslim faithful may have to pay more to purchase rams for the Sallah.
Though rams have flooded the markets, sellers are not giving room for much bargain as they are selling at prices they feel have covered the expenses in transporting them to the market and rearing the animals. This is because the sheep and cattle market has continued to face challenges ranging from increase in price of the feeds, extortion by security personnel at check-points, transportation fee and other miscellaneous charges levied on the flock.
For instance, Chairman, Ram Sellers Association at Mangoro in Agege, a suburb of Lagos, Gali Muhammed, told The Nation that ferrying the flock to Lagos does not come cheap. This is aside regular extortions by miscreants, “Area Boys”.
“We pay N300,000 sometimes N450,000 to transport these livestock to Lagos. That does not include the charges we have to pay at every checkpoint all the way. These people charge us exorbitantly. When these goods finally get to the market we still have to pay in thousands to area boys to offload before we can sell our flock or ram,” said Muhammed. Corroborating the views of Muhammed, another ram dealer, Bukhir Muhammed, explained that the rising cost of animals is a result of the overhead cost incurred.
“Aside the festive seasons, a ram in the north can be as cheap as N5,000. But by the time you calculate the transportation, feeding, paying unnecessary money to touts and taskforce agents who come here to harass us at times, such a ram will eventually be sold for between N20,000 and N30,000.
”Another ram seller, who identified himself as Shuaibu Isa, explained that the northern herdsmen clashes and insurgency have taken their toll on the market. He said some who had lost their animals in the clashes sold the ones they have at higher prices, while some of the cattle rearers who may have lost their animals and properties now live in Internal Displaced person’s camps.
At various ram market visited, the smallest size of ram ranges between N30,000 and N60,000, medium size sells between N75,000 and N150,000 while the big ones are sold for N180,000 and above. They nonetheless explained that shoppers, who will buy next week will pay higher for the rams, considering that Sallah celebration would have inched closer. Interestingly, market operators are convinced that the week leading to the Sallah celebration presents the best time for boom in sales and profit as Muslim shoppers would continue to flood the ram market up till sallah day.
”We are trying our best to ensure that these animals look healthy and attractive to buyers. There is probability that the price will still rise above the N4, 500 and we still need to buy these foods. So, when buyers come to buy, they should not assume that we are just trying to make more profits. A lot of money go into these ram market. But, despite the high cost of rams, most of the sellers are optimistic of making more sales because of the significance of ram to eid-el-kabir celebration. They are optimistic that most ardent Muslim faithful, notwithstanding the high prices, would want to budget more to ensure they partake in the celebration because of the blessings attached to it in the holy book.”
Explaining why shoppers indulge in last minute rush for rams, a seller at Mile12 market, who identified himself as Adamu, explained that though last minute shopping does not favour shoppers, yet they indulge in it because most of them cannot keep and feed the animals in their homes for long, while to some, the sallah holiday provides enough time to make necessary purchases for the celebration.
“So for us, it is an opportunity to make profit,” he added. Yet, the dealers have not failed to place demands on the government. Muhammed called on Lagos State government to provide space for them sell their livestock, saying that the Mangoro Railway Line, which they use as ram depot is no longer safe for them to trade as it is under construction.
”The government should please give us space where we will sell our product. This railway where we display our animals is fast becoming a finished project and when that happens, we can no longer stay here. In fact, we have been faced with taskforce chasing us out of this place. Even our goods that just arrived, we are worried about their safety. We only hope that we will finish selling them before the worst meet us here,” he said, adding that since there is no proper shelter for the animals, most of them die out of cold as they are consistently under the rain.
Interestingly, and against all expectations, prices of some food items that skyrocketed since the beginning of the rainy season are gradually reducing, making it relatively affordable for Sallah celebration. A basket of tomatoes now sells from between N6, 500 and N11, 000, depending on its freshness as against former price of N14, 000.
Likewise, half bag of pepper sells for between N4,000 and N5,000 as against N10,000- N16,000. But Tatashe pepper still maintains its high price of N8, 000-10,000 for a bag. A derica of rice still remains between N250-N300, while a 10kg of Semovita sells for N3, 000 and a five-litre Kings oil sells for N3,000.