The Eid Il Kabir festival slated for Thursday and Friday, September 24 and 25 respectively but traders are complaining bitterly that the festivity has not improved their sale.
A visit to some markets in Lagos showed few people around to shop for the Sallah festival. A stop at the popular Agege market in Lagos did not portray the air of festivity that is typical of the eve Sallah celebrations. Instead, traders complained that sales were poor.
A visit to the pepper section of the market showed lots of tomatoes on display with few rodo and tatase. The sellers said that the low turnout of buyers was a rare occurrence, as in the past, people would be struggling to buy pepper.
Pepper sellers at the market.
Mrs Lanre Orji, a pepper seller who spoke exclusively to Naij.com crew said it was surprising that people were not in the market.
She said: “When there is a celebration, people will come to the market and pepper is one of the things they always buy. This time round, nobody is coming. If we cannot sell the little we have, how will we go to Mile 12 and buy more?”
The same complaint was also given in the chicken section of the market. Bashir Musa, the son of the chairman of the chicken sellers said birds were an option for those who could not afford to buy cows or rams.
He said sale has not changed even though there was a festival around the corner. He however did not believe that the low sale was due to lack of money. He said people focused more on getting clothes rather than buying chicken for the festival.
Chicken sellers in the market.
Musa added that if there was money, people would buy clothes and still buy food items.
He said: “We voted for change so we must be patient with President Muhammadu Buhari. Next year, I hope a lot of people will come and buy fowl from us.”
A stop at the meat sellers place also showed low patronage. The sellers complained about how expensive it was to get meat. The said the Sallah festival had made meat expensive but unfortunately, buyers were not ready to pay more. One seller revealed that he was frustrated as a cow lap that would ordinarily have been purchased from the butcher for N20, 000 was now sold for N30, 000.
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Meat sellers in the market.
He said: “The unfortunate thing is that buyers now come very late in the evening and want to buy meat for small amounts when they know we will be forced to sell. If I can get another work, I’ll quit this one.”
The story was also similar at the frozen food section of the market. Mrs Kehinde Omoniyi, a chicken seller who spoke to Naij.com said ordinarily, they would have been too busy to attend to reporters but their ability to give audience reporters was because of low patronage. She begged the government to intervene in the economic problem the country was facing.
“It is when we sell that we can take care of our children and also eat. The government should please make the country better because we are not feeling the festival at all.”
A final stop at the Ankara and ready-made clothes section showed the situation was not different. The sellers insisted that people were more concerned about buying food rather than clothes.
A seller who gave her name simply as Iya Faridah said monetary exchange had affected the price in Dubai where they came from. She added that this had made the festive period dry because few people could pay for the clothes because they were expensive.
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Another clothe seller, Mrs Banjo Adetutu lamented bitterly that President Buhari’s focus on fighting corruption was not helping matters.
She said: “I don’t know what Buhari is doing. He is just fighting corruption while neglecting the economy. How long will this go on? He should not just fight corruption but help Nigerians.”
The complaint concerning low patronage by traders is not limited to them alone.Cattle sellers in Lagos have also complained about few customers.
Culled from Naij.com.
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