Traders recorded high patronage by Muslim faithful yesterday as they made last minute shopping for the Eid-el-Fitri (end of Ramadan fast) celebration, even as the prices of basic food items skyrocketed in most markets across the country.
The survey conducted in some markets revealed marginal increase in the prices of foodstuffs, which are almost beyond the reach of the average Nigerians. Some commodities that witnessed noticeable increases in their prices include rice, yams, semovita, chicken, beef, tomatoes, groundnut oil, palm oil, pepper, and among others.
Though the traders attributed the hikes to high transportation cost, high inflation rate and poor economy, some buyers argued that it has become the traders’ habit to always use the opportunity of any festival to make huge profit from rushing customers.
A pepper seller at Nyanya market in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Malam Ibrahim Tahir confirmed that “we are selling as twice as any other day, at least today I have sold like three bags of pepper instead of only one I used to sell in ordinary days”.
Speaking in the same vein, a yam seller, Mrs. Catherine Yusuf said she also recorded huge sales while as she had made over N15, 000 profit from the yams sold as at 2pm yesterday.
However, a basket of tomatoes in the same market had dropped by about five per cent from between N1, 800 and N2, 000 due to the arrival of new produce while the price of the brown and white varieties of beans remained stable at N350 and N250 respectively.
Similarly, the price of the big old yam tubers had dropped N3, 500 for a set of five tubers to between N2, 500 and N2, 000 because of the arrival of new yams in the market. Similarly, Mallam Musa Imam said that price of a measure of wheat moved from N1, 700 to N1, 800, and the price of Palm oil rose to N2,500 per gallon.
However, he said that a Mudu of flour maintained its N250 price, a crate of egg sold for N800 as against N700.
In Kaduna, many Muslims also make last minute shopping as all markets located within the metropolis were full of buyers who had come to buy textiles or foodstuffs to celebrate the festival.
A seller at the Sheik Abubakar Gumi Market in the metropolis, a man who identified himself as Umar Mai-Wake (bean seller) told our correspondent that he gave thanks to Almighty Allah for allowing Muslims to see the end of the fasting as it afforded sellers to have higher patronage which may not be witnessed on ordinary days.
The same high patronage was also noticed at various motor parks in the metropolis where motorists cashed in on the festive period to make brisk businesses.
When Nigerian Pilot visited Angwar Sarki and Kawo motor parks, passengers were seen in their scores bearding vehicles to their various destinations where they will celebrate Sallah.
Going round the town, our correspondent noticed people in groups slaughtering cows which they had contributed money to buy in the form of co-operatives in order to reduce cost of buying meat at the abattoir or market.