….As traders lament low patronage

Traders at various markets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have lamented low patronage as Nigerian Muslims join their foreign counterparts to celebrate Eid-elKabir.

Some markets visited by City News were without the usual gale of residents shopping in preparation for Sallah.

Some of the traders said the few residents that patronize complain, “There is no money in the country.”

Uchenna James sells tomatoes at the Garki Market. She said the low patronage might be connected to the delay in the payment of civil servants’ salaries.

“The prices of goods are not increased this year, still nobody they come buy,” she said in Pidgin English.

At the Utako Market, City News observed yesterday morning that activities at the market were at a low ebb as traders said residents have left the city for their states to celebrate Sallah with their families.

“FCT is a civil servants’ city, so during holidays, people usually travel out of the territory. And this break falls on a weekend,” Aliyu Hameed, a chicken trader at the market said.