Sallah: Rams Everywhere Only Few Buyers

Ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir Muslim festival on Sunday, several ram markets have sprung up in Minna the capital of Niger State but only few buyers were patronising the markets.

Contrary to what operated in previous years, ram markets have been opened in virtually all strategic locations where they never operated before with varieties of rams used to flood the markets. Ram traders from as far as Niger Republic, Maiduguri, Kano and Sokoto brought in large consignments of rams into the markets a development that contributed to crash in the prices of the animals. Unlike in the previous festivals an average size of ram now sell for N20,000 as against N30,000 and N40,000, the medium size now sell for between N40,000- N60,000 instead of N60,000- N80,000 while the big size is sold for between N130,000 and N170,000 as against N150,000 and N180,000. Malam Abdullahi Usman a ram trader in Bosso attributed the lull in the ram trade to the influx of traders and rams from “everywhere” while Alhaji Ahmed Sabo head of the ram sellers in Minna confirmed that the ram market had been very dull this year. The inability of many Muslims to purchase ram has been attributed to the poor economic situation in the country coupled with the failure of state and local governments to pay the August salaries to their workers. However prices of other items needed for the celebration have remained stable comparable to this time last year.

A measure of imported parboiled rice sell for N300 instead of N600 this time last year while beans is sold for between N250 and N300 a measure as against N600 and N800 last year.

Vegetable and palm oil prices remain stable but tomatoes have virtually disappeared from the markets.