Ram sellers in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, on Monday decried low patronage barely seven days to the 2019 Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the sellers said customers were not forthcoming in spite of the payment of July salaries by the state government.
“Our hope for a brisk business this year seems to have been dashed as a result of the poor state of the nation’s economy,” Mr Suleiman Elega, the Chairman, Ram Dealers Association in Mandate Market, said.
“The price of our rams range between N15,000 and N150,000. That of goats range from N5,000, N40,000, N50,000 to N150,000 depending on the size that our customers want,” he said.
According to him, the situation has forced many ram dealers to sell on credit.
Elega said that a similar development was experienced in 2018, adding that he thought that this year’s situation would not be worse.
Another livestock dealer at Sango Cattle Market, Mr Kunle Bello, said that ram business was not flourishing as before.
He said that a big ram was about N110,000, while the smallest was N30,000.
Bello said that the price of ram this year were lower than during the Eid-el-Kabir period in 2018.
“The price of rams has come down by 40 to 80 per cent compared to what obtained in 2018.
“A ram which costs N100,000 now, attracted about N120, 000 in 2018,” he said.
Bello blamed the low patronage on the current economic situation in the country, but expressed optimism that the situation would change before the Sallah celebration.
According to him, the price of a ram at the market ranges between N40,000 and N150, 000.
A buyer, Alhaji Zakari Ganiyu, confirmed that there was low patronage because many rams were in the market.
Ganiyu, who bought N100,000 worth of ram, said that the situation would definitely improve as Sallah approaches.
