Traders lament ove low patronage, even as consumers lament the hike in the prices of commodities – ranging from food items to non-edible items, the complaints remain the same in Nasarawa.
At the popular Cattle market located along Shinge road, Lafia local government area, ram sellers told our correspondent on Monday that the reason behind the hike in commodities was due to the high cost of transportation resulting from an increment in petroleum pump price.
A man simply identified as Alhaji Abubakar, a ram seller maintained that “The high transportation cost is being suffered by the marketers.”
Another seller Alhaji Jubril Musa complained that the profit margin is incomparable to last year’s due to low patronage.
“It has been reduced, for instance, a situation whereby you’re supposed to sell a ram on a normal day for N150,000 with a profit of either N20,000 or N15,000 but you are now making just N5,000 on it, you know how it feels. Out of the rams we have right now, you will find the ones that go for N250,000 N300,000 and even N400,000.
“The charges and levies are the sole reasons for the rise in prices of rams and cows, but we do not have any choice other than to sell at the rate we found it.
“The main cause of the inflation is the high cost of fuel, as it has affected the level of patronage. Customers are not patronizing us like before. The animals on the ground shouldn’t be here two days before the festival. People are not buying! The government should help us. Inflation is also killing our trade gradually.”
A civil servant, Hassan Mamman who came to the market to buy his sallah ram, expressed sadness over the cost and urged the government to help look into the issue.
When Nigerian Tribune visited Lafia Modern market,it was discovered that most of the commodities including rice, onions, vegetable oil, palm oil etc were at the high side as compared to year 2022.