Ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid-el-Kabir, customers are faced with the high cost of rams in Kano.
A check in some markets within the Kano metropolis on Thursday revealed that the markets were flooded with rams, but buyers were few.
At Dan-Agundi livestock market in Kano metropolis, the lowest price for a medium size ram was N140,000 while the big ones went for as high as N300,000.
Some of the customers said that the prices were too high, compared to last year when they bought rams at between N80,000 and N130,000.
A customer, Musa Shanono, who was met haggling over the price at the market, complained of the cost, but hoped that it would crash before the commencement of the celebration.
Another customer at Yan-Awaki market in Unguwa-Uku, Abdulaziz Buba, said he was unable to buy any ram due to the high price, but would wait until after the Eid prayers before buying one.
“There are other preparations to make ahead of the Eid; buying a ram at an exorbitant price is not necessary at this time. Hopefully, the prices would crash after the Eid prayer,” he said.
Jibril Shehu, a ram seller at Dawanau market, blamed the rise in prices on the high cost of breeding livestock, transport, insecurity and the general economic hardship in the country.
“We didn’t increase the prices deliberately, because anything you go to market to buy now is costly,” he explained.
Another ram dealer at Yan-Awaki market, Bala Muhammad, attributed the hike in prices of rams to the increase in the cost of transportation occasioned by subsidy removal.
“We are not making much profit because of the cost of transporting the animals. We also have to tend to the rams, feed and vaccinate them while waiting for customers,” he said.
He added that apart from the conventional ones, temporary ram markets had sprouted up on many major streets of Kano.
Another dealer at Ring Road, Sabo Aminu, said that the ram that sold for N80,000 last year was now going for N150,000.