Ahead of the forthcoming Muslim Eid celebrations, livestock traders in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Friday blamed high cost of rams on worsening insecurity in the northern part of the country as well as the high cost of transportation.
Traders who spoke with Saturday Telegraph on Friday stated that the situation had restricted their movements in search of rams, which is the main commodity used by Muslims to mark the celebrations.
A trader at the popular Aiyegbaju Market, Mr. Adejare Ayoade said due to the situation in northern part of the country, traders have reverted to buying rams from intermediaries owing to their understanding of the terrain and techniques of gathering the animals without falling in the hands of bandits.
This, he said had resulted in additional cost of transportation, contrary to what obtained in the past when there was relative security in that part of the country.
He said: “The same size of ram we sold during last year’s Sallah for N450,000 is now being sold for between N600,000 and N650,000. A ram of N130,000 is now being sold N250,000 while N70,000 rate of ram is now N120,000.”
Echoing similar views, another trader, at the sheep and goats market, Stadium area of Osogbo, Alhaji Azeez Muhammad said, “We cannot go to those villages again to buy rams due to security challenges in those places; we don’t want to be killed or kidnapped by the bandits. So, we only rely on middlemen.”
Muhammad stated that the cost of loading a trailer, which was between N800,000 and N950,000 last year has now increased to between N1.7 million and N1.9 million.
“We have no other option than to increase the prices of rams to cater for the cost of transportation which has taken large chunk of what is supposed to be our profits,” he said.
A patron at the market, Mr. Lekan Agboola who spoke with our correspondent said that the same size of ram he bought last year for N140,000 is now being sold for between N250,000 and N126,000.
Agboola said he decided to buy the ram early to avoid last minute rush, hoping that it would be cheaper.
New Telegraph observed that prices of rams across the markets visited have increased by between 25 per cent and 50 per cent, depending on the sizes.
