As the dominant Muslims residents of the northern Nigeria state of Kano, prepares for the celebration of this year Eld-Kabir festival, prices of rams and cattle have been on the onward movement in the state.
Ram and Cattle are two types of domestic animals that are normally used for sacrifice by Muslims across the Nigeria, during the annual Islamic obligatory festival.
In view of the importance of the animals for effective performance of the festival, several hundreds of them usually breeds predominantly in the northern part of the country are usually traded at this period of the year.
Checks on the commodity conducted by BusinessDay, weekend in some of the open markets in the commercial city of Kano were they are traded indicates a tremendous upward movement in their price.
At Unguwa Uku Ram Market, one of the most active outlets where the commodity is traded, it was observed that the price of the smallest ram goes for #40,000 when compared to #20,000 it was selling last year.
In the same vein, it was also noted that the price of some of the rams which normally sell for between #40,000 to #50,000, now sells for between #80,000 to #120,000.
Also at the Dawanu Grain Market, where rams are usually imported from neighboring countries of Niger Republic, Chad, and Cameroun, for sale during the festival, price of the commodity have also skyrocketed.
Confirming the development, Musa Mairago, who is a Ram seller at Unguwa Uku Ram Market, attributed the development to the hike in the price of transporting the rams to the market.
According to Mairago, the cost of transporting rams from the farm gates in places like Sokoto, Kebbi, and Adamawa states, have increased by as much as 150% in the recent time.
He said the increment in the cost of transporting the commodity is responsible primarily for the upward movement in the price it is being offer in the open markets, in the state.
Also shedding light on the factors responsible for hike in the price of the commodity, Aliyu Danjuma, a ram seller at Dawanu Grain Market, attributed the high cost of rams to the prevailing violent activities of insurgent groups in the north east area of the country.
“It is true that the price of rams has gone up beyond the reach of most ordinary people in the state, this year, which is very unfortunate, we know that the number one reason was the increase in cost of transportation, in addition to the problem of terrorists being experienced in some state in the northern part of the country.
“Before traders from as far as Chad, Central Africa Republic, and Sudan usually bring their rams for sell during this period, but since the problem of Boko-Haram start in 2009, most of them have stopped coming” he added.
What is also compounding the inability of most Muslims in the state, particularly those in the state civil service, from purchasing the ram, was the decision of the Kano state government to suspend the annual ram bonus introduced by the Ibrahim Shekarau regime.
