Days to this year’s Eid-el-Kabir, some Muslims in Ibadan metropolis are worried about the celebration, as cost of ram and other types of animals usually slaughtered for sacrifice have soared beyond the reach of many.
For the Muslim faithful, their worries are compounded by the prices of tomatoes, pepper and other ingredients, which continue to increase sharply.
According to our Correpondent in Ibadan, Bodija Ram Market, Aleshinloye, Oranyan and Akinyele Markets, and reports that there were a lot of rams with few buyers.
One of the ram sellers, Malam Mohammed Abdulsalam, attributed the hike to the increasing cost of transportation from the northern part of the country to the southwest.
Abdulsalam said that he paid N5,000 to transport each of the rams and feed them, which added to the cost.
A buyer, Mr Kamorudeen Ishaq, told our Correspondent that he could not afford to buy ram, so he opted for a goat, which he bought at N80,000 and could not be compared with the ram he bought in 2024 at the rate of N40,000.
“Though killing of ram is obligatory for Muslims, who have the means and capability, if there is no means to do so, opportunity may come next year,” Ishaq said.
He advised Muslims not to stretch themselves financially to slaughter ram for Sallah and not borrow for the celebration.
NAN observed that prices of rams ranged from N200,000 to N1.3 million, while goats were sold from N70,000 upward.
Meanwhile, prices of pepper had soared in Ibadan even before the Sallah, and a seller at Akinyele Market, Alhaji Isyaku Mahmud, attributed this to the economic situation of the country.
He said there were vehicles with loads of pepper coming from the North, towards the southwest, but, were stranded at Mokwa, in Niger State, where a bridge collapsed, thereby preventing passage, hence, the high cost.
Another seller, Ibrahim Haruna, said a bag of Rodo (bonnet pepper) now sells for N170,000 against N120,000 in May, a basket of tomatoes is now N30,000, and a crate is N12,000.
He said that a bag of bawa was being sold at N110,000, against the earlier price of N40,000, while a bag of onion had increased to N72,000 from N50,000.
At Bodija pepper market, a trader, Alhaja Munirat Ige, complained of the high cost, compared with the number of residents with small resources, which had also affected sales.
A resident of Ibadan, Mrs Bashirat Eniodunmo, called on governments in the southwest to assist farmers to grow pepper, because it is an integral part of almost all Yoruba cuisines.
Eniodunmo said: “Every year, Muslims spend a lot of their resources to buy pepper, which is always expensive during Sallah, our governments should save us”
