Ram Sellers: People Only Complain About Ram Prices, No One Cared If We Sold At A Loss, Ram sellers say animals are expensive from source because breeders sell to meet their other needs, Two weeks after the Muslim Sallah festivity, Eid el Adha, most ram markets in Lagos and environs remain filled to the brim with the animals, indicating poor sales. Many have blamed it on the greed of the sellers, accusing them of taking advantage of the economy to extort people; but the sellers have a contrary story, which they shared with Gboyega Alaka....READ FULL ARTICLE
Eid-el Kabir, Eid-el Adha, or Ileya, as the Yoruba love to call it, or even Sallah, as it is widely known, has come and gone. However, what may remain indelible is the crazy prices placed on rams, the most prized sacrificial animal for the Muslim festivity.
Like never before, the animal went for as much as N500,000, even up to a whopping N1 million in some rare cases. The more intermediate sizes sold for between N250,000 and N350,000, while the smaller sizes sold within the range of N130,000 and N180,000.
This, of course, meant the highly desired animal was beyond the reach of the average Nigerian working class – except if you have a really lucrative job, a thriving business, or have been able to save ahead. Another possibility is having children or relatives in the Diaspora who would send you foreign money converted to cheap naira or receiving the commodity as a gift.
Many who had been slaughtering rams for sacrifice for years said, for the first time, they couldn’t afford it and were not ready to overstretch themselves, run into debt, or engage in any inordinate act just to meet up. Trust Nigerians, they were quick to cite parts of the Qur’an that state one needs not ‘kill’ oneself if they cannot afford it.
A well-placed Nigerian told this reporter on the sidelines of a gathering organized to celebrate the birthday of the President’s daughter in Lagos a day after the celebration that a friend of his, even though he wasn’t so poor, refused to buy any ram at the crazy prices. Not because he didn’t have the money, but because he didn’t want to support such inordinate pricing.
But were the prices really inordinate or the reality of the times? Should a ram go for such prices? Is it truly a reflection of the economy? The currency’s power? Or the true market value, considering all other indices?
Expectedly, the various ram markets in Lagos especially had huge leftovers, something many of the sellers said hardly ever happened in the past. Even this reporter, a devout Muslim and a keen observer of the markets, can testify that the ram markets in Ejigbo, Isolo, and the various spots in Igando in Lagos, all sold out last year and the year before, such that you couldn’t get a single ram to buy.
The Potoku Livestock market along Ikotun-Igando road is a case in point. Not a single ram was left the year before (2022), even last year (2023), when the prices began to go up.
This reporter thus took time out to visit several ram markets in Lagos, where the crazy prices particularly reigned.
It must be noted here that the general belief is that the prices were high because the sellers, who are majorly Hausa and Fulani from the North, see Lagos as a goldmine and a place where they could reap bountiful, maybe excessive profits on their commodities. Put simply, they believe money flows in Lagos and they could make as much as they want given the opportunity.
But virtually all sellers spoken to said this is not true.
According to Alhaji Umar, who heads Potoku Livestock market, the biggest ram and goat market along Ikotun-Igando road in Lagos, “It is not about making gains. Let me tell you, you see that ram (he points to a big ram), you will buy it at N300,000 in the North; if you come here, you will have no choice but to sell at N350,000 or N330,000. At that price, how much do you think we have gained if you take out transport money from the North, the feeding, and the stress you put into it? So the truth is that prices of things have gone up and it does not exclude rams; yet money is very hard here.” Speaking in smattering English, he points to another ram, an average size one this time: “Look at that ram, last year, I bought the size at N100,000; this year, we bought it at over N200,000. So what do you expect us to do? It is okay for people to say we are selling rams at costly prices, but have they bothered to know if we’re making any profit or selling at a loss?”
What then is responsible for the high cost of this commodity?
Alhaji Umar gave a simple answer: “The reason is this: the people who breed and sell the rams use the money to buy food and meet other needs; but the prices of everything else have gone up, starting with fuel. Last year, how much did we buy spaghetti? N300. Now it is N850. How much was a bag of rice last year? N30,000, N35,000. This year, it has risen to N85,000, N90,000. These are the reasons ram prices have gone up, and it all originated from the government. A ram that we used to transport at N1,000 per head now costs N3,000.”
Does he then mean that rams would soon be going for as much as N750,000 for regular sizes?
“I don’t know; only God can tell,” was his answer.
He continued: “Look, I have 17 rams left from my Sallah sales; now I’m going to have to sell at much lower prices because Sallah is over, which translates to a loss for me. Rams that I bought at N250,000, N300,000, I now have to sell at N200,000, N150,000; despite the money paid on transporting and feeding them. So people should understand, we are all in this together and we can only pray for things to get better quickly.”
Before Alhaji Umar spoke, young Abubakar Umar – probably Umar’s son, who had a better grip on English, had tried to explain the situation to this reporter.
“Take a look around; it’s true that we have a lot of unsold Sallah rams; but this is because prices suddenly went high. Aside from transportation, which of course has gone up, even the feed has gone up. Feed that we used to buy at N7,000, N8,000 now sells for N18,000, N20,000.”
When confronted with the allegation that they were selling rams that they bought at N80,000 at N200,000 and above, Abubakar said, “That is not true. In most cases, we don’t put more than N20,000 on a ram; and if you consider transportation costs, feeding, and other little costs, you would realize that we really don’t gain much.”
Suddenly, this reporter pointed at a rather big ram. “How much did you sell that one with gold patterns at the Sallah period?”
“That size, we sold at around N500,000.”
“That’s the point,” this reporter exploded. “How do you sell a ram at N500,000? Isn’t that too much?”
“That’s the point,” Abubakar replied. “Even in the North, it is costly.”
Alhaji Umar at this point stepped in to add that they also incur other costs, such as levy for the traditional ruler of the area, the government, and vet doctors who come in regularly and when they have urgent need for them.
**Problem is Government**
Musa Muhammed, nicknamed Musa Yellow because of his fair skin color, also added his voice. He would blame the government outright for the high cost of livestock, especially rams and goats.
“The problem is the government. Why do I say this? The biggest cause of this whole problem is the fuel increase. Before now, all you need to charter a trailer to transport your rams and goats to Lagos is about N300,000, but now they charge as high as N1.9 million.
“The story is the same with ram feeds. In the past, we bought a sack for as low as N3,000, now you need around N20,000 to buy the same quantity. So, even a small, presentable goat, which used to be around N30,000 now goes for N100,000 and above.
“Help us appeal to the government to reverse the fuel price to its old price, perhaps the whole problem would come down,” Musa Yellow said.
Right opposite Potoku ram market is a smaller market run by Muhammed Haruna, who hails from Yobe.
According to youthful Muhammed, who adorned a Manchester United Football Club jersey and who proudly declared that he is a supporter of the English Premiership Football Club, the real problem the ram sellers dealt with during the Sallah period and after was lack of money.
“There is no money, so it was hard to make sales. Even the whole country has no money. Upon that, prices are going up. The rams we used to buy at N50,000, we now buy at N80,000.”
“There is no money or you people are making things tough with your high prices. If you sold the small rams for like N80,000, N100,000 and about, people would surely be able to buy; but you came with prices like N350,000, N400,000…READ FULL ARTICLE