Eid-el-Kabir: Traders Lament Poor Sales As Ram Price Hits N1.4m

Barely two days to the 2026 Eid-el-Kabir celebration, ram sellers and other traders have lamented low patronage, as the prices of rams and other items have hit the rooftop.

The hustle and bustle associated with the annual religious festival, according to traders, who spoke to LEADERSHIP in Osogbo, appeared constrained by the economic realities.

A trader in clothing materials, Kunle Jimoh, said many of his customers, unlike the past, have decided to celebrate the festival where they are domiciled to avoid hike in transport fares.

According to him, besides the hike in transport fares caused by the increase in the pump price of petroleum products, the price of cocoa dropped drastically this year, thereby limiting the purchasing power of cocoa farmers, unlike last year.

A visit to the ram market at Sabo, Osogbo, revealed a high number of prospective buyers, but minimal sales due to the unaffordable prices of the sacrificial items.

It is a period when Muslims slaughter sacrificial animals. The ritual is an act of worship performed by Muslim faithful on the 10th of Zul Hijjah.

A trader, Alhaji Rasaq Aderemi Adejumobi, while fielding questions from LEADERSHIP on Sunday in Osogbo, said that, though he has various categories of rams in stock, he has received very low patronage compared to what obtained 4 days to Salah last year.

When asked about the reason for the price hike, Alhaji Adejumobi blamed it on the high cost of transporting the animals to the southern parts of the country, adding that there appeared to be a scarcity of the animals in our neighbouring countries, which prompted their invasion of our country to acquire them and force a price increase.

Adejumobi noted that prices of animals were not this high last year, saying “Currently, the smallest-sized ram of six months that sold within the range of N160,000 now costs as much as N200,000, a medium-sized ram of N350,000 last year costs nothing less than N400,000.

“Look at that big ram, its size sold for N1.3 million last year, though I don’t have that size, but that man has turned back a customer who offered N1.5 million, insisting that they must add N100,000 to enable him to have minimal profit.

Corroborating him, Mallam Abdulfatai Oke, who had gone round shopping for cows to buy in the market, said he would have to look for an alternative for himself, but must buy a small-sized one for his father, who had never missed the yearly slaughtering of a ram since he was born.

Asked how he would meet the demand, Oke said he would wait till Sallah morning with the hope that prices of rams will come down “I will have to wait till Sallah morning when I hope prices of rams will come down a bit, though my father won’t like it, but I don’t have any option.”