Ram sellers in Epe, Lagos State, on Monday expressed joy at the rate at which Muslim residents are buying rams preparatory to next week’s Eid-il-Kabir celebrations.
Their leader, Mr Yasir Seriki, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Epe that he and his members were overwhelmed at the level of patronage.
“We, ram sellers, came from different parts of the country to sell ram here in Epe. I am their leader and I can tell you that so far, the feedback we are getting from across the town in terms of patronage has been encouraging.
“Our fear before was that patronage would be low because of the current state of the economy, but people are buying our rams.
“We are happy at the sales. More trailer loads of rams will still get to Epe before the festival,’’ he said.
Seriki observed, however, that prices of rams were in 2021 compared to what obtained in 2020 and blamed the situation on security challenges across the country.
He also observed that patrons were buying more cows than they bought rams because cows are relatively cheaper if one considers the quantity of meat that would be gotten.
“Some buy cows, but still buy rams, no matter how small the ram is in the belief that it is more rewarding to kill a ram at Eid-il-Kabir,’’ he said.
Seriki said cows sold for between N190,000 and N500,000 depending on the size while rams sold for N160,000 and above.