Eid-el-Kabir: How exorbitant ram prices ruined celebration

Over the years, the Eid-el-Kabir is often celebrated amidst fanfare, pomp and pageantry but the reverse is the case this year, following the hike in prices of commodities, occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidies. Eid-el-Kabir, an Arabic phrase for Feast of the Sacrifice, is considered the holier of the two Muslim celebrations. During the Eid-El-Kabir, a lot of love is spread in style. The animals sacrificed are meant to be divided into three parts. One part is for the family who slaughtered rams, while the other two, are for relatives and friends and the indigent ones respectively.

Annually, meeting this religious obligation of slaughtering rams to fulfil the religious rites is becoming extremely difficult to fulfil because the prices of rams keep skyrocketing.

Muslim faithful in the country have expressed disappointment over the prices of ram and attributed it to the hike in the price of petrol.

In Ondo State, a survey showed that the price of rams ranges from N120,000 to N300,000.

In a chat with Vanguard, a Muslim faithful, Alhaji, Abdulfatah Babatunde, who retired as Deputy Editor-In-Chief/Acting Head of Lagos Operations of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, lamented the hike in prices of rams.

Babatunde said: “A small ram of about nine months or one-year-old that one could buy for between N60,000 and N75,000 a few years back, now cost between ¦ 100, 000 and N120000.

“Sellers attribute the high costs to many factors like transport cost, insecurity and cost of breeding local rams.”

Hike attributed to bandits, kidnappers Another Muslim faithful, Lamidi Ataoja, regretted that this year’s Sallah celebration might be marked without the usual slaughtering of ram by him as a result of a hike in the price.

Lamidi said that his family would not be considering buying ram for the celebration for financial reasons, adding that they will find an alternative.

He said: “I was told that the prices increased because of bandits and kidnappers, who have taken over parts of the country.

“The sellers said that they experienced a series of attacks on the road before getting here and also lost many of the rams on our way down here. So, they said that they have no choice than to spread what they spent in bringing the rams here on the prices they’re selling to us.” Vanguard