By Francis Akinnodi

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Few days to the Muslim Eid-el-Kabir festival, price of rams have gone up in some markets in Akure and other parts of Ondo State.
Findings by The Hope in some markets in Ondo, Odigbo, Akure and Ikare yesterday revealed that the markets were filled with rams of different sizes.
However, there were few buyers in the markets visited by The Hope. Rams of average size sell for N45,000, while bigger ones sell for between N50,000 and N150,000.
A prospective buyer, Abdul Abdullahi, lamented that the prices were too high, noting that rams of the same size were being sold for between N25,000 and N40,000 last year.
He expressed optimism that the price would crash because of the prevailing illiquidity in the country and as the Eid-el-Kabir day draws nearer.
Another customer, Ahmed Ibrahim, expressed displeasure over the high price, saying an average Muslim might not be able to buy any, if the price remains high.
A resident of Ore, the headquarters of Odigbo Local Government area, Alhaja Risikat Adekemi said she has not been able to buy a ram because of the high price.
She said she would wait till few days before or after Sallah day when the price would have come down.
“There are other preparations to make ahead of the Eid. Buying a ram at an exorbitant price is not necessary at this time; hopefully, the price would crash after the Eid prayer.”, she said.
Also, a ram seller at Ore main market, Bashir Abubakar however attributed the exorbitant price of rams to the high cost of transportation, their feeding and the general harsh economic situation in the country.
According to him, those breeding rams also want to break even in order to get money to take care of other problems.
Another seller, Nurudeen Alabede dismissed the insinuation that the prices of the rams were high due to profiteering.
“We are not making much profit because of the cost of transporting the animals from Sokoto, Kebbi and as far as from Niger Republic.
“We also have to feed and vaccinate the rams for many days while waiting for customers and that costs a lot of money,” he said.
A ram seller in Ondo, Abubakar Bello admitted that the prices of the animals were too high and blamed the development on the high cost of transportation.
He said transporters were also blaming the high prices of diesel and petrol for the hike in transport fares.
“We have increased prices to enable us recover our investment and make profit,” he explained.