With two days left to the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations, the Muslim faithful in Lagos defy economic hardship by buying rams and cows at prohibitive prices to celebrate Sallah with ram sellers smiling to the bank.

Peoples Gazette checks at the Abbatouir Market, Agege, revealed that the cheapest cow costs between N600,000 and N700,000, the medium-sized one costs N1.1 million, and the biggest cow sells N2.1 million.

Speaking to The Gazette, Ali Usman said that at the sallah celebration last year, though, the cheapest cow was between N300,000 and N400,000, the medium-sized one sold was between N700,000 and N800,000, and the biggest was sold for N1.8 million.

A seller, Abu Takir, said the biggest goat, which sold for between N250,000 and N300,000, now costs between N150,000 and N170,000, while a smaller size that now sells for N200,000 was N150,000, adding that a dwarf goat that used to be N70,000 is now N80,000.

Mr Usman blamed “the hike in the price of renting the vehicle to be used to transport the animals, fuel to be pumped in the vehicles, the several bribes collected by terrorists and security agencies from up north all the way down South.”

He stated that although buyers are fewer than last year, they’ve made many sales and that “many people will come on Sallah day.”

A customer, Idris Adejuwon, who bought a cow, confirmed the price.

“I was told the cow is N2 million, but after negotiation, we agreed on N1.9 million,” stated Mr Adejuwon.

According to him, his religious duty during Salah must be observed despite the economic challenges.

At Meiran, the past and present prices for the herds were almost similar to those sold at abattoirs, but the sellers lamented a lack of patronage due to the country’s hardships.

“It’s the only one I sold since yesterday. It’s no more like before. Some of the people that came to price, said they will come back but they did not come back,” Bashir, a ram dealer at Meiran stated. “I don’t want my rams to remain after Sallah, or else I will have to sell them at a lower price, which will be a huge loss for me.”