By; Juliana Katung, Kaduna.
In the spirit of oneness and Worried by the hike in prices of essential commodities in the market, religious clerics in Kaduna, took their campaign to the Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi (Central Market), Kaduna, for price reduction on essential commodities for the forthcoming Ramadan fast.
The campaign tagged: “Cut down your prices for God” was meant to sensitize traders in the market to see the need to slash down prices of essential commodities for the upcoming Ramadan fast.
The leader of the campaign team, Pastor Yohannah Buru, General Overseer, Christ Evangelical Intercessory Fellowship Ministry, Kaduna, said the campaign became necessary seeing the Ramadan season is fast approaching and the hike in the price of essential commodities in the markets, will not augur well for the Muslim brothers and sisters during the spiritual exercise.
“Let’s be our brothers’ keeper as we’re from one family, Adam and Eve and we worship one God as well as believe in the holy books, Bible and Qur’an,” He noted.
In his remark, the Chairman of Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi (Central), Alhaji Adamu Usman Maishinkafa, said they will take the message across markets in the State in order to find ways of making prices of essential commodities affordable to Nigerians.
According to him, the gesture is first of its kind for Christian and Muslim scholars to visit the Market to sensitize traders on the importance of price reduction of goods for Ramadan season.
He expressed their appreciation for the kind gesture from the religious leaders; and appealed that the solidarity should be maintained even after the Ramadan season.
Also, the Kaduna State, President of the Market Women Association, Mrs. Sarah Benjamin Ayuba commended the visit by the clerics noting that going by the hike in the price in the market people out there have different notions about the happenings and their coming will give clear picture.
“You know we source for our goods from different markets that’s why prices are different and the value of the Naira has depreciated so much that if you buy goods today for N10 by the time you go to buy that same good the next day, the price has jump to N20 or N35. We can’t really say what the problems are.
“Today, a bag of rice goes for N15000 – N17000 against N7000 – N8000 obtainable a year ago. You can see the difference, this has also affected us” she noted.
While appealing to government to please look into the possibility of stabilizing the Naira against the Dollar said “If the naira is stabilized, then prices of goods in the market will stabilize.
According to her, some traders in the marker don’t even have up to N5000 as capital as such they use it to make profit.
“We’ll talk to our members that prices of goods should not be double at least for the forth coming Ramadan season. People should not capitalize on the season to maximize their profits. Lets be our brothers’ keeper” she stressed.
She further explained that reduction might not be much but it should be in such a way that the poor in the society can afford something for the family especially during the Ramadan season.
