The 2023 Eid-el-Kabir, also known as the Ileya holiday among the Yoruba, will take place during a time when people are trying to make ends meet and put food on their tables.
The event, also known as Eid-al-Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice, is the second and largest of Islam’s two major festivals. The celebration entails the slaughter of rams and other suitable animals as sacrifices to Allah.
In Nigeria, the occasion is always marked with feasting, partying, and good times. It allows families to reunite and towns or clubs to host carnivals and other cultural get-togethers.
Hamada Blog reports that with only a few hours to the celebration, Muslims in Ogun State are scrambling to ensure they do not miss out on this year’s festivities. The necessity to purchase a ram, purchase required meals, and purchase new clothing and footwear for the family is already causing many individuals pain, especially when costs have increased.
Unlike in the past, the joy that traditionally greeted Eid-el-Kabir is nowhere to be found in Ogun villages.
It’s the same story all around the country, with individuals lamenting the high inflation rate.
“By now, many people would have returned home from Lagos and other places for this festival, but nothing like that will ever happen again.” “It appears that people are unwilling to travel down for Sallah,” Iya Kabiru, a local dealer, told our correspondent.
As Iya Kabiru stated, in the past, Muslims would tether their rams or cows in front of their homes to assure neighbors that everything is in order for the holiday.
“However, this is not the case this year. Have you seen any rams since you first came down this street? There is no longer any. Rams have grown prohibitively expensive for the average person. “All we can think of is a way out,” said Alhaji Azeez Ojo of Oluwo, Abeokuta.
Our correspondent learned that Muslims who couldn’t purchase a medium-sized ram for N200,000 or more had to contribute money to buy cows.
“Four of us put N100,000 each into buying that cow in the car boot.” We’ll distribute it evenly amongst ourselves.
“That’s better than spending a lot of money on a ‘lamb,'” an old guy said, explaining the scenario at the Kara market in Rounder.
According to our correspondent’s findings, both buyers and sellers are dissatisfied with the state of the nation’s economy.
While the traders moan about poor patronage, the buyers return home empty-handed since their cash falls short of the price expectations.
According to reports, the spike in inflation caused a rise in commodity costs, lowering the purchasing power of average Nigerians.
Furthermore, the populace were yet to recover from the pangs of the Buhari administration’s bungled currency redesign policy, which had negatively impacted numerous businesses when President Bola Tinubu slapped them with the elimination of fuel subsidies and subsequent naira depreciation.
“I went to the market this morning but was unable to purchase anything.” Everything I wanted to buy has gone up by more than 100%.
“Pepper, tomatoes, rice, garri, palm oil, and other items have skyrocketed in price.” “I just got back home,” Mrs Ismail, an Idiroko resident, informed our correspondent.
