Abuja residents make last minute shopping ahead of Easter

Barely 24 hours to the Easter celebrations, some markets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have witnessed a large turnout of customers wishing to do last minute shopping.

Already, there is a slight increase in prices of items such as fresh tomatoes, rice, chicken and beef.A small basket (waste bin) of tomatoes which sold between N600.00 to N700.00 last week now goes for N1000.00 while a 50kg bag of Royal Stallion rice which was N17,500 as at two weeks ago now goes for N18,000.00.

Also, 1kilogram of beef went for N1,500 as against N1,400 sold earlier in the week while a live old layer chicken sold for N1,700.00 as against N1400.00 and N1,500.00 sold before now.

Although customers were seen doing last-minute rush into shops one after the other, a foodstuff seller at popular Gausa Market along the Airport Road, Mrs. Asabe Hassan, complained that the market was dull due the serious hardship in the country.

She said: “Even though there are too many people in the market, we are not really making sales, they only ask for the price of commodities and when you tell tem, they turn their backs and leave.

“I will not blame them because I know there is no money in the country and this Easter is coming at the middle of the month when most workers had already spent their salaries.

“But I still thank God, market is moving little by little.”The story was not different at the Lugbe Market. A meat seller, Musa, told The Guardian that they made good sales adding that he expects better sales today when late shoppers would troop into the market.

“Honestly, today’s market has been very good, you know that people cannot celebrate Easter without meat, but tomorrow will be better because that is when many people will come and buy meat.”

However, departmental stores, such as Shoprite and Sahad Stores, witnessed a higher turnout of customers. People were seen buying bags of rice, drinks, frozen poultry products and other food items.