Sellers lament high cost of building materials

Building materials traders are worried over high cost of building materials, including plywood, paints and nails. They said the situation has led to poor sales as most customers can no longer afford the items.

Expressing concern over the inflation that has led to the high cost of these items, Amao Yusuf, who sells nails and painting brush at Idera Plank Market, Isolo, said the situation has led to poor sales.

He said: “There is nothing you touch in the market that the price has not increased. It is not even about the ones we are used to; things that have increased marginally.

“We have been forced to explain to our customers the situation we are in, but you can not force anybody to buy when he doesn’t have the money.

“People cannot build houses again because the cost of building materials are no longer affordable. You are not even sure of the price you will get when you get to the market today,” he said.

Yusuf does not envisage the possibility of reduction in the cost of building materials, saying, “when you talk of prices of materials coming down soon, it is not possible unless there is a great change from the government.

“You know when prices rise in Nigeria, it doesn’t come down easily because some people see it as opportunity to increase their profit.”

He called on government to intervene by enacting policies that will make it production of building materials cheaper, while easing importation laws on those materials sourced from abroad.

Another trader, Bello Abiodun, said the high cost of building materials has led to poor patronage, lamenting that their usual customers have stayed away from the market.

“Between 1996 and 2010, I had roughly 200 customers, who usually c9ome to buy materials from me. But since 2015, my customers have reduced to about 100 or less because the rising cost is affecting everybody,” he added.

The rising cost of materials, according to Bello Hajarat, has led to reduced profit, particularly, in the last two years.

“We have been trying to cope with the situation. The profit has really reduced and it is affecting my stock. We can’t even compare last year’s profit to this year, let alone the last two or three years.

“The plywood, from which we made up to N1,000 profit before now, hardly fetches us N200 now. And we cannot increase the price of the product anyhow. We are being considerate so that it will not affect the customers and drive them away,” she said.