Buhari's anniversary: Traders decry hardship in the land

Since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, trading activities have dwindled for various reasons including cash strapped economy, foreign exchange problem, inflation, among others. As President Buhari marks first year in office, Assitant Business Editor, CLEMENT NWOJI chronicles the lamentations of traders in main markets,with additional reports from Correspondents CHIDI ASONYE (Aba), BLESSING IBUNGE (Port Harcourt), STEVE OKO (Umuahia), ANGELA NKWO-AKPOLU (Owerri), and BLESSING OHIEMI (Abuja)

 Precisely May 29, 2016, Pres­ident Muhammadu Buhari would. have spent one year in office as the President of the Fed­eral Republic of Nigeria. The year had been a mixed grill of hardship in spheres of human endeavours. Thus, no one can confidently say he or she had not experienced one form of hardship or the other di­rectly or indirectly either in relation to his or her work (business) or in course of engaging in one’s source of livelihood.
So, across all sectors of the econ­omy, be it artisans, civil servants, various categories of manufactur­ers, construction workers, business men and women, all categories of traders, and even the unemployed and the dependents; all had sour and bitter taste of the downturn of the economic system in Nigeria within the past one year.
The hardship steam from cash strapped economy, protracted acute fuel scarcity, depreciating value of the Naira culminating in exchange rate of up to N400 per Dollar, gal­loping inflationary trend present­ly at 13.7 percent, fall in price of per barrel crude oil in internation­al market currently at $48.02 per barrel, late passage of the budget, general increase in prices of food items and transport fares, among other related poverty index.
Traders had difficult times sell­ing and restocking their shops mainly due to low patronages from buyers who, on the other hand, are cash strapped either due to lack of bpayment of salaries or total down turn in their sources of income. Further is the difficulties being encoun­tered by importers in sourc­ing foreign exchange. Thus, they resorted to hiking pric­es of available stocks and transferring costs to con­sumers.
The AUTHORITY Cor­respondents nationwide who engaged in survey of opinion of traders from the various Main Markets con­firmed that the traders were unanimous that the first an­niversary of President Bu­hari was tough and was like passing through the eye of niddle.
From Aba, Abia state business center, The AU­THORITY Correspondent, CHIDI ASONYE, reports that traders admitted that it was like passing through the eye of the niddle in the past one year to survive in the business and commerce sector as the citizens had moved from one point of economic difficulties to an­other which had negatively affected the business com­munity in the city.
According to those who spoke with The AUTHOR­ITY, economic activities in Aba has remained dor­mant as it is yet to pick up in full swing, owing largely to the instability of the Na­ira against the dollar that took centre stage earlier in the year as well as the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market.
Some traders told The AUTHORITY that the de­preciation of the local cur­rency made it near impos­sible for most small and medium scale industries in the commercial nerve cen­tre to comfortably manu­facture goods while those in outright buying and sell­ing are still having serious difficulties importing goods into the country.
According to Prince Dike O. Dike, a dealer on fabrics at the Etche Road Market, the fluctuation of the naira remained a clog in the wheel of their busi­nesses since last year and a lot of people may be forced out of business if nothing is done urgently to arrest the situation.
“The truth of the mo­ment is that here at the Enyimba city, business­men as well as most of the surviving small and medi­um scale industries cannot do much under the current economic situation hover­ing over the country. There is no way any businessman who buy raw materials in dollars would remain in business except there is an upward adjustment in the costs of the finished prod­uct”, Dike said.
In his contributions, Eze Okey Ananaba, the Chief Executive Officer of J. An­derson Construction Com­pany Limited had argued that the recipients of the fall of the naira; the fall in oil price as well as the current increase in the fuel pump price are the end users of either products produced or imported from outside the country. He called on the Federal Government to step up action to save the country’s citizen from fur­ther hardship.
In the words of Eze Ananaba who is also the proprietor of Eze Okey Ananaba Farms at Aba, “ As it stands now, you do not expect anybody to comfort­ably bring anything from outside the country, either in the manufacturing sec­tor or in the construction sector, or even make prof­it. It is not very feasible that somebody will buy a dollar at a high rate and then im­port material, process it and then still make profit”.
Another resident of the city, Obialor Ejimofor who is a shoe manufacturer dis­closed that it has not been easy for them. He said the uncertainties in the econo­my of the country has for a long time been affecting prices of finished products thus resulting to dull busi­ness for manufacturers as well as traders and other business class at the Ariar­ia International Market and elsewhere in the commer­cial city.
In Port Harcourt, Riv­ers state capital, The AU­THORITY Correspond­ent, BLESSING IBUNGE, reports that traders com­plained of chronic scarcity of food items and increase prices of goods
For instance, Mr Uche Uchechukwu, a dealer on grains comprising of rice, beans, groundnut, millet, guinea corn and maize, in Rumuwoji Ultra Morden Market, Port Harcourt, said the market is no longer fa­vourable to traders since the inception of President Buhari’s administration. He lamented on the hardship people are facing due to in­crease in prices of goods.
He cited that few months ago, precisely in December, he sold a bag of foreign rice at N10, 000 and N11, 000. 00. But since Feb­ruary they have been expe­riencing a rapid increase in the price of rice. Accord­ing to him a bag of rice is now sold at N18, 000.00. Also, Mr Victor Nwabeke, who deals on shoes import­ed from neighbouring Af­rican countries, said since this year they have been fac­ing the challenges of foreign exchange due to the depre­ciation of the Naira.
He lamented that they were not selling their prod­ucts as before, stressing that even their potential cus­tomers were all lamenting of hardship in the country as a result of poor economy.
Buhari’s one year in office: Abia traders lament hight cost of goods, low pa­tronage
Also, Correspondent, STEVE OKO, reports that traders in Umuahia, the Abia State capital contin­ued to bemoan their or­deals over high cost of goods and low patronage.
From dealers on food stuff and daily needs to dealers on house hold items , building materials and auto spare part dealers, the story is the same - misery and frustration.
One of the traders at the popular Lady Victoria Aguiyi Ironsi shopping pla­za Umuwayya Road, who simply identified himself as Udoka, described the last 12 months as his worst of years in his 15 years experience as a trader.
The electrical appliances dealer said the cost of elec­trical products within the period under review had increased astronomically by 40 to 60 per cent , resulting to a sharp drop in sales as customers “ are no longer forthcoming as before”.
He noted that the result­ant low patronage had ad­versely affected his turn- over rate which is taking a serious toll on his income.
His words: “ The pric­es of goods have gone very high. This is my worst year as a trader. What i am do­ing now is just to manage because i have no alterna­tive source of income but as for this business, Buhari has scattered everything”, he la­mented.
He appealed to the Pres­ident to quickly put in place the right policies and meas­ures that will bring down the cost of goods in the market if Nigerians will survive the remaining three years of his administration. “ If this is the change they said they were bringing, it is change from good to hard­ship”, he added.
Similarly, a mattress­es dealer, Mr. Ndubuisi Nweke said “ this adminis­tration has brought untold hardship to traders because what we do is to come here and mark time”. He said the sharp increase in the cost of goods as a result of the high exchange rate of the Dollar against the Naira, had led to a sharp drop in sales and rate of turn over on the part of traders.
“ For example, the 20 inches foam ( four by six) which before now sold between N21,000 and N23,000 depending on the quality and brand, now goes for N39,000 and N41,000. Also, 8 inches foam that we sold for between N10,000 and N11,000 now sells for N17,000 or N18,000 all be­cause of the high exchange rate as the producers com­plain of high cost of raw materials which are all im­ported.”
For traders in Imo State, Correspondent ANGELA NKWO-AKPOLU reports that they were of the opin­ion that the period had been the worst season to sell because for the past one year, the only thing that has become constant is increas­ing number of debtors who buy on credit only to pay by the second week of anoth­er month.
Mrs Aisha Igbafe, a hos­pitality expert now turned babycare dealer in Owerre complained that prices of goods have doubled.
“Last year, we bought Princess diaper N2800 but today we buy at N3500. Nice diaper sold for N450 but today, we sell N600. USA products like John­sons cream was N1100 but today N1800, but Nigerian Pampers still sells for N350. Pears lotion was N250 last year but N500 and is not available. It is practical­ly out of stock since De­cember 2015. Other prod­ucts like Blue Seal Vaseline which we bought for N900 for a pack of 12 last year is today unavailable for us to buy at N1400. Umbrella sold for N500 last year but now the cheapest sells for N850”.
Mrs Igbafe complained bitterly that customers now buy on credit only to re­pay and resume buying on credit again. “This year, I have been selling on credit. Customers just beg to pay up later, and the number is increasing. Gone were the days when we make prof­it, now customers make do with what they have.
“Sometimes, I wonder if ladies do not change un­derwear again. People rare­ly ask for such things. Au­gust meeting is approaching and until now, women have not started buying wrappers or make deposits to buy. I even wonder if they will buy because the price has in­creased. Hitarget like star, opener, back of fish, obidi­ya that we sold for N2500 in 2015 is now N3000 in Onit­sha and by the time we add N200 for transportation, we now sell for N3200 or N3300, I pray they will buy it”.
Further, Correspond­ent BLESSING OHIEMI re­ports that in Abuja , trad­ers in Karu and Mararaba Markets complained that since the inception of the administration, their busi­nesses have been turbulent. The traders complained es­pecially about low patron­age of their goods by cus­tomers.