Traders at the Aso community market in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa state have decried low patronage since the advent of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria.
Some of the traders, who spoke when the team from Media Advocacy West Africa (MAWA Foundation) visited the area on Friday, attributed the low patronage to an increase in prices of goods as a result of the pandemic.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the MAWA foundation, with support from Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), is implementing a project tagged “Human Rights Abuse and Economic Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown in Communities”.
Mr Sunday Jideofor, who sells clothes at the market, told the MAWA team that prices of goods skyrocketed since the pandemic came into the country.
“Since the advent of COVID-19 in Nigeria, prices of goods have been moving higher and it is affecting businesses because rather than making a profit, we are losing.
“Customers hardly come to buy goods; we have been recording low turnover and this is not good for the business environment,’’ Jideofor said.
Also, Mr Clifford Ogu, a motor parts dealer, said that it would take Nigeria 10 years to recover from the damage COVID-19 has done to her economy.
Ogu, who said that he recorded huge loss since the pandemic started, added he hardly get patronage like before.
On her part, Mrs Chinyere Agu, who sells female hair attachments, blamed the current market situation on the rise of the exchange rate.
Agu, who attributed the rising exchange rates to COVID-19, said that the pandemic has destroyed the economy and distorted business activities.
She called on the government to put a workable alternative in place to avert a huge economic consequence of pandemic on the country’s economy.
(NAN)
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