Arguably, Nima market is the right business centre for most households when it comes to their spices needs. However, the traders in the business are worried over what they describe as “there is no money in the system”. This is because sales have been low even during the festive season when they were hoping to cash in during the Christmas festivities.
As schools are expected to resume tomorrow Friday January 15, 2021, many parents are likely to buy these spices to prepare shito for their children while they return to school. The reality however at the Nima markets tells a different story as the traders are worried over what they say is the unusual low sales. Some of them are finding it difficult to believe people are not buying the spices.
“Food vendors who are also expected to bounce back to business as schools resume are also not buying from us, so we don’t understand what is going on, maybe there is no money in the system” Amalia told the Republic Press
“We were hoping that after the president’s announcement that schools will resume tomorrow (Friday, 13th January 2021), parents will come here to buy from us, that used to be the case but as you can see, no one is buying anything, the market is dry for us”. One trader who only gave her name as Monilia
Another worried trader Hajia Nafiza said “even yesterday (Wednesday, 13th January, 2021) which was our biggest market day, you won’t see people in the market like it used to be, people are not buying, and there is no money in the system.”
One would have expected that since school children will be returning to school, businesses, including traders of spices would cash in while many food vendors who sell in and around schools will bounce back to business but rather, for what the Nima spices traders describe as “no money in the system” business is slow.
The traders are hopeful businesses will resume in full operation so theirs would also pick up as Hajia Anetu said “let see what happens in the coming weeks, small, small, people will come and buy.”
Although Thursday’s are not market days in the Nima market, the Republic Press has observed that businesses are slow as activities in the market is not active as usual. Few people were reluctantly seen walking around while traders were sitting behind their goods moody, hoping that a customer would come to buy an item for them.
At around 10:00am when the Republic Press toured the markets, some traders were urging bypasses to tend their eyes to their table while others were shouting the names of their product in an attempt to catch the attention of the few people walking around the market.
