As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan kicked off on Thursday, traders in Kano have continued to lament poor patronage by customers.
Some of the traders attributed the situation to low purchasing power of customers and cash scarcity.
A food stuff dealer, Malam Isa Shehu, said that when compared to previous years sales have fallen short this year.
Shehu noted that though prices of some commodities especially consumables normally soared during Ramadan fasting period, people still purchased goods.
“We know that workers are not paid their salaries, we hope that in the next few days customers would be more than this,,’’ he said.
A perishable items dealer, Muhammad Ali, also lamented that complained that business was not thriving as much as it used to in previous years.
He explained that low purchasing power of many customers and the little cash in circulation contributed to the ugly situation.
A vegetable seller, Habu Gezawa, lamented that the situation was strange compared to what he had seen in the market whenever Ramadan was approaching or starts.
Gezawa said that many customers complained of paucity of funds due to non payment of salaries to workers.
He also lamented that the economic realities ha affected many customers purchasing power.