By Abba Dukawa:
Every year, traders in the country subject people to unnecessary hike in prices of essential commodities, especially when people are about to start observing Ramadan period.
It’s only in Nigeria traders take advantage of every period at the detrains of customers and poor who are struggling to survive, to an untold suffering. Unnecessary hike in prices has become a norm to them without considering the effect such actions would have on the people, especially the poor.
I am not trying in any way to portray traders as evils, but they are not compassionate. And to be fair, wealthy individuals, public servants, especially elected and appointees are more supportive in this month. In spite of this, elected and appointees are most insulted by the poor but are more supportive to them in the Ramadan as they free million of homes from lack of assorted grains. Also, wealthy individuals support the needy with foodstuff and other goodies.
The conduct of these heartless traders making them not to understand why Almighty has made fasting obligatory to all Muslims. The wisdom is to bring equality between the poor and the rich. He willed to create equal experiences between His servants by giving the rich a taste of the pain of hunger so they will become more lenient to the poor.
Instead of becoming more lenient to the people but their blindly making the people into abject hardship of not having food on their table to break their fasting. They mindless craving for materialism by all means portray as selfish.
As result of their selfish manipulating the market price with unnecessary hike, puts millions of households relinquishing in the abyss of cost of leaving. After all, they take their families to perform unnecessary lesser Hajj.
If they can curtail materialistic tendencies and pay more attention to the yearnings of the less privileged people, the society and people will certainly become a much happier place to live in. Surely, Allah will bless them and protect their fortune but greed will not set their eyes free.
It is indeed instructive for traders to recognize that this year Ramadan coincides with Inflation which has hit another high record of 17 per cent with high level of unemployment in the country, which has reached an all-time high of 33 per cent.
With this twice problems of unemployment and Inflation people hoping that this year Ramadan assistance will be much more than last year Ramadan which the assistance rendered to neediest in the society by wealthy peoples has doubled to more than 1000 percent because its coincides with Covid 19 pandemic global shutdown which has denied them an opportunity of performing lavish annual laser Hajj.
Like we all knew, apart from obligatory prayers there is absolutely need for us to maintaining and sustaining our piousness before and after fasting period. Fasting exposes the faithful to their spiritual roots, teaching us true humanity not equate to mere material possessions, passions or physical cravings.
We should therefore, as a people, use the fasting to examine our hearts, take responsibility for our misdeeds to seek Allah’s forgiveness and refrain from evil vices. We should therefore, as a people, use the opportunity of this Ramadan to examine our hearts and make amends.
Stitch in time, they say, saves nine
Dukawa writes in from Kano and can be reached at [email protected]
