Garri Sellers Record Low Sales In Kaduna State

The outbreak of Lassa Fever in the country is taking its toll on garri business in Kaduna metropolis as sellers groan over low sales, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Some of the garri sellers in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Kaduna said the patronage of garri has drastically reduced since the outbreak.

According to them, lassa fever has become a serious threat to their business.

One of the sellers, Mrs Chinwe Ugwu, told NAN that she makes four to five thousand naira sales of garri daily.

“Since the outbreak of lassa fever and the doctors warning, I spend days without a single customer asking for garri.

“Some people do not know about the warning and they come to buy, but the moment a passer-by informed them of the danger they quickly returned it.

“The other day someone bought N2000 worth of garri, and while he was about to give me the money someone inform him of the warning and immediately he said sorry ma and left in a hurry, “Ugwu said.

Mrs Laraba Monday, another seller said: “I sold garri to my customer few days ago and he returned it minutes later.

“When I asked him why, he said he just remembered that there was lassa fever and people are advised against consuming garri”.

She said the development was “not funny” as her patronage had dropped from about 10 customers daily to barley three a week.

The trader urged government to expedite action in finding lasting solution to the disease and save their business from total collapse.

Some residents who spoke to NAN said they heeded to experts advice and stopped consuming garri as preventive measure against contracting the disease.

One of them, Patience Joel said she used to take garri almost every day, but had stopped after learning that there was high possibility of its contamination by rats.

Another resident, Mr Simon Patrick said he had stopped consuming garri the very day he learnt that people had been warned against taking the local food.

“If avoiding garri will save me from contacting lassa fever, then garri must be out of my menu, ” Patrick said.