COVID–19: Clothes, shoes traders, tailors in Awka lament low patronage
By Sunny A. David
Clothes and shoes traders in Onitsha, Anambra State, are recording heavy loses as a result of high cost of wholesale goods and low patronage arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to our correspondent who went on a market survey around the Onitsha Main Market, the traders who were either found in groups chatting away hard time or sitting idly in their shops, said that they have had to struggle to make one sale in a whole day contrary to pre-COVID-19 era when they made profits from regular sales.
Coming just some days after the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, lamented sixty-five percent decline in Federal Government’s revenue inflow in the first half of the year, the clothes and shoes traders in Onitsha markets seem to have found themselves in a heavier profit decline arising from bad business.
The unhappy traders who noted that the absence of students from schools has made the situation worse, given that they got major patronage from them, appealed to the government to put adequate modalities in place to reopen schools to save them from hunger.
Mrs. Ebele Onyekwelu who sells second-hand clothing and shoes, said that the scarcity of patronage and the pressure to put food on the table have forced her to sell at prices lower than usual.
Mr. Kenechukwu Obuana and Mr. Charles Ezeh, both of whom are into shoes sales, said that the hike in the costs of buying from manufacturers has affected sales at retail level, given that customers who rarely show up hardly acknowledge the change in price.
Mr. Kenneth Madu who also deals in shoes at the Eke-Awka Market, appealed to the government to either reopen schools or cut down levies and taxes for traders judging by the obvious economic difficulty of the period.
The case is, however, different for Mr. Okwudili Odoh, a shoes and clothes shop owner in the same market, who disclosed that despite the present difficulties, business has been smooth and profitable, while Mr. Lawrence Igwe, a tailor in the market, who argued differently, noted that unlike before, when his shop was kept busy by the influx of customers, the present situation has been hard due to lack of patronage.
