The commencement of the holy month of Ramadan is usually greeted with excitement and merriment by tailors because they anticipate an increase in the quantity of sewing they will receive ahead of the Sallah celebrations.
Unfortunately, this year, due to the lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the story is different as many tailors are counting their losses instead as patronage dropped.
When Arewa Trust visited a few tailors’ shops and spoke with a few residents, it was gathered that many of them have an insignificant number of clothes to sew in their shops and families are battling to feed and have not bothered to buy Sallah clothes.
A tailor, who has a shop in Badarawa, Ibrahim Muhammad, lamented that the lockdown has disrupted his businesses.
“This period is our peak period because this is the time we get large quantity of clothes for sewing as people do not usually sew for the big Sallah since they have to look for money to buy the ram to sacrifice, so they do more sewing during the eid el-fitr Sallah which comes immediately after the Ramadan.
“Usually, by this time especially when the Ramadan has gone half way, we stop collecting clothes for sewing because we know we cannot meet customers’ demand and in order not to disappoint them, but as you can see, my shop is virtually empty except for a few people that had maybe bought the materials before the lockdown.”
Ibahim, who has been sewing for over five years, said this year was the worst. “It is unfortunate that while people are suffering and trying to make ends meet, others capitalised on such to increase the prices of their goods because the prices of many items we use for our sewing have increased forcing us to increase what we charge.”
He urged government to compel traders to reduce their prices in order to ease the already existing hardship being faced by citizens.
However, contrary to Ibrahim, Hadiza Umar a tailor in Kwaru said she had not expect to get any sewing during the lockdown but by the grace of God, people brought clothes for sewing.
“Because of this situation we found ourselves, I already envisaged that I will not get any sewing because people are already finding it hard to feed themselves but surprisingly I can say I have received half of what I usually received, so I thank God,” she said.
She noted that she was forced to reduce the money she normally charged in order for people to be able to pay saying, “If not, I will use my money to sew and in the end they will not come to collect because they cannot.”
Saleh Musa, a resident of Rigasa, said, “I had to let go of my shop because I could not pay the rent due to the lockdown. I now sew from my house and I go to my customers’ houses to collect materials for sewing when the restriction is eased.
“It has not been easy because now I have to move from one place to the other instead of my customers coming to me but I thank God, at least I still have a means of livelihood. I pray that the whole situation comes to an end soon.”
Meanwhile, Halima Abdul a housewife and mother of three said she asked her husband not to buy Sallah clothes for her to enable him to provide for the children.
“My husband earns his money daily being a barber, but because of the lockdown, he is only able to open two days in a week, hence it has really taken a toll on our finances that is why I decided to make the sacrifice of foregoing new clothes for Sallah so the children can get because they are too young to understand what we are facing.”
She hoped that by the next sallah, life will be back to normal.
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