Traders Seek Yobe Govt’s Support Over Rising Business Costs

Rising transportation prices, fluctuating costs and declining buying energy are placing stress on merchants in Potiskum, Yobe State, prompting them to name on the federal government for help.

This got here because the city continues to draw retailers and clients from main industrial centres.

The merchants, who spoke in separate interviews with LEADERSHIP, mentioned restricted entry to capital was additionally constraining their operations, with some calling for reasonably priced loans to maintain their actions and develop their companies.

One of the merchants, Malam Abdullahi, mentioned enterprise remained encouraging, with clients travelling from Kano and different locations to purchase items in Potiskum.

“Business is going well. People are coming from Kano and other places to buy goods and we are grateful to God,” he mentioned.

He, nonetheless, recognized excessive transportation prices, unstable costs, restricted capital and decreased buying energy as main challenges confronting them.

Abdullahi appealed to the federal government to supply loans and different types of monetary help to assist enterprise homeowners maintain their operations and contribute to financial progress.

Similarly, Adamu Alhaji Ngalda, a dealer in domestically made plates, mentioned retailers introduced items from Kano, Maiduguri and different industrial centres to promote in Potiskum.

He described the city as a viable buying and selling vacation spot, noting that retailers continued to usher in giant portions of products to fulfill demand.

“Trading here is better than you might think. People bring in goods in large quantities, sell them and return home,” he mentioned.

Potiskum is a crucial industrial centre in Yobe State, with markets that deal in foodstuffs, family utensils, domestically fabricated steel merchandise, and automobile spare elements, amongst different commodities.

Its industrial actions additionally help transport operators, retailers and artisans who rely on day by day transactions for his or her livelihoods.

Another dealer, Alhaji Babawuro Me Samira, expressed gratitude for the alternatives out there to businesspeople and prayed for continued prosperity for merchants and younger folks.

The city’s established buying and selling hyperlinks supply alternatives for additional funding in agriculture, livestock, transportation, automobile upkeep and normal merchandise.

However, merchants say entry to reasonably priced financing and enhancements in market infrastructure might assist ease working pressures, strengthen companies and allow them to take better benefit of the industrial alternatives out there in Potiskum.