Abuja Shopping Malls Lament Low Patronage Ahead of the Yuletide

Nigerian businesses have said the tough economic situation of the country has started taking its toll on retail sales as consumer spending declined across key cities ahead of Christmas.

This, some of the business owners attributed to the persistent increase in the costs of production, importation and operations that bolstered the prices of goods.

Also, this was unconnected to the economic situation of the country. Household income has remained on the decline since Buhari became president in 2015 while a lot of new policies introduced to up revenue generation had compounded the burden of Nigerians and subsequently reduced their purchasing power.

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to a record high of 21.47% in November with the nation’s unemployment rate at 33.33% and interest rate up by over 500 basis points to 16.5%, Investors King reports.

While the NBS had attributed the rise in the food index to increases in prices of major food commodities, including potatoes, yam and other tubers, as well as fruits and vegetables, prevailing factors such as the high foreign exchange rate and counterproductive policies also contributed to the increase in the price of imported goods in malls in Abuja and other cities. 

A check at some of the big malls within the Abuja metropolis, particularly in Wuse, Garki and Jabi, shows that several hampers in decorated raffia baskets, plastic bowls and wooden boxes had yet to be sold. A number of the hamper boxes which were expensively packed were begging for patronage.

Despite being packed with a lot of essentials, a huge number of the hampers only attracted onlookers and a few shoppers.

Asking one of the onlookers, he noted that though the hamper is worth the price of N280,000, the money to purchase such is however not available. 

The Christmas hampers were packaged in different sizes with the least going for N180,000 while some are worth as high as N550,000. 

Some of the mall attendants who spoke with Investors King expressed disappointment at the low patronage across all goods sections, noting that this year’s Christmas is celebrated amid a massive cash crunch from potential customers.