High costs are reshaping Eid preparations, forcing families to adapt spending and cut back on traditional celebrations as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.
Hussain Wahab/Aljazeera
Abuja: Seated on a plastic chair inside his modest madrassa in Abuja, Yunus Akanji listened as children recited verses from the holy Quran in soft, rhythmic tones. Some sat on mats, others on long wooden benches.
The Islamic teacher occasionally corrected a pronunciation or repeated a line. Still, as the children continued, his thoughts drifted to the upcoming Eid.
For years, Akanji, who teaches at the Nurul Bayan Islamic School, travelled with his wife and children to Saki in Oyo State to reunite with his extended family for Eid al-Adha, also known as Sallah in Nigeria.
When he did not make the trip, he would buy a ram for Eid and host a modest celebration with his family and students. This year, however, things are different.
“I have concluded that we will just celebrate with whatever we have,” he told Al Jazeera.
The annual Muslim festival, marked by communal prayers and animal sacrifice, now arrives as the cost of living crisis exerts deep economic strain on families in Nigeria.
As Eid approaches, rising food and transport costs in Abuja are quietly changing how many families prepare for the celebration.
Akanji said even parents and community members who usually support his madrassa are now struggling to do so.
“Most of them have not even paid,” he said, referring to tuition fees that help keep the school and his household running.
The strain is not limited to families in schools. It also appears in bus stations, markets, and in the careful choices people make when deciding whether to travel or stay.
Nafisa Ibrahim from Ogun, currently in Abuja doing a mandatory one-year programme for graduates under the National Youth Service Corps, said she has dropped her plan to go home for Eid. Transport costs alone made it impossible.
There is also no guarantee her family will even be able to slaughter an animal this year.
“Transportation is about 35,000 naira [about $26], compared to the 15,000 naira [about $11] I paid when I came to Abuja in February,” she said.
Opeyemi Ibrahim, a fashion designer based in Byazhin district, said customer patronage has dropped sharply despite the approaching festivities.
He said fuel costs and erratic electricity supply have increased his expenses.
“When there is no electricity, we have to run the generator,” he said. “Filling it costs about 10,000 naira [$7].
But without it, the shop becomes too hot, and we still need power to iron customers’ clothes.”
Inside the Kubwa livestock market
At a livestock market in Kubwa, visited by Al Jazeera ahead of Eid, the strain is obvious before anyone even speaks.
Men stand beside rams tied to wooden posts. Buyers move from one animal to another, ask a few questions, then drift away.
Malam Ibrahim, a livestock seller who has been in the trade for years, sat near the feed, watching most of his customers leave empty-handed.
“People come, ask for prices, and walk away,” he said.
He pointed to a ram nearby with black-and-white markings.
“This ram is selling for 600,000 naira [about $438],” he said. “Last year, the same size was below 350,000 naira [$255].”
Getting animals from northern Nigeria, Sokoto, Kaduna, and beyond has become more expensive. Fuel prices, transport fares, everything feeds into the final cost.
“Even the sellers are suffering,” Ibrahim said. If sales remain slow, he worries the animals will remain unsold after Eid, when their value will drop further. “We do not pray to take them back home, but with the looks of things, I fear so,” he said.
Eid cutbacks
One woman who had come to buy two rams left with only one.
Inflation has been steady in Nigeria for years now, but the real challenge is the widening gap between rising prices and stagnant incomes—a gap intensified by the current cost-of-living crisis.
While the naira appears more stable against the United States dollar, traders say, the cost of moving goods across the country continues to climb each month.
Back in the Kubwa village market, buyers kept moving, but few stopped to buy.
Vendors selling tomatoes, onions, rice and cooking oil said sales were slower than usual, with many families cutting back even on basic festive food.
“We used to celebrate Eid with joy,” one trader said quietly. “Now we just calculate what we can afford.”