By Francis Okoye, Maiduguri
The secretary, Maiduguri cattle market management committee, Abubakar Adamu Umar has disclosed that the market is now a shadow of its own given the over 11 years insurgency ravaging Borno State and the entire northeast.
This is even as he disclosed that contrary to when most of the traders in the market were the major suppliers of cattles to various states, that most of the dealers are now labourers, having lost their fortunes which include cattle to the insurgents.
Umar said this in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP Friday in Maiduguri recently.
He said unlike when each cattle dealer sold up to four trailer loads of cows, which carries about 28 to 35 cows per vehicle, the reverse is the case now.
Umar added that the terrorists have taken over most of the forest, hence, herders fled the state in droves.
“Now, the market is a shadow of its own, which is not a small damage.
Most people that depended on such market for survival have been rendered jobless. There is no other challenge facing the market aside the insurgency”.
“We are calling on both the state and federal government to do everything possible so that we can have our business back. Thousands of people feeding from the market are now impoverished. We need financial assistance from the government”, he added.
Our correspondent reports that continued cattle rustling prompted the shutdown of the Maiduguri cattle market.
The Borno state government suspended trading in the four cattle markets to prevent the sale of stolen livestock to raise funds for boko haram terrorists.
The then governor, Kashim Shettima, who is now the Senator representing Borno central at the upper chamber of the National Assembly while announcing the shut down of the markets, noted that the money realised from cattle rustling could be used to fund the deadly activities of the terrorists.
The Maiduguri cattle market was recently shutdown for similar reasons, leading to a shortage of meat in the city and public outcry.
