Why Borno butchers reject army’s ban on cattle transportation

The Borno State Livestock Traders Association (BSLTA) and the National Association of Butchers (NASB) have criticised the five months ban on transportation of cattle issued by the Nigerian Army.

Alhaji Seina Buba, Chairman of the Borno State Cattle Market Management Committee (BSCMMC), told newsmen in Maiduguri that the ban had exposed many traders to untold hardship.

Buba said the ban was contained in a letter written to its management by Maj. Gen. Rogers Nicholas, a former Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole.

He said the letter read in part: “This is to notify all cattle markets to suspend transporting cattle from Borno councils because of the ongoing Operation Last Hold aimed at weeding out remnants of Boko Haram.’’

The chairman noted that banning the association’s socio-economic activities had exposed its over 11,000 unemployed members to excruciating hardship.

“The means of livelihood of our members in the livestock industry is being threatened, with thousands of livestock dealers in Borno State out of job,” he said.

“The military told us that they were suspecting that some cows were being rustled by Boko Haram. But we told them that whoever came with cattle to the market had to spend three days until he satisfied all investigations before being issued a clearance letter by the committee. This was designed to checkmate all forms of nefarious activities in the cattle market.

“The military must not punish us because of baseless and perceived rumours. They should justify their claims by fishing out those involved in rustling,’’ Buba said.

Alhaji Muhammad Klia, Chairman of Borno Livestock Traders Association (BLTA), said the decision of the army to ban transporters from bringing cows to Borno was unfair owing to the growing demand of animals in the state.

Klia said the union had since adopted proactive measures of checkmating rustling and other criminal activities in the markets.

Idris Muhammad, an international livestock trader, said his business had crumbled due to his inability to transport cattle and rams from Chad to Borno.

Muhammad said during a period like this, he usually transported more than 170,000 rams and cattle into Nigeria, but that the ban had made it impossible.

Reacting, Col. Onyeama Nwachukwu, Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, said the people must know that Operation Lafiya Dole was working to promote socio-economic activities in the North East and not the other way round.

Nwachukwu said, “What we did was to shut down some illegal cattle markets where Boko Haram were selling rustled cows because proceeds from the sales were used to fund activities of the terrorist group.

“Nobody should think the military are here to stop anybody from doing business; we are promoting socioeconomic development in the country.

“If anybody is telling you that we are shutting down their businesses; that person is wrong. It should be the other way round.

“It is because we are here that they are able to do their businesses,’’ he said.