Boko Haram: Maiduguri Residents Deprived of Meat
Residents of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, have been eating their meals without beef in the last couple of days as the closure of the Maiduguri cattle market and abattoir by the military for over three weeks has forced the few affluent ones to resort to fresh and frozen fish whose prices have skyrocketed in the absence of beef.
Both the cattle market and central abattoir were closed by the military which suspected that members of the terror group, Boko Haram, brought stolen livestock to the market to sell.
Some of the cattle breeders in the troubled state had alleged that livestock worth hundreds of million of naira were stolen from them by Boko Haram.
They equally alleged that the proceeds from the stolen livestock were enough to prosecute the war effort of the insurgents against the country.
It is believed that this allegation spured the military to close the livestock market in order to cut one of the sources of finances of the insurgency group.
But in a reaction to the closure of the market, the Borno State chapter of the National Association of Butchers (NASB) yesterday condemned the closure of the Maiduguri cattle market and abattoir for over three weeks, lamenting that this action had left its teeming members unemployed and without a means of livelihood.
Addressing a press conference at the Ramat Shopping Complex, Maiduguri, the NASB Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Gula, disclosed that the closures of cattle market and abattoir had caused a lot of “socio-economic hardship and trauma.” sending over a million of its members out of jobs and meat to sell to customers in the metropolis.
He said the association’s appeals and complaints along with members of the Livestock Traders Association (LITA) to the military, the Shehu of Borno and other relevant authorities over the three-week closure, had fallen on deaf ears, as the abattoir and cattle market have remained closed.
According to him, “Right from the leaders of sector two of the military, up to the General Officer Commanding, 7 Division of Nigerian Army and the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, we laid our complaints over the closures of the market and abattoir, but the representative of the GOC, told us he will look into our complaints, loss of jobs and meat.”
He however noted: “Immediately after our visit to the GOC, the abattoir and the cattle market were sealed off from transacting any business in the livestock industry, including the daily slaughters of 180- 250 cattle and 600-700 sheep and goats in the abattoir.”
He added that over 200,040 butchers were prevented from their means of livelihoods.
He said his members would not allow any person slaughter any cow or livestock for sell because the association could be implicated if they do.
On the alleged cattle rustling, Gula said anyone found with a rustled cattle should be the one to be prosecuted instead of the untold hardship on all.
He noted that the military need not continue with the blanket action.
He lamented that since the closure, members of the association had lost millions of naira in revenue as they were not allowed to feed or slaughter any cow, sheep or goat at the abattoir.
He said: “With the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State, another trouble and calamities have hit the people with over a million butchers out of business to fend for themselves.”