COVID-19 LOCK DOWN: CATTLE DEALERS RECOUNT LOSSES, BEGS FOR ORDER RELAXATION IN RIVER STATE
This was as it says it has lost over 200 cattles to the tune of over N5 million.
The National Auditor of the Union, Mustapha Aliyu who made this known to newsmen in Kano State at the weekend, said it members were stranded by the order which shut down their market, Trans Amadi Slaughter market in the state.
Recall the governor, was reportedly said to have ordered shut down of all markets indefinitely and the complete closure of all borders of the state as a move to curtail the spread of the dreaded virus in the state.
Aliyu said they have nothing to feed the cattles and some of it were yet to be offloaded from the truck used to transport them to the state as a result of the 24 hours order in place.
According to him, “Even as we commend the Rivers State government under Governor Wike Nyesom for the swift action to curtail the spread of the virus in the state, we are not saying we don’t want to abide by the order but all we are saying is the government should review and relax the order for some days or a week to enable us sell our cattle in stock to save us from incurring huge losses.
“Some of our cattle are dying on daily basis as a result of the unconducive weather (rainy and hot weather). They don’t like rain and hot weather. In fact, some of the cattle are yet to be offloaded from the truck that transported them to the state.
“We have lost over 200 goats. Each one sells for about N30,000 or N35,000 and more summing up to over N5 million.
“We held a meeting with the State Commissioner of Agriculture in the week on the matter who we believe would go back to brief the Governor but we are yet to hear any response. We are appealing to the government to assist our members who are over 500 in the market (Trans Amadi Slaughter market) to save us from incurring huge losses,” Aliyu however said.
Meanwhile, with the appeal by the cattle dealers they have joined the league of others of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Total E&P and Nigerian Gas Company who are asking Governor Wike to relax the total state lock down.
