Zamfara Cattle Dealers Decry Low Patronage, Attribute Act To Banditry

The Zamfara State chapter of the Nigeria Cattle Dealers’ Association has lamented over economic hardships ravaging the State pointing out that it seriously affect their business.

Speaking with Lead Express at Gusau, the State capital, the Secretary of the Association, Alhaji Masud Salisu Gusau revealed that the market forces had changed given the activities of bandits.

Gusau however attributed the poor trade to banditry activities as farmers in the villages no longer bring their cattle to the urban areas for business activities.

He further revealed that the cattle dealers instead hire vehicles to purchase the cattle, pointing out that the escalating prices of cattle was occasioned by banditry.

“We risk our lives, spend our money to hire vehicles from Gusau to rural areas to buy the cattle and we must recover the money we invested and make little profit,he said.

“The escalating price of cattle is not our making. In fact we are not happy about the development because buyers no longer patronize us,” he hinted.

In their reactions, some buyers noted that the cattle dealers were capitalizing on banditry activities to maximize their profit.

According to one Usman Bukkyum, “only the wealthy individuals are able to afford ram this season because of their financial might. But many civil servants will celebrate a bleak Ed-il-Kabir because of economic hardships.

“We are civil servants and the State government is not helping issues. The government has refused to implement the N30,000 minimum wage which was approved by the federal government and the NLC.

“If the State government had implemented the N30,000 minimum wage, the economic hardships would have reduced drastically.”