Though officially known as Umuchieze cattle market, most people prefer to call it Lokpanta cattle market. It is the largest cattle market East of the Niger. The cattle market which covers more than one square kilometer is a community of its own.

Perhaps, it is on the basis of the rising population of this community which has become a melting pot for people from almost all parts of the country that the leadership of the cattle market association, had since called on the Abia state government to create a political ward in the market to give the traders the opportunity to vote during general elections.

It is located on the ever-busy Enugu - Port-Harcourt Expressway. A first time visitor to the market may likely want to know why the market bears the names of two communities. The only plausible reason is that Lokpanta is more popular than Umuchieze because of the presence of quarry sites in the former community.

The cattle market has become a landmark in Umuchieze. For motorists and passengers travelling along the Enugu - Port-Harcourt Expressway, the sight of several trailers parked on either sides of the road, is an indication that one is approaching Lokponta or Umuchieze, depending on whether one is coming from Umuahia or Enugu.

The trailer drivers carry cattle, bags of beans and ground-nuts from the Northern parts of the country to Lokpanta, and on their way back to the North, they carry mainly palm oil which is used in cooking food and making soap. Indeed, palm oil was the mainstay of the economy of the defunct Eastern region, but with the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity, the produce was relegated to the background by successive administrations of the nine states carved out of the defunct region.

Umuchieze has equally become a rendezvous for petroleum products tanker drivers from the Northern states who either pass the night there or rest before taking off to their different destinations.

Alhaji Musa Bishara, chairman, Umuchieze Cattle Market Association, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that customers come from the states of Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Enugu and Imo to buy cattle, goats, rams and local chicken at relatively cheaper prices.

“The prices of the livestock we sell here are comparatively cheap because there are no restrictions placed on cattle traders who come from Sokoto, Katsina, Borno, and other parts of the country, and even from the neighbouring countries of Niger and Cameroun.

“On our main market days which are Tuesday’s, Thursday’s and Saturday’s, no fewer than one hundred trailer load of cattle are brought here for sale. Once they are brought here, they are handed over to the dealers who sell to smaller dealers as well as to retailers”, he disclosed.

When LEADESHIP SUNDAY visited the market on Tuesday, many trailer drivers carrying livestock parked their trailers on both sides of the road, and waited endlessly to off-load their goods, and in the process caused a major traffic gridlock on the highway. “What you are seeing today, is symbolic of the volume of traffic recorded here on the market days”, said Alhaji Bishara.

The cattle trade is dominated by traders from the Northern parts of the country, nevertheless, there are some Igbo men involved in the cattle trade either as dealers or retailers, a development which has continued to cement the bond of unity between cattle traders from the North and their counterparts in the East.

Besides trading in livestock, other ancillary businesses are carried out in the market. They include and are not limited to selling of hay and fodder in the market.

“These set of traders are important in the market because their services are indispensible and they make good living from them,” said Alhaji Bishara.

Mrs. Veronica Nwoga, sells slaughter knives, ropes and canes, She believes that those who do not understand the market regard her business as unimportant, but she admits that she makes a lot of money from it.

She said: “Every cow retailer needs a rope to tow his cow and when you consider the number of cows that are sold in this market, it will give you an idea of the amount of money those of us that sell these small things make in a good day. The same is applicable to the slaughter knives and the canes. I buy the ropes from Aba, while the jack knives are brought by traders from the North.

“With the proceeds from the trade, I have been able to build a house in Umuahia, train my children in the university while my sons have got married as well as my daughters”, she said. She has been in this business for eight years. She came to Lokponta on January 6, 2004, following the relocation of the cattle market from Okigwe to Lokponta.

http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/44277/2013/01/06/umuchieze_cattle_market_unifying_point_northsouth.html

History Of The Market
According to Mrs. Veronica Nwoga, an indigene of Enugu state, the cattle market was first located in Umuahia in an area popularly called Gariki, but was relocated to Okigwe on May 15, 1994, following complaints by residents that it was not proper to site such a market in a state capital, which Umuahia had become by then following the creation of Abia state in 1991.

According to Mrs. Nwoga, who started selling items used by butchers at the Gariki cattle market, Umuahia, the then government of Abia state, first built a cattle market at Ubakala in the outskirts of Umuahia, but the Northern traders rejected the location of the market. They preferred a place close to the Expressway, preferably the Enugu - Port-Harcourt Expressway.

While the Abia state government prevaricated on meeting the request of the cattle dealers, the then government of Imo state, moved in and secured a land at Okigwe junction for the relocation of the cattle market. In doing that the Imo state government, appreciated the economic importance of the cattle market. “This market will increase the internally generated revenue of the state” a senior government official reportedly said then.

But for inexplicable reasons, the Imo state government resolved to push the cattle market to another location, a move that rankled the traders. And as the traders were thinking of going back to the North, the former Abia state governor Orji Uzor Kalu, invited their leaders for talks, and at the end of the day, the Abia state government provided a large expanse of land at Umuchieze in Umunneochi Local Government Area of the state, for the cattle traders to stay and ply their business.

According to Alhaji Bishara, most of the cattle traders are from the Northern parts of the country, and have lived all their lives in Abia state. Indeed, most of them are descendants of Hausa/ Fulani cattle traders who had settled in Umuahia long before the country gained independence from the British colonial masters on October 1, 1960.

“We do not see ourselves as traders alone, but as residents and citizens of Abia state who are working and trading for the development of the economy of the state, and that is why we are agitating for a special political ward to enable us elect somebody who will represent our interests in the local government council.

“Actually the Abia state government had in the past, extended political appointments including a special advisory position to some of us. This goes to show how close we are to the government of Abia state. But we are asking for one of us to be appointed a commissioner to represent our interests in the Abia state executive council, whenever governor Theodore Orji decides to dissolve the existing state executive, and appoint a new one.

“I must say that this community enjoys a good relationship with the administration of Governor Theodore Orji as well as that of the Umunne ochi local government council. The relationship with the council is so cordial, and even when we quarrel with indigenous farmers in the area over the grazing of our cattle in their farmland, the successive council chairmen had invited us for amicable settlement of the matter instead of engaging in violent clashes with our hosts.

“We are enjoying reasonable security in the market, and that has allowed our business to thrive. We thank the Abia state government for approving the posting of soldiers and mobile police men here. The Abia state government has also provided us with nomadic school for our children, and we are requesting the government to also provide us with a health centre where our women can take treatment with ease rather than travelling long distances to access medical care,” said Alhaji Bishara in an interview with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY.

The relocation of the cattle market to Lokpanta, many say, has not only reduced to the barest minimum incidents of violent robbery in the area, but has also led to the development of a new community in the Umunneochi Local Government Area.
Interestingly, two commercial banks – First Bank and Union Bank, had opened branches in the cattle market, making it easier for traders to secure their money against the nefarious activities of armed gangs who used to roam the area with impunity.

Though the banks were attacked by armed robbers two years ago, forcing them to close shop, the new security measures adopted by the present Abia state government had led the management of the two banks to resolve to resume business in the market in January 2013.

LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that several cattle traders from the North who have lived in Abia state for several years, have married from the area, and such marriages have produced the fruits of the womb. Ejike Ukonu, who lives in Umuchieze, says that inter-ethnic marriage is a strong tool to unite the disparate peoples of Nigeria.

Problems
Though the market has attained international status, it still lacks some basic social amenities such as water and electricity. Alhaji Tanko Mujammed, financial secretary of the market association said: “You cannot believe that we do not have electricity from the public power supply. What we have here is solar energy, which only illuminates the market in the night, but we need public power supply so we can use electricity to engage in useful economic activities.

“Again, a bore-hole is long overdue in the market as we need water for the thousands of cattle that are sold in this market daily and for those that remain here for quite some time before they are sold. We spend a lot of money to buy water for our cattle. A 20-litre container of water is sold for N50 here.

“We are also requesting the state government to build a housing estate here, even if it is on mortgage basis, because we deserve a decent accommodation and we are prepared to pay for them. Deputy chairman of the market Alhaji Chari Shettima Wadiri, would want the federal government to look into the problem of multiple taxation as according to him, the high tariff paid per trailer of cattle in any state they pass through to the market has resulted to the increase in the cost of cattle.

There is nothing to be happy about those northerners in lokpanta,those guys there have refused to nbuild any reasonable structure there,all they do is build shanty houses with zinc and wood and generate dirts everywhere. Heard they were recently chased out of there into isuochi,those people are nothing but eyesore.

By the way,Umuchieze is made up of lokpanta,lokpaukwu,lekwesi and leru. So,in umuchieze, they say,lokpanta-umuchieze,lekwesi-umuchieze,etc.