I hope say pork, goat and fish sellers no go join.

If this is true, then;

This is WAR!!!!!!

It's time to go on a kolanut strike too!! no more "gworo" for the North! lets see who will blink first.

at least the South can eat fish and garri, let's see if Mallam Shutalim can do without gworo

what brings islam in to this now? , some people are just bunch of fools

.hmmm. .

haha, again. . . scarcity??

Food crisis.
nigeria is really a wonderful place, draging politics into food supply. North starves south. This is really funny. Well Lets see where it leads

Kai,
Men make i go stock up on Suya O!
It is about to become scarce,

Thank God for other sources of protein

D

@aisha
what exactly is Ur point? Are trying to insinuate that the south has wronged the north hence punishment by starvation should be meted out to them. . . Na wa to U o!

rhymz:

@aisha
what exactly is your point? Are trying to insinuate that the south has wronged the north hence punishment by starvation should be meted out to them. . . Na wa to U o!

My Dear, its not a North and south Issue if you take your time to read the interview you will read their problems. What the Dealers are saying is that, they are being overtaxed and harrased at the end of the day after driving on the horrible nigerian roads and sleeping on the streets for 6 days to get to the south east to supply food, due to levies, illegal levies form illegal grous they make no profit, the stirke is meant to call Government attention to thier plight and call agberos and area boys to order. That is it.

We should try to view issues devoid of tribal or religious sentiments. Any traveller on Nigeria roads would wonder how Nigeria businessmen make profit, with each local govt mounting road blocks, each police post mounting road blocks, all collecting money. The roads are terrible leading to so many preventable accidents and property losses. Their action should be a wake up call for government to streamline the payment, so that they pay a know amount to registered authority that way they could assess their business performance.

Is it a coincidence that "HausaFulani marabouts" attacked Jos christians on sunday, and the cattle dealers (hausafulanis) are going on strike against the south on Monday. is a bigger plot playing out ?.

secondly, can we have a review of the typical food mix of the southerners. I know definitely that we rely heavenly on imported rice, garri, wheat ala indomie and bread. Vegetables are sourced from the south and the middle belt. All this do not come from the core North. I would rather go on a suya fast and eat the healthier chicken and fish. I dont think the south will be much affexted by this miscalculated agenda of the core north

otukpo:

will help reduce red meat consumption.

It is not that simple, more that 500 cows are processed at Agege abattoir alone, daily.

The future of a one Nigeria is shaky i fear A figment of your imagination. Nigeria that is really never is should not be concerned about its future because what  is not in existence  does not exist.

this is as a result of fulani's fight in the Jos crises. they are fulanis, let them go.

I think the Northerners are now showing the south that they are important.
Since all southerners wanna be in the office

nigeria

a bunch of uneducated gworo chewers decide to embark on the right thing - a civil action to address a gnawing issue - their extortion by numerous parties affliated and non affiliated with the government and its an ethnic agenda

the funny thing is that the same people making noise here will feature in threads stating that northerners are planning to kill whole townships with mass distributed poisoned suya

oyb:

nigeria

a bunch of uneducated gworo chewers decide to embark on the right thing - a civil action to address a gnawing issue - their extortion by numerous parties affliated and non affiliated with the government and its an ethnic agenda

t[b]he funny thing is that the same people making noise here will feature in threads stating that northerners are planning to kill whole townships with mass distributed poisoned suya [/b]

Wonderfully said

As the saying goes, the truth may be out there,but the lies are inside our head. What does this issue have to do with tribe? I don't blame the white guy for calling us barbarians,and i tell u,some white people still hold that view. Is think NAIRALAND is full of people with a low sense of intellectual capacity. Some lack basic understanding of issues.

if we look into this with a sense of reason we'll see that they are really crying for justice.

Mune:

As the saying goes, the truth may be out there,but the lies are inside our head. What does this issue have to do with tribe? I don't blame the white guy for calling us barbarians,and i tell u,some white people still hold that view. Is think NAIRALAND is full of people with a low sense of intellectual capacity. Some lack basic understanding of issues.

My brother, when one considers that 90% of NL is below age of 30 then you wonder what tomorrow holds for the nation. People are complaning of unjustifiable extortion and multiple taxation all all what come to some people's mind is religious and tribal sentiments.

Remii:

My brother, when one considers that 90% of NL is below age of 30 then you wonder what tomorrow holds for the nation. People are complaining of unjustifiable extortion and multiple taxation all all what come to some people's mind is religious and tribal sentiments.

@ Remii
what else can I say ? You make my day and I really mean it. Nairalander ! Revolution ! Jonathan ! Yar dua ! Yoruba ! Hausa ! Ibo ! Islam ! Xtian ! , uhmmmmm = Development ?

aisha2:

My Dear, its not a North and south Issue if you take your time to read the interview you will read their problems. What the Dealers are saying is that, they are being overtaxed and harrased at the end of the day after driving on the horrible nigerian roads and sleeping on the streets for 6 days to get to the south east to supply food, due to levies, illegal levies form illegal grous they make no profit, the stirke is meant to call Government attention to thier plight and call agberos and area boys to order. That is it.

First & foremost, I find Ur use of "my dear" to address me insulting and demeaning, u barely even know me, neither am I dear to U.
Now back to the topic, I am not the type to jump onto a thread without reading thoroughly what the topic is about,if there is anyone who is showing a lack of understanding of the topic,it is U. Obviously,U already have a mindset, it doesn't matter what anyone says, U re here to do one thing and that is to defend the north(which is ok as long as U do it within the confines of truth and justice) irrespective of how irresponsible and politically suspicious their action is. I shudder with disbelief at Ur grasp of the topic when U keep claiming it's not a "north-south thing".So tell us in all Ur infinit wisdom who the northern traders are threatening to cut food supply to? U ve deliberately decided to turn a blind eyes to the absurdity and implications of such action.The question is, what exactly do they hope to achieve? If it is to get FG and probably the southern states governors' attention, then why should an ordinary southerner who experiences thesame problem as him be the one to bear the brunt? Do U correct one wrong done by doing another one? May be the actions of the ND millitants should be justified afterall, they too kidnap,vandalize and cause mayhem because of the FG's neglect, while they are at it, they can as well cut crude oil supply to the north as a the president is from the north and our politics is dominated by those crooks in the north.The point is, thier grievances are not misplaced but their intended action is. Stop painting another situation that makes the north look like the victim and the south the devil's den. Until U learn to look at issues criticalyl then I suggest U hold Ur breath and save us the subtle tribalism.

This act by the northerners may not be tribalism, it may just be them protesting the corruption of this country. However, the question is "what does rice,vegetables, and other crops have to do with cattle?" No part of nigeria should rely or depend on one particular section of the country. Southern states should have back ups(Plan B's) for situations like this. For instance, there are enough of cattle and agriculture in Benin Republic to supply the SW plus the agriculture the SW already have they will be well. The same goes for the whole EAST. The eastern tribes should cut off the supplies from the north and get it from Cameroon, there is more than enough cattle and agriculture to supply them on top of the agriculture the East already has. This would teach the north a grave lesson if this is indeed tribalism

How are we sure the striking cattle dealers are not the ones who used their free time to attack Jos yesterday?

Like others have said on this topic, I think this problem affects more than just cattle dealers and farm produce merchants from the north, as in the example of Bakassi boys collecting "Levies" in the east, agberos and area boys collecting their own levies too in Lagos. Police collect their own "toll fees" from all Okadas and danfos. Local govt collects taxes and levies, State collects Income tax, Federal collects VAT, etc, etc. The Nigerian state is not ready to become "civilised" (if u like put z instead of s).

Now back to the main arguement, these Cattle dealers et al must really be unserious (if there is a word like that). They say they will not supply the south with their products until something is done about the situation. This is their own source of livelihood and this propblem did not start today. It will only make us southerners pay more for the produce. If cost of production goes up, so does selling price. This is a good way of making a statement, but I do not think the matter will be solved like dat.

Eventually, the cost of chicken, fish and eggs will go up (if they have not done so already) here in the south because we must chop protein. If fuel price goes up, we pay more for food; if cattle dealers strike we pay more for food. Maybe this is a good investment opportunity for those in the south to become self-sufficient when it comes to agricultural produce.

I'm sure OBJ Farms will make more money because of this.

Hunger looms!
Special Reports Mar 13, 2010 …as Hausa traders stop food supplies to other parts of the country

By Ebun Babalola & Olasunkanmi Akoni
A call from the Deputy Editor, Saturday Vanguard, Chioma Gabriel, changed my entire Thursday routine. Ordinarily, as a journalist, I would resume duty as early as possible especially as Thursdays are hectic production days.

The call was neither for me to call some personalities who are in politics nor was it the usual assignments. It was a different ball game.

I was asked to report at the popular Mile12 market and the reason given for this assignment was that,Hausa traders had embarked on strike.One question that came to my mind was why on earth would tomatoes sellers go on strike?

On getting to Mile 12, it dawned on me that a bowl of tomatoes that usually sold for N100 now sells for a thousand naira (N1000).

Based on the information gathered, the Hausa who are major wholesalers in the trade have indeed embarked on strike since March 8, because of the persistence problem encountered while transporting their goods from the farms to the city. The goods include tomatoes, meat, yam, pepper, chilly pepper, spices amongst others.

At exactly, 10.30 a.m. Thursday, the ever busy Mile 12 market was scanty. I walked up to a meat seller and asked where I can get tomatoes . His answer was scary. He said, “Madam, if you want to buy tomatoes, you have to go to the North”.

“Why? “ the writer asked.


Traders at the Mile 12 Market, Lagos.
“I wouldn’t know. They said, the Hausa are on strike, they said the money they are collecting from them is too much. They said that LASTMA is disturbing them. They said the police is collecting too much money than expected and to worsen the situation, the touts are not helping matters.”

“ Who are the they?” the writer asked.

“ Madam, please, leave me alone, I don’t know what you want from me”, he answered.

In another encounter with a woman who was selling pumpkin leaves, (Ugu), she said, “the Hausa have been lamenting over this issue for the past two months before they finally embarked on this strike. Look at that man sitting over there, he used to sell tomatoes but now, he is selling onions because he couldn’t get tomatoes to buy”.

Mallam Musa Abubakar told Saturday Vanguard that “the strike started Monday, March 8 but he doesn’t know when it would end.”

According to him, “the Hausa have been suffering in the hands of the so-called government agencies. They are protesting multiple taxation paid as revenue which is becoming unbearable thereby frustrating the efforts of the Hausa traders. And apart from government, the LASTMA, policemen, touts also collect theirs. The total amount collected at the end of the day is always between 50,000 and 100,000 per trailer.”

As at the time of this investigation, market women and men who spoke with Saturday Vanguard lamented that the strike is now affecting their businesses. The reason they gave is that since the Hausa have gone on strike, prices of other food items have gone higher than expected.

Further investigation revealed that a plate of tomatoes in Mile 12 that used to be sold for N100 is now N1000 while the ones sold for N50 before is now N300. A bowl of rotten tomatoes which used to be sold for N100 is now N500. Buyers now crave for what is available.Even the ever rejected rotten tomatoes suddenly became appealing to the buyers. They were ready to buy whatever seemed like tomatoes in the market.

The strike which has entered its sixth day is now becoming unbearable for market women and men, not only in Mile 12 but other markets in different parts of the country especially Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Kwara and other parts of the country.

At present, traders from the Northern parts of Nigeria have boycotted various markets especially Lagos as there have been no supply of cows, tomatoes, pepper, yam, chilly pepper and other food items from the North to Lagos markets, thus leading to the scarcity of these commodities.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/03/13/hunger-looms/

Nothing spoil,chicken and fish will do.

chrisical:

Nothing spoil,chicken and fish will do.

That cant replace cow meat.

It is time other regions of nigeria start breeding and interbreeding cattles,they are all plausible,efficient,fulfilling and lucrative things to do

redsun:

It is time other regions of nigeria start breeding and interbreeding cattles,they are all plausible,efficient,fulfilling and lucrative things to do

I think that is the right solution.
I wonder what it takes to even rear those things sef . . . . cos place like those villages in oshun state would be a good place for such buz, i no mind oh, but will need reliable people to take care of it, since man no fit be here and there