#Food vendors lament

#Afenifere, PANDEF threaten retaliation

#No going back unless… – Dealers

#We are not part of strike — Southern MACBAN

The strike action embarked upon by the cattle and foodstuff dealers under the aegis of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) has driven up prices of beef, food and vegetables in the South.

AUFCDN, an affiliate of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) commenced a nationwide strike Thursday following the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum given to the federal government to attend to their demands.

The Union is demanding protection of its members, payment of N475 billion compensation for lives of members and properties lost during the #EndSARS protest and the Shasa market crisis in Ibadan. It also demands the dismantling of all roadblocks on federal highways where their members are harassed and money extorted from them by the authorities.

The strike entails closing all routes between the North and South for vehicles conveying cattle and food items. Such vehicles are stopped from reaching the Southern region.

Butchers in the South who still have stock have capitalised on the strike to hike prices. So have sellers in perishable food items shipped from the North.

Lagos is one of the states worst hit. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had at the commissioning of a new semi-mechanized abattoir for cows and goats in Bariga recently said that the state consumes over 50 per cent of animal production in Nigeria.

A kilo of beef that sold for N1, 200 to N1, 500 before the strike now sells for N2, 000. A basket of tomato, which sold between N4, 000 to N6, 000 before now, ranges between N13, 000 to N15,000.

The chairman of United Butchers of Lagos State Abattoir Complex, Oko-Oba in Agege, Abdullahi Ahmed, said that before the strike, about 1,000 cows were slaughtered daily at the abattoir while close to 1,500 cows were slaughtered on Saturdays.

“Now, we cannot slaughter up to 200 because there are no cows. What we are slaughtering are the ones being reared here and they are small,” he said.

Ahmed told Daily Trust that the three cows he slaughtered on Saturday were bought at N630, 000. “I saw someone buy one cow at N900, 000 on Saturday. The situation is very terrible,” he said.

It was also learnt that less than five cows were slaughtered at Odo-Eran, in Ojo Cantonment on Saturday.

Daily Trust observed that many have turned to fish while those who had planned to buy fresh pepper and tomatoes for storage purposes could no longer do so.

Chineye Okoroafor, a trader at the Agbara market, a border community in Ogun State, said that dealers have resorted to hoarding goods.

Kaduna1stson:
Haba, why are we northerners not thinking straight before embarking on the paths of destruction? Do we think we can sustain this fight against the south and win? Who is advising us wrongly?

Let us stay in our own and support the division of the country instead of this bully tactics we always do.

DanHaske:
ipob Jew, is that all you have to say?

Kaduna1stson:


Anyone who says the truth is now an ipob jew, does it mean everyone in the north is a liar?

butterfly777:
We southerners will like to thank the north for this. We have been hoping you take your goods elsewhere, and stop spoiling market for the local farmers.

Imagine, an Hausa seller will not rent a shop. He will not rent a room to sleep in. He will sleep in the open space He will not send children to school and pay school fees.

All these shallow lifestyle makes him feel okay selling things too cheap.

Unlike the southern seller who lives a normal life of renting shop or stalls, proper rooms to live in, send children to private schools, etc.

So take your poor lifestyle elsewhere and stop spoiling business for people down south.

Now, our own farmers can increase their efforts on agriculture, knowing that northerners will no longer come to offer uneconomic prices for the same farm products.

tungamaje:
If the Biafrans could survive the food blockade during the war time...

DanHaske:
What's the fuse here? They said northerners should leave their region, they are leaving

Patrioticbreed9:

i dont even know what went wrong along the line back then there was on angweyi that my parent loves so much in our village, we usualy call him awoli jam or awoli jampo and anytime we call him by that name he will start dancing and singing,any day my he is coming my mother usualy prepare beans and yam his favourite there was a day he came with four of his brothers and my mum prepared almost 3mudus of beans and 2 yams for em, the bound was so strong that we named him chibuzor, he gifted us two calfs.. i was shocked the day my mum called me and told me dat fulanis are disturbing our farms i asked her if chibuzor was among and she said chibuzor have been away for the past six years.. what went wrong ..

Xkale1234:
u just nail it bro