Maiduguri residents go without meat as local abattoir is shut amid Boko Haram fears

MAIDUGURI residents have been surviving without meat for the last three weeks as a result of the closure of the city's main abattoir and meat market by the military authorities trying to combat the possibility of Boko Haram trying to raise money through the livestock trade.   As the military tightens the noose around Boko Haram, the terrorist sect has resorted to the use of innovative means to raise cash and selling cattle is seen as a potential revenue earner for the sect.
It is believed that the terrorists have been able to get hold of substantial numbers of cattle and are seeking them in the Maiduguri market to fund its insurgency.   Tipped off about the possibility of this development, the military authorities shut down both the Maiduguri abattoir and the city's main cattle market. As a result, local residents have had to make do with fish over recent weeks, which has resulted in prices soaring beyond the reach of many families.   Some of the cattle breeders in Borno State had alleged that livestock worth hundreds of millions of naira were stolen from them by Boko Haram. They equally alleged that the proceeds from the stolen livestock were enough to prosecute the war effort of the insurgents against the military. However, the Borno State chapter of the National Association of Butchers (Nasb) has condemned the closure of the Maiduguri cattle market and abattoir, saying the actions left its teeming members unemployed and without a means of livelihood. Alhaji Abubakar Gula, the Nasb chairman said the closures of had caused a lot of socio-economic hardship and trauma, putting over a million of its members out of jobs.   He added that the association’s appeals and complaints along with those from members of the Livestock Traders Association, the Shehu of Borno and other relevant authorities over the three-week closure, had fallen on deaf ears. According to Alhaji Gula, over 200,040 butchers were prevented from earning their livelihoods as Nasb would not allow any person to slaughter any cow or livestock because the association could be implicated if they do.   Alhaji Gula added: “Right from the leaders of Sector Two of the military, up to the general officer commanding (GOC) the Seventh Division of the Nigerian Army and the Shehu of Borno Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garba El-Kanemi, we laid our complaints over the closures of the market and abattoir but the representative of the GOC, told us he will look into our complaints, loss of jobs and meat. Immediately after our visit to the GOC, the abattoir and the cattle market were sealed off from transacting any business in the livestock industry, including the daily slaughters of 180 to 250 cattle and 600 to 700 sheep and goats in the abattoir.”   He noted that the military need not continue with the blanket action. Alhaji Gula lamented that since the closure, members of the association had lost millions of naira in revenue as they were not allowed to feed or slaughter any cow, sheep or goat at the abattoir.