By Tony Adibe
Some northern traders who deal on cattle and other livestock in Enugu metropolis have bemoaned the lull in their business, leading to a drastic reduction in the number of cows they sell daily, a development they attributed to the current hike in the petrol pump price in Nigeria.
NewsBits learnt that following the current increase in the cost of petroleum products in the country, there has been a lull in their business and as a result, the number of cows they sell daily has reduced drastically. They also lamented that coupled with the high cost of fuel, bad roads in different parts of the country, especially the Northern states, have also contributed to their woeful tales.
Chairman of Amalgamated Cattle Dealers Association of Enugu State, Alhaji Abubakar Isa said that some months ago, they used to sell up to 100 cows a day to various markets in Enugu but today, it has dropped from 15 to 20 cows. What caused the change in the tempo of their business is the high cost of transportation occasioned by the high cost of diesel for trucks, Isa said.
He said due to the high cost of transportation, cows they used to sell for between N300,000 and N800,000 have now risen to between N1.2 to N1.8 million depending on the size of the cows and it scares buyers from coming to buy cows.
Isa said: “Before now we used to transport a cow from the North to the East with N15,000 but today, it costs more than N70,000. Before the increase in the price of fuel, we used to sell up to 100 cows a day but these days it has dropped between 15 to 20 cows a day.” He called on the government to review the price of petroleum products.
“Government should reduce the price of petroleum products so that it will reduce transportation and high cost of goods in the market. They should sell fuel for N200 or N300 per liter. This forces the cost of things to come down,” Isa said.
A Northern cow dealer at New Garriki Market in Enugu, who was reluctant to speak on the high cost of cows and lull in business, said that the high cost of transportation has affected their business so much that people hardly come to buy from them.
“Transporting cattle from Kano to the East used to cost N150,000 but now it costs between N700,000 and N900,000 and when this is done, it helps to push up prices. Some cows that sold between N400,000 and N500,000 now sell between N900,000 to N1.8 million,” he said. He said that they get cows from both within, and outside Nigeria like Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad, and Mali and the prices vary.
He also lamented that before now butchers at Akwata Abattoir at Ogbete Main Market used to buy up to 25 cows a day but today they buy about 5. “Before now, we used to sell up to 200 cows a day but today we hardly sell up to 50 cows the whole of Enugu markets a day,” he laments.
Two Igbo cattle dealers, Onyekachi Orji and Moses Nwobodo said that the high cost of transportation and bad roads are affecting their business. “Apart from the high cost of transporting cows from the North, not many people are willing to buy cows again because of bad roads. Some trailers fall on the road because they are bad and when they fall, we suffer heavy loss. The government must fix the roads so that transporting cows to the East will be easier. When many cows are brought here, it will help bring down the cost of cows,” the traders said.
