Potiskum Cattle Market in Yobe State was thrown into crisis on Thursday as the marketers protested over an increase in tax rate by the Potiskum local government council.
This abruptly disrupted the buying and selling of livestock when the market was at its peak.
The Chairman, Amalgamated Cattle Dealers Potiskum Branch, Alhaji Hassan Alkali, while speaking to newsmen on the matter, said that, “The disagreement began when the Potiskum Local Government’s Task Force on Revenue Collection announced an increase in the weekly revenue payment for loading from N1,500 per truck to N10,000.
“The Potiskum Local Government Secretary who is also the Chairman Task Force Committee on Revenue Collection, Idris invited us for a meeting and informed us that they have decided to review our revenue upward to N10,00 henceforth, but we disagreed and said that we will consult our members first.”
“After due consultations with our members and other relevant stakeholders, we went back to the Local Government and told them that we can afford to pay N3,500 but the Local Government rejected our offer and insisted on N7,000 but our members declined and protested by deserting the market and began to patronise neighboring markets in Nangere LGA in the state and Dagauda in Bauchi State where the tax is cheaper”, he added.
According to him, every Thursday, no fewer than 70 trucks were being loaded with cows for delivery to different parts of the country, warning that if the matter was not urgently addressed, it would cripple the economy of Potiskum, especially that of the cattle market that has a long history of being one of the largest in West Africa.
Reacting to the development, the Secretary Potiskum Local Government Council and Chairman Task Force on Revenue Collection, Idris Modu Bah said that the decision of the government was not supposed to be considered as a dispute.
“This is a decision of the Local Government management which decided that N10,000 should be the new revenue rate.
“We invited the concerned dealers for a meeting which saw the intervention of the Security Adviser to Yobe State Governor and other security agencies, they insisted on reduction after agreeing with the resolutions of the earlier meeting to pay N7,000,” he said.
Yobe State is one of the largest producers of livestock and Potiskum Cattle Market is considered to be one the largest in West Africa.