The Zamfara State chapter of the Nigeria Cattle Dealers’ Association has lamented that the economic hardships ravaging the State was seriously affecting their business.
Speaking with Newsmen at the cattle market in Gusau, the State capital, the Secretary of the Association, Alhaji Masud Salisu Gusau said that the market forces had changed owing to activities of bandits.
Gusau blamed the poor trade on banditry activities as farmers in the villages no longer bring their cattle to the urban areas for business activities.
He explained that the cattle dealers instead hire vehicles to purchase the cattle, pointing out that the escalating prices of cattle was as a result of banditry.
“We risk our lives, spend our money to hire vehicles from Gusau to rural areas to buy the cattle and we must recover the money we invested and make little profit.
“The escalating price of cattle is not our making. In fact we are not happy about the development because buyers no longer patronize us,” he lamented.
But reacting, some buyers noted that the cattle dealers were capitalizing on banditry activities to maximize their profit.
According to one Usman Bukkyum, “only the wealthy individuals are able to afford ram this season because of their financial might. But many civil servants will celebrate a bleak Ed-il-Kabir because of economic hardships.
“We are civil servants and the State government is not helping issues. The government has refused to implement the N30,000 minimum wage which was approved by the federal government and the NLC.
“If the State government had implemented the N30,000 minimum wage, the economic hardships would have reduced drastically.”