Potiskum Cattle Market in Yobe State was thrown into disaster on Thursday because the entrepreneurs protested over a rise in tax charge by the Potiskum native authorities council.
This abruptly disrupted the shopping for and promoting of livestock when the market was at its peak.
The Chairman, Amalgamated Cattle Sellers Potiskum Department, Alhaji Hassan Alkali, whereas talking to newsmen on the matter, stated that, “The disagreement started when the Potiskum Native Authorities’s Process Drive on Income Assortment introduced a rise within the weekly income cost for loading from N1,500 per truck to N10,000.
“The Potiskum Native Authorities Secretary who can be the Chairman Process Drive Committee on Income Assortment, Idris invited us for a gathering and knowledgeable us that they’ve determined to evaluation our income upward to N10,00 henceforth, however we disagreed and stated that we are going to seek the advice of our members first.”
“After due consultations with our members and different related stakeholders, we went again to the Native Authorities and advised them that we will afford to pay N3,500 however the Native Authorities rejected our supply and insisted on N7,000 however our members declined and protested by deserting the market and started to patronise neighboring markets in Nangere LGA within the state and Dagauda in Bauchi State the place the tax is cheaper”, he added.
In accordance with him, each Thursday, no fewer than 70 vehicles have been being loaded with cows for supply to totally different elements of the nation, warning that if the matter was not urgently addressed, it will cripple the economic system of Potiskum, particularly that of the cattle market that has an extended historical past of being one of many largest in West Africa.
Reacting to the event, the Secretary Potiskum Native Authorities Council and Chairman Process Drive on Income Assortment, Idris Modu Bah stated that the choice of the federal government was not imagined to be thought of as a dispute.
“This can be a determination of the Native Authorities administration which determined that N10,000 needs to be the brand new income charge.
“We invited the involved sellers for a gathering which noticed the intervention of the Safety Adviser to Yobe State Governor and different safety companies, they insisted on discount after agreeing with the resolutions of the sooner assembly to pay N7,000,” he stated.
Yobe State is among the largest producers of livestock and Potiskum Cattle Market is taken into account to be one the most important in West Africa.
