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BY SUNNY A. DAVID
The Zonal Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Gidado Sodiki has said that the debt profile of slaughter houses in Anambra State is very alarming and worrisome.
Alhaji Sodiki, who stated this during an exclusive interview with our correspondent at Amansea Cattle Market Awka-North Local Government Area of the State, noted that at the moment slaughter houses in Anambra State are owing Miyetti Allah well over N100 million and that most times some of the monies become bad debts.
The Adamawa-born cattle dealer said he has been doing cattle business in Anambra State since 1986 and that ever since they have been in cordial relations with Anambra people, selling cows to butchers and slaughters across the State.
The Zonal Chairman said, “Some of the cows we are selling, we are even selling them on credit basis to butchers until they kill, sell and they will now bring money to us.
“There is a butcher that will buy 50 or 60 cows without paying kobo until he kills the cows, sell and bring the money to us.
“There are some people who have been doing this business for years and they didn’t owe anybody. But there are people who can just start within 5 or 6 years they are owing you millions of naira. If I tell you the amount of money the butchers owe us here, you will be very surprised.
“But we are not fond of making noise and telling the world that the people we are doing business with are not forthcoming. At least with what we are going through, people will know that we are not against the South-Easterner.
“In Anambra State, it is only Afor-Igwe Market in Dunukofia Local Government Area that is buying cows with cash. But apart from Afor-Igwe Market, other slaughter houses in Anambra State buy cows on credit. The debts butchers owe cattle owners in Anambra State is more than N100 million.
“I have people who owe me and that money has gone just like that because I didn’t recover them. Now we have cows of N500,000, N700,000, N300,000, it depends. Some slaughters are killing medium cows, some slaughters kill big cows. For instance, Asaba, Onitsha and Nnewi kill big cows while some slaughters in Awka kill big cows.
“So for the people of the South-East to say they don’t like cattle is because they don’t know the relationship between their brothers and the cattle owners.
“In Anambra State alone, we have over 500 to 600 indigenes that are basically living on this cattle business. Without this cattle business they can not do any other thing because they sell, they kill and all the slaughters in Anambra State are occupied by the South-Easterner. There is no Hausaman there. So I think we are interdependent.
“So saying that we don’t like Hausaman or we don’t like cattle-rearing in the South-East is totally misleading but we are imploring that anybody saying that should find out from his brother if those people are important to him then they should leave them to do their businesses. We are here for peace. We are here for business,” he stated.
The Zonal Chairman told our correspondent that Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria was a well respected organisation and does not indulge in any form of criminality, adding that the Chairman Board of Trustees is the Sultan of Sokoto while some strong Emirs in the North are members of the BOT of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.
