Cattle Marketers Protest Levy Hike In Yobe
By Muhammad Maitela, Damaturu
The Potiskum Cattle Market was thrown into crisis as marketers stopped loading cows for delivery to other parts of the country because of the increase in levy by Potiskum Local Government Council.
The Chairman of Amalgamated Cattle Dealers Association, Potiskum branch, Alhaji Hassan Alkali said that the Local Government Task Force on Revenue Collection jerked the levy from N1,500 per trailer to N10,000.
“The Potiskum Local Government Secretary who is also the Chairman Task Force Committee on Revenue Collection, Idris Modu Bah, invited us for a meeting and informed us that they have decided to review the levy upward to N10,00 henceforth.
“We disagreed and said that we will consult our people first, after due consultation with our members, we went back to the local government officials and told them that we can afford to pay N3,500 but they said no.
“The task force insisted on N7,000 but our members declined and protested by ignoring the market.
“The owners of the cows had to trek with their cows to neighbouring Nangere LGA, and Dagauda in Bauchi State, where the levy is lower,” Hassan said.
He said that not less than 70 trailer load of cows depart Potiskum cattle market every Thursday to different parts of the country.
“If this matter is not urgently addressed, it will cripple the economy of Potiskum especially this cattle market that has a long history and is one of the largest in West Africa,” the chairman added.
In his reaction to the development, Idris said that the decision of the government is not supposed to be considered as a dispute.
“This is a decision of the Local government management which decided N10,000 as the new levy.
“We invited them 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,” the task force chairman added.
