Four years after attack, Potiskum cattle market struggles back to life

The Potiskum International Cattle Market is gradually regaining its usual hustles and bustles four years after a Boko Haram deadliest attack that killed about 100 people and hundreds of livestock.  The market has carved a niche for itself as international hub of livestock trade in the Sub-Saharan and Central African regions over the years.  Every […]

The Potiskum International Cattle Market is gradually regaining its usual hustles and bustles four years after a Boko Haram deadliest attack that killed about 100 people and hundreds of livestock.
 The market has carved a niche for itself as international hub of livestock trade in the Sub-Saharan and Central African regions over the years.
 Every Wednesday now the market screams with pride and promises to its hundreds of West and Central African traders performing the age-old weekly ritual of converging for one of the most notable patterns of cattle trade across the two regions.
 When Daily Trust on Sunday reporter visited the market last week, he observed that it has risen from the ruins of its yesterday, with the apparent resolve to prosper with time.
 
The violent attack
Daily Trust on Sunday recounts that on May 2, 2012, a gang armed with explosives and assault rifles stormed the fenced cattle market and killed hundred of men and animals.
Eye witnesses said the gang threw several explosives and shot indiscriminately, as well as set the market on fire. It was gathered that no fewer than 102 traders were killed with dozens others injured.
Livestock were also not spared the horror, as scores were burnt to death. The attack left properties worth billions of naira destroyed.
“Many cows tied to sticks were burnt to death, and their owners killed.  It will take us a long time to recover from the shock arising from the unwarranted attack and wanton destruction of the market. In fact, the unimaginable terror will continue to hunt the people forever” a market official, who pleaded anonymity, said.
“It was a painful death for those killed during the carnage. But, we are suffering the death most, because we are surviving without our business. In fact, the lives of cattle traders in the community have been strangled here,” he added.
Three years back, the market used to be a bustling trading hub, with cattle assembled for sale from the neighbouring Niger, Chad, Cameroon and the North – eastern parts of Nigeria.  The market opens every Wednesday and for many decades, it has remained one of the major cattle suppliers to the southern part of Nigeria.
A cattle buyer, Malam Sadiq Mohammed, said the market used to play host to cattle dealers from Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt, and other major cities in the southern and northern parts of the country.
“In fact, the attack was a reprisal because, it happened shortly after mobs killed an armed bandit who attempted to snatch huge amount of money from a Yoruba trader,” he said.
“The callous attack left at least 100 people dead and property worth billions of naira destroyed. We never envisaged that a day like this will come so soon for the cattle business to return in such a very large quantity,” secretary of the cattle market, Adamu Mohammed Ahmed, said.
 
New beginning
When our correspondent visited the market last Wednesday, it was filled with traders and cattle.
 Buyers and sellers were haggling over prices, other prospective buyers were seen maneuvering through a noisy crowd of men and cattle, responding to the frequent calls by traders seeking to lure any passers-by to their livestock.
The market, which requires at least two hours to crisscross its length and breadth, was filled with different cattle breeds, different colours, species and sizes, for rearing, consumption and breading/fattening.
Cattle merchants were seen sitting strategically at safer locations monitoring the influx of trailer load of cattle, queuing up to off-load at the markets loading ramps, while their boys rush to select the best from the animals.
The market chief, Alhaji Ahmadu Sarkin Tike, explained that the weekly market usually receives trailers of cattle every Wednesday and Thursday morning, while transactions begin on Wednesday afternoon through Thursday.
 “The cattle start to depart the market on Wednesday evening and early hours of Thursday after successful transactions. For those traveling to Kaduna, Kano, Abuja and Niger, they normally start their journey late in the evening, while those going to the South like Bayelsa, Aba, Benin, Port Harcourt, and Lagos usually leave on Thursdays,” he said.  
Ahmadu regretted that the market was not operating to its full capacity because the assailants killed many regular cattle merchants, while others became bankrupt after losing huge investment in the attack.
“Before the attack, Potiskum alone harbours over 70 cattle merchants that comfortably bought not less than two trailer- loads of cattle each and transport them to the southern part of Nigeria. But 90 percent of them can’t afford two cows now,” he said.
He said that the market “obviously the largest in West Africa” could boast supplying 150 to 200 trailers of cattle weekly to different parts of the country before the violent attack.
 “We thank God the market is picking up tremendously with almost a hundred trailer capacity now,” he said.
Our correspondents also observed a thriving camel business in the market which was not popular before the attack.
 Muhammad Abdurrahman, the leader of Tuaregs selling the camels, said they came to Nigeria all the way from Niger Republic for grazing and trade.
 “Before now, we only came to sell potassium and salt, then our women started selling camel milk and urine, and that encouraged us to venture into selling camel to earn more money. It’s actually a very lucrative business,” he said.
“We encourage people to be buying camels because everything about it is medicinal: the urine, milk and meat are all medicines that cure ailments like diabetese, high blood pressure, ulcer and a lot more,” he said.
 Umar Aliyu, the middle man for the camel traders, said he had been in the business for over 15 years.
“I have been in the camel business for over 15 years, but it wasn’t as much as this. Then, our supply was based on demand, but today we have a market that can boast of having 70 camels and above ever week,” he said.
 He said camels buyers are mostly butchers, herders and farmers using it to draw water from the well.
 “The price of a camel depends on its size. We have medium size which goes for between N100,000 and N110,000; and we have the bigger ones that sell between N200,000 and N220,000,”he said.
 Grema Yau is the legal secretary of the cattle market whose duty is to promulgate laws that would guarantee safety and security of lives and property in the market.
When asked about the new approach adopted to avoid a repeat of the massacre, he said they had met with security operatives and mapped out best ways to handle security situations in the market.
 He said soldiers, police, SSS, and vigilante are all over the place, and we do provide them with privileged information.
“Cattle buyers from Enugu, Bayelsa, Edo, Warri and Lagos have fully returned to the market due to their confidence in the current security situation.
“Our major concern now is that we are now mostly bankrupt. We were out of business for almost four years, our cattle were burnt in the market and the little savings we had were used to feed our families,” he said.
 He explained that the security arrangements put in place convinced most of the cattle breeders to return but at exorbitant prices.
“Boko Haram and cattle rustlers have inflated the market price, cow owners were killed and their animals stolen, resulting in hike in the prices of the animals. A cow that was sold for N60,000 in the past now costs N100,000 and those sold at N150,000 are now N200,000 because of the shortage of the livestock.
He said as an interim measure to end cattle rustling, “we have embarked on taking the inventory of every livestock in our community to prevent the rustlers from infiltrating the market. We restricted entries of tricycle machines (KEKE Napep) into the market to avoid suicide bombing, and instituted effective civil authority outposts that enforce law and order in the market.”
 A cattle trader, Lamido Murnai, said the cattle rustlers are now hiding under the name of Boko Haram to terrorize herders in the bush, forcing them to pay ransom for their stolen animals.
“Recently in Bade Local Government Area of Yobe, some Fulani herders were taxed N500,000 to N3 million or risk being killed by the assailants. My brother was killed for refusing to pay N1 million to the assailants few weeks back,” he revealed.
He said they usually report to the security agencies for protection but to no avail.
“The security operatives would always tell you that the crime is beyond their control. Sometimes the attackers would intercept you on the road and kill you.
“It’s a serious disaster on our part, because many wealthy cattle breeders have been rendered poor”. he said.
The market chief said the market was in dear need of government attention, considering what they have gone through and the amount of revenue the state and local governments are deriving from the business
“Our offices and other structures in the market were destroyed during the attack, we lost our investments and every structure put in place to streamline the market operations. We want the government to use the revenue generated from the market to rebuild all the destroyed structures so that we can carry out the business with ease.
“We equally want to thank the state governor for the prompt palliatives given to the traders that lost their lives in the attack and those that sustained injuries. The money given to some of us by the state government has helped greatly in resuscitating the market,”   he said.
 He appealed to the government to intensify security and surveillance to prevent further attack.