Livestock dealers in Kogi state have attributed the surging hike in price of beef to insecurity and taxation.
Speaking with newsmen in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, on Friday, the State Chairman of Butchers Development, Alhaji Idi Ibrahim, lamented that activities of Boko Haram and cattle rustlers in the Northern parts of the country has affected their business negatively.
He appealed to Kogi state government to reduce the taxation on cow and other livestock in the state.
“On the roads, there is something we call ‘jangali’. This problem is not peculiar to Kogi state alone, but Kogi is the worst. Every check point you get to, people will start collecting jangali, tax. Kogi state is the worst. Then, bringing the cows to the market, the revenue and tax collectors are everywhere, consultants everywhere. Bring this, bring that,” he said.
He added that when the butchers add the taxes with the high cost of transportation, there is no way the prices of meat will not go up.
Ibrahim said the number of cows coming to Kogi State from the North had reduced drastically, owing to inability of the dealers to travel to the North for the business because of insecurity.
The Chairman said the scarcity of cow had forced the prices up by about 60 percent.
“The major cause of high cost of meat in Lokoja and other parts of Kogi State today is the current Boko Haram crisis and cattle rustling in Northern parts of the country. The cows we slaughter here come from the North and due to the crisis in that part of the country which the Federal Government is battling to resolve, prices of cow has gone up.
“The butchers should not be blamed for the escalating price of beef because the cow we normally buy between N140,000 and N150,000 now sells between N500,000 and N700,000. This is the situation now and it is very disturbing but in any case we have tried to ensure that the customers are not exploited,” Ibrahim said.
He assured members of the association that his administration would ensure equity and justice while doing their businesses.
