Beef scarcity may soon hit Ilorin, the Kwara capital, as butchers in the state have embarked on a two-day warning strike over the high price of cattles.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Chairman of the Olusola Saraki Abattoir, Akerebiata, Alhaji Abdulrasaq Lam, said that the high cost of cattle was due to banditry and kidnapping.
Lam said that they buy cows from the Northern part of the country but it looks impossible to do that now because of banditry.
He noted that instead, they now purchase cows locally at a higher cost than their usual source.
He stressed that they are always running at loss due to the high price of cattle and that customers cannot afford the meat in the open market.
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“We were struggling to sell to the residents in order not to create scarcity meat but it is getting beyond what we can afford.
“We notice that some people who are not butchers do come to the market and also sell unhealthy commodity to residents,” Lam said.
He called for cooperation among residents so that they can continue to provide them with healthy products.
Saying that butchers are big contributors to employment generation, he urged the Kwara government to assist the butchers in some areas that had been neglected by them.
Some of the slaughterhouses visited by NAN in Ilorin, include Ipata, Mandate, Oja-Tuntun, and private abattoir are complying with the two-day strike.
(NAN)
