*Urges customers to bear with the association
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Oyo State Chairman of Nigeria Butchers Association, Alhaji Wahab Olayiwola Surulagba has disclosed that only 100 per cent increase in prices of beef and goat meat can sustain butchers in the state in business.
Alhaji Surulagba said this on Sunday, while speaking during a special prayer held at the Agodi Gate Eid Prayer Ground in Ibadan.
He stressed that with the worsening economic situation in the country, the increment is the only option for butchers in the state to remain in business.
Alhaji Surulagba pointed out that the increase in the prices of beef and goat meat will be effective from Monday, March 4 in and across Oyo State, following the increasing prices of cattle, high cost of transportation and other running costs.
Specifically, he said the price of smallest size of beef would increase from ₦100 to ₦200, lamenting that the increment, though painful, became necessary because the butchers were selling at a loss.
Emphasizing that there is the need for financial assistance in form of loans from the government at all levels, Alhaji Surulagba noted that butchers were not immune from inflation and the rise in prices of essential commodities as these had also led to increase in the price of cattle across the country.
He then urged residents in Oyo state to bear with the development as the butchers were left with no other option than to resort to the increment in order to remain in business.
Speaking, the Coordinator of the Butchers in the South-West and Kwara State, Alhaji Biliaminu Elesinmeta tasked the government to assist Nigerians in ensuring that prices of goods and services come down.
“It is not our fault that we are increasing the price of meat. We sell what we buy. We need the assistance of the government. We don’t rear cows in Nigeria,”, he said.
Alhaji Elesinmeta added, “These cows are brought from neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger and Mali and we buy using CFA. Also, transporting these cows is very costly”.
Commenting on the special prayer, the coordinator said the association resorted to praying for God’s intervention in the present state of the nation
In his own remarks, the Oyo State Secretary of the association, Comrade Olagoke Lateef, lauded Oyo State Government on its various initiatives to address food crisis,
“The government is trying, but what they are doing is not enough. We are appealing to our amiable and hardworking Governor Seyi Makinde to have mercy on us.”
The prayer session, led by the Chief Imam of Ibadaland, Sheikh Abdul-Ganiy Agbotomokekere, was held to seek the intervention of God, government and other stakeholders in the pervading food and economic crises.
