Lockdown: Ibadan poultry farmers count loses

Poultry farmers in Ibadan have raised alarm over an alleged loss of about N50 million day- old- chicks to alleged enforcement of interstate lockdown orders by security agencies in Oyo state.

The poultry farmers raised the alarm Tuesday evening at a news conference address by the Reverend Tunde Owolabi, the managing director of an Ibadan-based hatchery, The Best Line Hatcher, held at the company’s premises in Ibadan.

Reverend Owolabi said some police officers at Podo area of Ibadan  in Oluyole local government area of Oyo state on Monday evening allegedly forcefully turned back 20 buses conveying the day –old- chicks to other parts of the country from Ibadan, adding that the policemen were reportedly claiming to be acting on “a new directive from the federal government.

“We have about 20 buses that are affected today and in each of these we have about 8,000 to 10,000 birds. The monetary value is huge. We are talking about over N50million worth of birds. It is rather unfortunate that these birds were returned last night. Birds that are meant to travel at the cool hours of the day and that is the reason you see us travel at night,” he said.

Reverend Owolabi added: “Our drivers have the passes. As you can see with me here, we have all the documents from Poultry Association of Nigeria and from Ministry of Agriculture. Each of the drivers carry the papers.”

“We are appealing to the federal government; we are appealing to the state government to continuously give us free passage for all our drivers. We trust God that with all effort that is on ground, COVID-19 should be a thing of the past very soon. But by the time this problem is over, there is a looming danger of scarcity of goods. Hunger problem is far greater in dimension compared to the danger COVID-19 poses. The number of birds that is involved today is alarming.”

Reverend Owolabi stated further: “We have about 20 buses that are affected and in each of these, we have about 8,000 to 10,000 birds. The monetary value is huge. We are talking about over N50 million worth of birds, saying it was unfortunate that the federal government allegedly ordered policemen not to allow movement of agricultural produce to other parts of the country as essential products”.

Also speaking, the chairman, Day old Chicks Merchant Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Asimiyu Oyetunde, lamented the attitude of the security agencies despite the several directives. He said all the drivers moving the day- old- chicks from Ibadan to other states have several documents backing the movement of agricultural produce.

Alhaji Oyetunde stated that a larger portion of the day –old- chicks died as a result of the hindrance, with the loss running to over N50 million. He added that  , “all our effort to make sure they move yesterday proved abortive because none of them even answered us. They said that was the new order of which we were  not informed.

“We have many papers from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Governor’s Forum, Oyo state government and the Inspector General of Police to prove that agricultural produce have free passage in any part of the country,” he said.

Oyo state chairman of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Mr Gbemisoye Agboola, blamed the huge loss on the security personnel that acted contrary to the directives.

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