Northern Traders Call-Off Strike

*FG Agreed To Pay N4.75bn Compensation

The Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers in Nigeria (AUFCDN) has called off its nationwide strike after the Federal Government agreed to pay them N4.75 billion to them.

President of AUFCDN, Comrade Muhammad Tahir, disclosed this after a meeting with the Federal Government presided over by Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello on Wednesday in Abuja.

The Northern traders had blocked food supply to the South to demand the payment of N475 billion compensation for lives of members and properties lost during the #ENDSARS protest and Shasha market chaos.

The traders had also demanded the dismantling of all road blocks on federal highways and an agreement with state governments to withdraw services anytime their members were subjected to attack.

Addressing reporters, Tahir said the government agreed to ensure protection of its members and stop all forms of multiple taxation and intimidation from security officials on the highways.

Tahir said: “All the stakeholders and members of AUFCDN in our nationwide strike are glad we achieved what we wanted to achieve. Since the Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello begged us on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, we agreed to call off the nationwide strike today.

“They agreed to pay the compensation and call off any multiple taxation on federal highway and allow us to engage in our business activities peacefully nationwide.”

Addressing the aggrieved unionists during the reconciliatory meeting, Yahaya Bello said the nationwide strike had led to increase in hardship that majority of Nigerians were already going through, including members of the aggrieved union.

He lamented the collateral damage recorded nationwide during the few days of the strike was enormous and should not be allowed to multiply.

According to him, the prices of foodstuffs and cattle increased by 100 percent in the South and West, adding the North was not spared from the effects of the strike as perishable goods were getting spoilt with farmers and truck drivers unable to carry out business transactions that would enable them generate the needed finances to meet their daily needs.

Bello appealed to the aggrieved union to immediately call off the strike and allow movement of foodstuffs and cattle to all parts of the country with the assurance that no Hausa-Fulani or members of the union would be maltreated, harassed or killed.

A former Minister of Aviation, Femi-Fani Kayode, who spoke on behalf of the West and Southern regions, said the impact of the strike was too heavy to ignore.

He said the killing of any Hausa-Fulani or traders engaged in legal business activities would no longer be tolerated or accepted.

“On behalf of the so many people in the Southwest, especially Sunday Igboho, our commitment to you today that people of the Hausa-Fulani extraction cannot and will not be attacked in the South.

“It is unacceptable and he (Sunday Igboho) will be one of those to welcome you when you re-enter the South to escort you all,” the former Minister said.