Gov Zulum reopens Gamboru cattle market 7yrs after closure

AHMED MARI,, Maiduguri

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno Stateaat the weekend reopened Gamboru International cattle market closed for about seven years as a result of Boko Haram and Islamic State of West African  Province (ISWAP)  insurgency.

The market, which is located in Gamboru, a commercial border town in Ngala Local Government Area within Borno Central, shares border with Cameroon and has land routes to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad Republic, was closed due to serial attacks by the insurgents.

Governor Zulum, who is currently in Ngala LGA for two days of humanitarian activities, reopened the market in the company of the Commanding Officer, 3 Battalion, Nigeria Army, Lt. Col. Tolu Adedokun, and the Chairman of Ngala Local Government Area, Hon. Mala Tijjani.

Reopening the market, Governor Zulum expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian military, the Police, the Department of State Security (DSS) and other security agencies for liberating and securing many parts of Borno State which made it possible for the market to be reopened.

He also expressed delight at the re-opening of the market, which, for many years, was enhancing trans-border trade between Nigeria, Cameroon and the Republic of Chad.

However, he warned cattle dealers and anyone associated with the market never to condone or support the use of the market by criminal elements to jeopardize security successes recorded.

Earlier speaking, the state Commissioner for Youths Empowerment, Sports Development and Poverty Alleviation, Hon. Saina Buba, who chairs a cattle management committee set up by Governor Zulum, recalled that before it was closed down, Gamboru market was a transit for the export of between 500 and 800 herds of cattle every day to neighbouring countries.

Buba stated that the market provided thousands of direct and indirect means of livelihoods to residents of Gamboru and other communities.

Buba’s 10-person management committee comprises representatives of the military, the police, the DSS and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Also, the Chairman of Borno State Cattle Traders Association, Alhaji Yakuba Goni, thanked Governor Zulum for reopening the cattle market and for supporting traders in different ways.

Zulum, who arrived Gamboru on Friday, went alongside the state chairman of the APC, Ali Bukar Dalori, APC’s candidate for Borno Central,  Bar. Kaka Shehu Lawan, House of Representatives candidate, Engr. Bukar Talba, Special Advisers and other government officials and party chieftains, especially those in Ngala LGA.

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