Food blockage: Buhari agrees to compensate disgruntle farmers

President Muhammadu Buhari has agreed to compensate farmers who demanded the payment of N450 billion compensation for the lives of members and properties lost during the #ENDSARS protest and Shasha market chaos.

The president of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers in Nigeria (AUFCDN), Comrade Muhammad Tahir, made this known when it called off its nationwide strike.

Tahir said this after a meeting with the Federal Government presided over by Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello on Wednesday in Abuja.

Daily Times recalls that the Northern traders had blocked food supply to the South-West.

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

Tahir said the government agreed to ensure the 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 taxations on federal highway and allow us to engage in our business activities peacefully nationwide.”

Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello said the nationwide strike had led to increasing in hardship that majority of Nigerians were already going through, including members of the aggrieved union.

According to him, the prices of foodstuffs and cattle increased by 100 per cent 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 to 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.