Butchers in some markets in Enugu say despite the hardship in the country, they made fortunes killing animals and processing them during this Christmas. According to them, many buyers of live animals readily pay commercial butchers to process the animals for them.
Meletus kills horses and cows at Obollo-Afor market in Udenu Local Government Area. He said, “The least I collect to kill a horse is N20, 000. The same applies to cows. It takes me about one and a half hours to kill and process one horse. My father does the same business. In my own case, I am called to different places to kill cows, goats and horses. On Christmas eve, I killed about thirty cows and horses combined. There is money in the business, only that it is seasonal. After this celebration, the demand reduces.”
Dr Fabian Izuchukwu was spotted at the Horse Market, Obollo. He said, “We give out the killing contract to these boys. They kill and share the meat among the buyers. They are highly skilled. It removes the stress of going home to kill these animals.”
At New Market, Enugu, one Ezekiel Nsude kills fowls. He told THE WHISTLER that, “I made over N40, 000 on Christmas day. I use N600 to kill one chicken. I was busy from 6:3am to 7pm yesterday. My father taught me business. I take care of my school fees from killing fowls. I can’t kill goats because I’m still young. Very soon, I’ll be able to kill these big animals. That is where the money is.”
A lady was heard complaining about the cost of processing her fowl. According to her, “Before, they used to charge N400. Suddenly it has become N600 no matter the size of the chicken. Some charge about N1,000 to process big ones. I won’t blame anybody because it is the economic reality in Nigeria.”
