Zulum re-opens Gamboru cattle market 7 years after closure
Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State on Saturday reopened Gamboru International cattle market which was closed for about seven years as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency.
The market is located in Gamboru, a commercial border town in Ngala Local Government Area in Borno Central.
Gamboru shares border with Cameroon and has land routes to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad Republic.
The market was closed due to serial attacks by Boko Haram insurgents.
Zulum, who is currently in Ngala LGA for humanitarian activities expected to last for two days, reopened the market in company of the Commanding Officer, 3 Battalion, Nigeria Army, Lt. Col. Tolu Adedokun and the Chairman of Ngala Local Government Area, Hon. Mala Tijjani.
The governor expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian military, the Police, the Department of State Service (DSS) and other paramilitary security agencies for liberating and securing many parts of Borno State which made it possible for the market to be reopened.
Zulum said that the market has for many years enhanced trans-border trade between Nigeria, Cameroon and the Republic of Chad.
The governor, however, warned cattle dealers and anyone associated with the market never to condone or support the use of the market by criminal elements to jeopardize the successes recorded so far in the area of security.
Commissioner for Youths Empowerment, Sports Development and Poverty Alleviation, 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 500 to 800 herds of cattle every day to neighboring countries.
The commissioner noted that the market provided thousands of direct and indirect means of livelihoods to residents of Gamboru and other communities.
Chairman of Borno State Cattle Traders Association, Alhaji Yakuba Goni thanked Governor Zulum for reopening the market and for supporting traders in different ways.
