Mayo-Reniyo fish market has gradually become the biggest fish market in the entire North – East sub region. The market is located kilometre 8 off Jalingo- Wukari road and is by the bank of River Benue.
The road, though not tarred is usually busy with vehicles coming from all parts of the country into Mayo-Reniyo village every Saturday.
Daily Trust visit to the market revealed how thousands of fish merchants from across the country swarmed the market for their business.
Business at the market, which operates on Saturday starts on Friday.
At the local jetty by the river side hundreds of engines boats, canoes and flying boats bring thousands of women with big baskets full with dried fish from neighboring riverine communities in Wukari, Gassol,
Lau, Karim –lamido and ibbi local government areas.
The dried fish is then taken to the markets on wheel barrows and okada into the market throughout the night of Friday and Saturday morning.
Daily Trust finding revealed that women dominate the dried fish business in the market as almost 98 percent of fish traders referred in Hausa “Yan bankwai” are women who buy the fish from the fisher men in riverine areas and transport same every Saturday to Mayo- Reniyo market.
The women are of Jukun Nbanu extraction and their husbands are fishermen and they reside by the river side called ‘Tunga” across the three major rivers, River Taraba, River Benue and River Benue as well as other major streams in the state.
Most of the women fish traders travel for between nine to 10 hours on water to attend the market. They usually bring other items such as grains, dried frogs and bush meat to the markets for sales.
A fish trader, Hassatu Agyo told our reporter that she has been in the dried fish business for the past 20 years and owns an engine boat with which she transports her fish from Zip to Mayo- Reniyo every week.
She said her husband is a fisher man and all her children are also fisher men and she is the only one that is into the business of dried fish.
“We make a living through fishing and dried fish business over the years, we don’t do any other thing apart from fishing and trading of dried fish” Hassatu said.
Another trader, Madam Rebecca Bulus, also told our reporter that she travels for about seven hours on water from Kambare in Karim- lamido to attend the market, and brings 30 big baskets of dried fish every week.
The secretary of the fish market, Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko said every week more than 1200 women fish traders bring fish into the market from across fishing communities in the state.
“He have women who make millions of Naira in the business and they owned big engine boat with which they transport their fish to the market.”
He said in the past the market was not as it is now, but because of the crisis in Ibbi and Tella most fish merchants and traders have relocated to Mayo –Reniyo.
The secretary said the Boko-Haram had also forced hundreds of fish merchant out of Maiduguri and Baga.
He said Mayo – Reniyo was now an international fish market and merchants from Adamawa, Gombe, Benue,Cross River, and Lagos now patronize the market.
“It was the former president Jonathan that directed for the relocation of dried fish market from Borno state to Taraba state at the heat of Boko- Haram crisis and Mayo- Reniyo was found suitable.
According to him, the market is located close to River Benue which makes easier for fish traders to bring their fish from their villages.
“ Apart from the location of the market by the river site the town is also not far from the truck A road that link states in the North- East and south- east and South- south sub region” he said.
Alhaji Suleiman Tanko however expressed the need for Taraba state government to build stalls and also fence the land allocated for the fish market outside the main market.
The secretary of the fish market also appealed to Taraba state to upgrade the road leading to Mayo –Reniyo to easy difficulty faced by traders coming into the market.
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