In Northern Nigeria, the rivalry, albeit in the joke-mate manner, between the butcher and, by extension, every animal meat seller on one hand, and the fisherman and, by extension, every fish seller on the other is age-old.

The butcher calls the fisherman a 'thief'; the fisherman calls the butcher a 'cheat'. Why? How have they fared in this interesting relationship over the ages?

Since the formation of the first human society on earth, every society, according to its environmental setup and the socio-economic cum political imperatives shaping the course of its formation and prosperity, and determining its identity in the face of others, has evolved relationships among its various strata of citizens to foster harmonious coexistence and societal cohesion, and facilitate the growth of socio-economic challenges and competition among those strata.

The practice of such relationships, which become customs, norms and values over the ages, sustain the sociological foundations of the society and foster its prosperity as what it is in relation to other societies.

This explains, for example, the customary rivalries and jokes between or among individuals, group of individuals and different dialects of different ethnic communities, up to the levels of the communities themselves, according to economic and social practices within the human race.

For example among the larger Northern Nigerian communities and communities sharing some cultural affinities with those of most parts of Northern Nigeria, as may the case be among other Nigerian communities, the butchers, including all animal meat sellers in whatever form, are customary rivals in the joke-mates fashion with the fisher-folk, including fish sellers in whatever form.

This interesting relationship is rooted in their competition in the economic sphere of the society's existence where they both operate, struggling to square up to the challenges posed to each by the other to gain the higher preference and patronage of the consumers of the two kinds of meat they sell.

Among such communities, the moment you provoke the butcher/animal meat seller against the fisherman/fish seller, they both, very interestingly, begin to shoot salvos of very expensive, sometimes near-provocative, jokes at each other in an effort to discredit each other, with each trying to portray the other and the kind of meat he sells as much less useful than him and his own kind of meat. Each regards the other as his servant, all strictly jokingly.

However, it is said that there have been few instances over the ages elsewhere among such communities where such jokes turned sour, with the joke mates becoming bitter rivals and engaging in serious physical combats. Therefore, maturity and tolerance, and the realization that in serious settings each needs the other, are most needed during the trading of expensive jokes between them.

"Why did you come to me first?" The Chairman of the Wuse market fish sellers, Andrew Maiwada, who hails from Borno State, queried, saying, angrily, but jokingly, "You should have gone to the Sarkin Fawa (the Chief Butcher), my servant, first before coming to me."

Then, in a serious tone, he began to explain the origin of the interesting joke-mate rivalry between the meat trader and the fish trader.

"The origin of this relationship goes back to our ancestors. The butchers and beef traders argue that they are our masters, but the truth is that fish comes first in preference over beef. Let me give you a simple example. Consult a medical doctor and ask him about the kind of meat you should eat. The doctor will discourage you from eating beef, especially when you are advancing in age, because it builds too much fat and cholesterol in your body, which is not good for your health. No doctor will tell you that fish weakens your health. He can only tell you that it enhances your heath. The beef traders are only making tall and baseless claims, but fish is more nutritious and, therefore, more useful than beef to man. But wait, they know it themselves, if they will speak truthfully," the leader of the fish traders argued.

"If I must speak truthfully, rural dwellers eat more beef than urban dwellers," he admitted, saying, "But educated people eat more fish because it doesn't cause any health hazard to the. So, since more rural dwellers are getting educated, I can say that more fish is eaten than meat."

Andrew, popularly called Dokto Mai Kifi, said the joking rivalry between the traders of the two kinds of meat is strictly to foster relationship of goodwill and cordiality and promote harmonious coexistence among different groups of the society.

"It is strictly to maintain peace. Even the beef traders come to us very often to buy fish. We see them here everyday," he explained, saying, however, "We also buy their animal meat sometimes. We don't buy their meat as often as they buy our fish. They come here everyday to buy our fish for their personal consumption and to send as gift to their relations in their home villages and to other well wishers and associates elsewhere. They buy and package smoked fish in cartons, and even the kind of big raw fish, the kind we call Asa for the gift. But how can you package beef as often and easily as you package fish without needing freezing facilities? Do you now see the difference? That is why I say we are their masters."

He stressed: "We don't buy their cattle meat regularly, because we will not want to go against the advice of doctors who tell us to eat more fish than beef when we are advanced in age, say, 40 years of age. Only children in the age range of two and 15 need animal beef, but all ages need fish."

Andrew said such jokes, however expensive, do not often lead to bitterness. "If you see such jokes turning sour, then it is in a situation of illiteracy where the jokers are uneducated or uncivilized. Such few instances result in serious physical combats involving weapons. It once happened somewhere around Maiduguri, but I attribute that to lack of education," he said.

Ibrahim Hassan is another fish trader. "Our rivalry and jokes originated from our ancestors. Each of us will praise his own product as better than the product of the other to convince the consumers that it is more useful and persuade them to prefer it more. Over the ages, the fish trader will argue that fish is more useful than beef; the beef trader will also argue that beef is more useful than fish. Consequently, whenever we meet, we express our rivalry in jokes," he offered.

According to him, "They (butchers or animal meat traders) will always hit at us that we only go down into the depth of water and pack our product without any effort and, therefore, we are thieves stealing from the treasures of God; and we hit back at them that they are cheats because they only go to the Fulani herdsmen and deceive them to buy the cattle they butcher at a give-away price, because the cattle should actually sell at many times higher price than the pittance they hand out to the cattle owner. They virtually only offer the Fulani men just Abin Goro (just a pittance) for their cattle."

Mallam Ibrahim said he had never heard the instance where such jokes resulted in serious quarrels or even physical combats, saying, "As a matter of fact, and as far as I am concerned, each of us exhibits the maturity and tolerance to stomach the expensive jokes of the other. In the relationship between the beef trader and the fish trader serious physical combats because their jokes are very rare or even unheard-of in most communities. But I must say that they express more expensive jokes than us, because the upbringing is clearly different. We are more properly brought up and, therefore, more civilized than them. For example, should you ask me what kind of fish this is, I will tell you that it is smoked fish, but should you ask a cattle meat seller, what kind of meat is before him, he could tell you rudely that it is the kind that has been on sale since one thousand years ago, or he may even tell you that it is the meat of the cow slaughtered on the day of the naming ceremony of his grandfather. We are more mature and tolerant in verbal exchanges with buyers than them."

According to him, the consumers of animal meat are more than the consumers of fish in most societies, "But lawfully and even according to medical doctors, fish is more useful than beef. The doctors say if you have poor sight, you should resort to eating fish and your sight will be corrected by the grace of God. The doctors say if you are suffering from obesity, you should resort to eating fish and you become healthier. No doctor will advice you to resort to eating beef in that situation," he said proudly.

"Peace be unto you," I greeted. "Peace be unto you too," the chairman of the butchers/animal meat traders replied. "I bring you greetings from Sarkin Masunta (the Chief Fisherman)," I said teasingly. When he realised that I was up to jokes, he cast off his face, frowning, although jokingly, and shouting: "Go away from my place! I thought you have come to me for some serious business. That is why I wanted to interact with you honourably. I don't know that you are running errands for servant."

Down to serious business with Ahmadu Aliyu Zaria.

"We inherited this relationship of joking rivalry from our ancestors. Just as you already know, wherever you find a fisherman or fish trader, we (the butchers or animal meat sellers) are his masters. Do you know why? The fisherman doesn't have the rope to drag a cow to the market or slaughter house. Look! Fishermen are thieves. They steal from the water (river or sea). They don't pass through the legal process of going to the Fulani herdsman, bargain for a cow, buy it legally from him, tie it with their rope and drag it to the slaughter house. They don't do this. This is what we do. Imagine someone just sneaking to the river, casting his net or swimming down the depth and just packing the fish there! Is that not stealing? Tell me. We do our trading legally because we buy the cows we slaughter. They don't do theirs legally because they don't buy the fish. They just sneak to the river and pack. If a fisherman meets a fish on someone's hook, he will steal it. I hope you understand my point. We don't steal the cow or the ram we slaughter. We are proud of doing our trade legally. Can they be proud of doing their own legally? If you ask us for the receipt of whatever we buy, even the paper we wrap the meat with for the buyer, we will produce it. Can they produce any receipt in respect of the fish they buy from the water?"

Alhaji Ahmadu said with gratitude to God, the customary joke between the beef trader and the fish trader over the ages has strengthened the relationship of cordiality and harmonious coexistence between them, explaining, "In fact, whenever a fisherman visits a location, he will ask look for a butcher, because it is the butcher/animal meat seller that actually contributes vitally in founding a market. Wherever a market is to be erected, the butchers are among the first set of people to be invited. The fishermen/fish traders will only accompany us there to earn a living."

According to him, "Beef is more useful than fish, because it is not possible for you to prepare a pot of soup or stew with fish to last you for three or four days without it getting bad and unhealthy for your consumption, unless you continue trying tricks of maintaining its freshness. You can do so safely with animal meat. Everyone can vouchsafe on that. Look! Fish is usually just eaten as a snack. Ask chefs and all other cooks, and they will tell you that if they want to prepare delicacies they always call for beef or any other part of the animals we slaughter. They seldom call for fish."

Alhaji Garba Mainama is an elderly cattle meat seller. "We grew up seeing the fish trader and beef trader as joke mates. They call us their servants while we call them our servants. But actually, they are the servants, because we buy our products while they don't buy theirs. They only steal them. They say their products are a gift from God, but we posit that if God presents you with a gift, you rear it. So, they are only thieves, but they don't want to admit it."

He would not agree that the fisherman or the fish trader is more important than the butcher or beef trader.

"Look! If you provoke me further I will be forced to summon the Chief Fisherman and you will see him running down here to minister to my needs, and I will command him to grant you however long interview you want, and he will have to do it even if it will be against his wish, because he is nothing more than a servant," Alhaji Garba bragged jokingly.

Would the societal transformation and the dynamism of cultures and customs over time sustain the butcher/fisherman interesting relationship?