Niger State Government has issued a week’s notice to illegal abattoir operators in the state to quit the illegal business or face the full wrath of the law.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Dr. Ibrahim Garba Musa who stated this during a stakeholders’ meeting on Minna Abattoir Management, urged the unlicensed abattoir operators to move to the state recognised abattoir effective from the 11th May 2022.
The stakeholders include the Chanchaga LG State Chapter of the Nigeria Butchers Union, Sarkin Pawan Minna, Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA), and Security Agencies, among others.
The Permanent Secretaries lamented the unhealthy and poor hygienic practices at the slaughter slabs and abattoirs, arguing,” 100 percent of diseases affecting man comes from animals and consumption of unhealthy meat which has made the body defence weak”.
He insisted,” we are all aware that today if you go to our abattoir, some of us may not even want to eat meat. Meat is supposed to be as sterile as possible. That is why the government felt it necessary that the environment must be kept clean. And, when an animal is slaughtered, the meat must be inspected before it is passed for human consumption “.
Musa expressed the readiness of the Ministry to grant operational licences to any applicant with requisite criteria, adding that only Minna Abattoir was officially recognized by the State Government.
He said, henceforth the Ministry will employ its expertise to carry out post mortem inspections on any cattle and small ruminants before slaughter at the abattoir and therefore, solicited the support and cooperation of all stakeholders to achieve desired objectives.
Speaking on behalf of Sarkin Pawa, Ubale Ayawa described the meeting as timely, while disclosing that a series of similar meetings had been held in the past which failed to yield the desired result.
He stated,” in the past, no fewer than 100 cattle were slaughtered at Government approved abattoir on daily basis but now reduced to 50 due to proliferation of illegal abattoirs. This has reduced the Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) to the government”.
“We hope the Ministry under the present leadership will match words with action to achieve the desired sanity in the abattoir industry and we assure of our unflinching support to achieve desired objectives”.
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