By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos
Butchers at Oko-oba abattoir in Lagos State have been warned to desist from unwholesome practices in slaughtering and transportation of meat.
The state’s government issued the order at a stakeholders’ workshop organized for butchers in the state recently.
“I enjoin you all to make good use of the lessons learnt from this workshop to enhance your skills in your profession and support the state government in enhancing food security,” Mr. Oluwatoyin Suarau, Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos State, told participants at the workshop.
He stressed that the training was designed in such a way that it will go a long way in developing the skills of butchers, keeping them abreast of modern best practices in abattoir business.
Suarau made it clear to the butchers that the state government organized the workshop so as to put a permanent end to illegal slaughtering activities in the state.
He declared: “This is a time to correct all ills of the animal market and abattoir in general so that no butcher will have any excuse for any form of illegal practices.
The agric commissioner emphasized on how important it is to monitor the whole process of handling meat right from the animal markets to abattoirs and transportation of animals and meat.
He disclosed that Oko-oba Abattoir and Lairage Complex will be upgraded and modernized soon, and assured that Lagos State is committed to ensuring that all operations in its abattoirs meet international standard.
Suarau asserted that the state government will not relent in implementing its lairage and abattoir policies. Those policies include strategies targeted at improving the skills of butchers in order to give to the state “the mega-city status they deserve.”
He also highlighted that rehabilitation work at the abattoirs in the state include the removal of shanties, while the strategic policy is to ban the use of motorcycles (okada) as a means of transporting meat.
The use of refrigerated meat vain for transporting meat, deployment of experienced veterinary officers to abattoirs and slaughter slabs, he reiterated, are now carried out at Oko-oba abattoir and other abattoirs in the state.
