Making the call was the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) council representative for Livestock Processing and Preservation, Professor Samuel Abiola, in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune at the sidelines of a training on abattoir/slaughter slab operations and mangement which held at the department of Animal Science, University of Ibadan, recently.
“We expect that the government provide facilities that will be adequate, have standard abattoir in each local government and after having all these in place and people are trained then definitely we should not have any problem as far as meat is concerned because what we are after is to produce quality meat for human consumption.
“So the government should provide the fund, facilities and at the same time provide the land so that there will be no competition among the land owners, the farmers and the butchers.”
He, however, advised operators of abattoirs particularly the butchers to ensure they follow the rules and regulations guiding their operations at all time. “We have standard that is the type of animals that must be slaughtered, the type of meat that must be obtained from the abattoir and the hygenic practices that must carried out. They must be able to maintain good standard of hygene at the abattoir.”
Professor Abiola, informed that the reason the training is was organised was to broaden the knowledge of stakeholders in abattoir operations and also for them to work together as a team in order for us to have good quality meat products for human consumption.
“We have here livestock farmers vetrenarians, animal scientists, processors and butchers. There is the need for all of them to work together for the same objective because we want to ensure that at the end of the day we have good quality meat products that are safe for consumption.”
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