All slaughter houses in Ibadan illegal since 2014 —Oyo govt

More reasons for the resolve of the Oyo State government to move all butchers in Ibadan to Amosun village, Akinyele Local Government, emerged on Thursday, with the disclosure that all slaughter houses in Ibadan had become illegal since 2014.

Executive Secretary, Oyo State Bureau of Investment Promotions and Public Private Partnership, Mr. Yinka Fatoki, who made this disclosure, said this stemmed from the withdrawal of the licenses of slaughter houses by the state Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development owing to unhygienic practices of meat handling by the butchers.

Speaking at a press conference held at state Secretariat, Ibadan, against the backdrop of the violence at Bodija abattoir, Fatoki said it had since 2014 put the butchers on notice that they will be relocated.

Bemoaning Thursday’s violence as being carried out by recalcitrant butchers cum market persons, Fatoki said it had also on April 4, 2018 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigeria Union of Butchers (NUB), Oyo State Chapter and an investor, C & E Consulting Ltd, on the need for the butchers to relocate to Amosun abattoir.

According to Fatoki, speaking alongside Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Toye Arulogun, the MOU also contained a promise by the state government to lend the butchers some money to purchase vehicles to convey their meat for sale.

This is as he said that the state government had also addressed the fears of the butchers of security and transportation by erecting a security post at Amosun and mandating the popular state mass transit buses “Ajumose” to create four routes to the area.

Speaking at the conference, Secretary, NUB, Oyo State, Mr Lateef Olagoke said members were not oblivious of the 2014 notice for them to leave for Amosun abattoir.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State governor, Senatoe Abiola Ajimobi  had stated that the Bodija market, Ibadan which was shut by the state government following a violent clash between butchers and security operatives may be reopened today.

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Ajimobi gave this hint on Friday, when he visited scene of the Bodija violence to ascertain the level of compliance to the closure order and level of damage, especially of the market police post.

The governor said that his resolve to consider a reopening of the market was consequent upon the palpable restoration of calm and assurances of security agencies of arresting those behind Thursday’s violence.

He decried the torching of the Bodija police post, describing it as unlawful while asserting that the perpetrators of the act will be arrested and prosecuted.

According to him, the violence was being perpetrated by dissident and miscreants ignorant of the import of asking the butchers of Bodija abattoir and other abattoirs in Ibadan to relocate to Amosun area in  Akinyele Local Government Area of the state.

He explained that the need to mandate butchers to move to a modern abattoir was aimed at providing a healthy and conducive environment and preventing the spread of diseases from unhygienic meat consumption.

“The job of government is to provide security and enhance socioeconomic values. In so doing, we must look at the health situation of our people and provide a clean and healthy environment.