Ibadan Central Abattoir: Uneasy road to change

Following the recent crisis between some butchers in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital and law enforcement agents in a bid not to relocate to the new abattoir constructed by government, YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, who visited the two facilities reports that many of the butchers have realised that they have a better deal and are now happy to move from their previous unhygienic place of business to the new abattoir where they hope to make more profits.

Change, they say is the only constant thing in life. But to many, change is a scary occurrence. And though most people understand that change is a major key to growth, they fight it; it is a subconscious reaction that may not follow any logic or theory.

Days ago, the ancient city of Ibadan witnessed a crisis as a result of the decision of some butchers not to follow the order of government to relocate to a centralized abattoir constructed by government. Out of resistance to change based on government’s decision to relocate them from the abattoirs scattered around the city to a well-planned modern central abattoir, they went on protest and physically confronted law enforcement officers. In spite of long months of negotiations, orientation and dialogue, some of the butchers put up stiff resistance that led to a crisis and subsequent loss of lives and properties.

The government had gone to court when some butchers, even after their union had signed a memorandum of understanding, refused to keep to the agreement and continued to operate on the abattoirs that had been declared illegal. The court had given ruling and bailiffs from the court had gone to seal up the abattoir, yet, some butchers continued to operate at the abattoir which had no licence of operation since the government revoked its licence in 2014. The process of ensuring that they obey court orders and operate according to laid down rules led to the recent crisis that rocked Bodija market.

 

The Bodija abattoir

The Bodija abattoir located in one of the biggest food and resource market in Ibadan, was the most popular and most active in the city; popularly called Odo Eran, the abattoir rakes in millions daily and this is not surprising considering the population of the city and the general belief that eating without meat is an obvious sign of poverty.

However, the physical condition of the Bodija abattoir has made it a great threat to the health of people especially considering its location; right in the middle of the city. The abattoir is however in appearance a slum in the midst of a civilized environment. It takes the individual that can persevere and overlook irritating sights to brave the stench of the maggot infested abattoir that has the appearance of a dunghill with dilapidated and dirty structures amidst ramshackle brown counters.

From the entrance of the abattoir, there is the obvious sign of filth as in the direct line of vision is a huge dump of waste with pigs having a field day. All over the slaughtering house, there is no sign of organization and no clear slaughter slab. There are large amounts of blood, animal feces and others that look like body fluids and inedible animal by-products splattered all over, indicating that the herds are slaughtered on any available surface, cleaned and divided on the filth.

The single drainage that runs through the abattoir is filled with waste and has become home to maggots that wriggle around while every available surface is covered with a carpet of cow dung. And when any of the butchers makes the effort to clean up a bit, the waste is still dumped just few feet away and right in the abattoir and this dumpsite also serves as the toilet for butchers who defecate there in the open.

The abattoir established in the early 80’s, is a major source of water and air pollution and home to decaying organs, carcasses and carcass trimmings, blood, hides, horns, hoofs and paunch content which are dumped on site and has become a threat to environmental and public health because of its highly unhygienic condition. It has, from all indications, become aesthetically unappealing, environmentally unsustainable and a haven of unwholesome beef.

 

Reason for relocation

The situation of the Bodija abattoir had become a source of concern to stakeholders as it had been established that continuous slaughtering of cows at this location, which is the main source in the city, will eventually lead to a health crisis that may not be easy to control. Aside the unsanitary condition of the abattoir, there were allegations of slaughtering sick cows just to make massive profits.

To forestall an epidemic and regulate the operations, the government decided to centralise the abattoir and put in a system that will ensure health standards are maintained and best practices are followed.  Governor Abiola Ajimobi while speaking on the need for relocation had stated that, “we are sure that the crisis between the farmers and herdsmen will not arise again because cows will now be transported here directly instead of our towns and villages where grazing on farmlands had been generating tension. I’m also happy that this arrangement will bring about a change in the way butchers handle meat and it will improve the hygiene of the business. The facility is going to have health and sanitary officers that will ensure strict compliance with the basic hygiene of meat handling.”

Speaking on the relocation on a visit to the Bodija abattoir, Mr Yinka Fatoki, the Executive Secretary of the state Bureau of Public Investment Promotions, stated that, “you can see the premises where cows are being slaughtered in Ibadan over time; this place is very filthy and unhealthy. This is part of the reasons for surge in some diseases. The certificate of this abattoir was revoked in 2014; even the butchers defecate here because there are no toilet facilities and this is an eyesore. It is owned by government and the government has not encroached on any property by pulling down the slab. Only slaughtering activities are stopped, they can still sell meat here at the stalls without fear or apprehension. But this abattoir has been locked and it will remain so for the good of the city.”

Also speaking, Dr Foluke Ibitoye, the Deputy Director of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture explained that, “the situation of this abattoir is very appalling, it is unsanitary. You can see heap of dung and dumps everywhere and you can see maggots swimming around our legs. It is because of this that the state government decided to construct a modern abattoir that will be central because virtually all abattoirs in Ibadan are like this and their licences, even government and private- owned have been revoked by the Ministry of agriculture since 2014 but the butchers have been recalcitrant though the government had been cooperative and understanding.

“But some of them, especially the leadership of the Bodija abattoir have refused to cooperate with government despite the fact that the main man here at Bodija attended all meetings where all decisions were taken and as their leader, he was part of every decision, yet, he refused to cooperate but now, they have all relocated to the central abattoir at Amosun where we have a sanitary environment and veterinary doctors who inspect the meat,” Dr Ibitoye stated.

 

Ibadan Central Abattoir, Amosun

The Ibadan central abattoir located at Amosun Village in Akinyele Local Government Area in Ibadan has been adjudged the biggest in West Africa in terms of land mass and layout; built on 15 hectares of land with provisions for manual and mechanical slaughtering of cattle, pigs, goats and sheep. It has a network of road covering about five kilometres within the abattoir, with a parking space that can accommodate more than 200 vehicles and 50 articulated trucks at once.

The multibillion naira abattoir, designed in line with best practices to ensure proper animal slaughtering and handling in the most hygienic environment, has facilities that will ensure that thousands of people work for a livelihood without invading each other’s space and is the response of the Ajimobi led administration to mitigate the unsanitary and dangerous circumstances in which meat is produced across abattoirs in Ibadan; from Bodija to Gege, Alesinloye, Monatan and Onibu Ore.

The central abattoir has two surface and underground tanks that produce 600,000 litres of water daily; there are four extra tanks for emergency situations. It has a holding pen that can accommodate 5000 cows at a time; a lairage; a mechanised slaughter slab; two conventional slabs that can accommodate 2000 cows at once; a goat section with facility to hold 300 goats; separate space for animal burning; intestines and cow head processing; a clinic; a veterinary office; a police post and a site for cow sheathes.

Other facilities at the Central Abattoir includes 32 toilets, bathrooms and changing rooms, a canteen, big cold rooms to keep meat, incinerator, a 1000 meat stalls, shopping complex for other commodities, water storage facilities in excess of 700, 000 litres; three ready water tankers, an in-house security unit in addition to police post, administrative building, information center, solar powered external lighting, connected to power grid and generating sets that can work 24 hours at a stretch.

To ease the means of transporting meat to the town, the abattoir already has six meat vans while government has put in place an arrangement for provision of more vans and credit facility to butchers for expansion of businesses.

At present, the project is not concluded according to the developer, Engr Abiodun Kehinde Ahmadu, who stated that, “this is the first phase of the concept. The second phase is to have meat depots in every local government that will be built to international standards so that once meat is slaughtered, it will be moved to depots and butchers can easily get their meat from there. We are moving towards best practices and the designs are already in place. This took time because government didn’t want crisis, so negotiation was on for years between government and butchers.”

 

Butchers association

In spite of complaints by some disgruntled butchers, the National Butchers Union of Nigeria (NUBN) headed by Adekunle Agunfon in Oyo state, have pitched their tent solidly behind the government, expressing the belief that the project is for everyone’s good. Speaking on behalf of the chairman, the secretary of the association, Mr Lateef Olagunju, stated that contrary to opinion by few that they are supporting the government, they are actually in support of the truth which is simply that they have a better deal at the central abattoir.

“We are in support of the truth and not government. We will benefit more from this arrangement. We promise that meat will not become expensive and we are ready to train butchers to respect rules and embrace standard practice. We were in agreement with government since the beginning; we were part of every decision and we ensured that the interest of butchers was well represented. Government sacrificed and conceded a lot to us during negotiations that we cannot but commend the manner in which they handled the issue. But you know that we are many and cannot but have people with ulterior motives. You know we have politicians among us and they will play politics with any issue without considering the merits,” he stated.

 

Unfounded arguments

The first argument of those against the move is that they have to pay N3000 on each cattle slaughtered compared to N1000 at Bodija. But Olagunju punctured holes in this argument, stating that, “Yes, we paid N1000 at Bodija but it had no effect because we were still paying for many things. We bought water, paid for security; paid union; taskforce and other such dues and that ends up being above N3000. The government actually asked for N5000 but after a year of negotiation, we entered an agreement of N3000.

“We were part of the agreement and that N3000 is a good bargain because it is harmonized and we do not have to pay for any other thing. We have adequate security and good facilities. Everybody has come to that understanding and it has been resolved,” he concluded.

On the issue of cost of transportation, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye Arulogun, who stated that the cattle market where everyone buys cattle is nearer to Amosun village than Bodija and will actually cut cost, added that mass transit buses had been deployed from all areas to Amosun village. “There are mass transit buses from wherever you are coming from straight to the abattoir at Amosun; from Olode, Alakia, Olodo to as far as Challenge straight to Amosun,” he said.

To reiterate the commitment of government to the welfare of the butchers, it ordered that the mechanised section of the abattoir should only be used for private customers and all meats for commercial purpose be slaughtered manually so that no butcher would lose his source of livelihood.

A butcher, who identified himself as Saheed Omi, told Nigerian tribune that he was forced to come to the central abattoir after the Bodija incident but added that, “If I knew it was like this and would be this comfortable, I would have been here long ago. I was surprised when I saw that many of our people are already enjoying this. I think we need to learn to listen well before taking decisions because this is actually in our favour.”