Minister tasks states over Ondo Millennium Abattoir

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has declared the Semi-Mechanised Abattoir built and commissioned by Governor Olusegun Mimiko, as up to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard.

This was just as he  challenged other state governments to emulate Ondo State.

Chief Ogbeh said these as the guest of honour at the commissioning of the abattoir located along Ado-Ekiti road, Akure.

“I want to commend the resolve of the government to build an abattoir of WHO standard and challenge other state governments to consider emulating this great state. This infrastructure will no doubt hold the key in the provision of hygienically-processed meat, which will enhance good and healthy eating habits, job opportunities for those who will be directly involved, as well as other markets, which its presence will attract and develop,” Ogbeh said ”

Represented by the Ondo State Director of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs Funke Omagbemi, Ogbeh described the project as timely, coming at period the nation “is diversifying from an economy dependent on oil to other critical sectors like agriculture.”

In the same vein, Professor of Veterinary Public Health and Provost Federal College of Animal Production and Health,  Vom, Jos, Professor Garuba Sharubutu, declared that the abattoir would remove the state from those with high predisposition to infections.

He said that the new abattoir would enable Ondo State people to process and eat hygienic meat as well as open doors for socio economic development of the state.

Ogbeh, who described the Ultra Modern Abattoir as fantastic said that it signifies a departure from the old filthy abattoir that could possibly breed diseases and infections.

He said the project is not only a beacon of hope to “our economic revival, but also an assurance of constant production of wholesome meat in Akure.

On his part,Prof. Sharubutu said the project could only have been achieved through a visionary leader like Governor Mimiko, stressing that Mimiko has set a benchmark for good governance in the state.

He said the   Governor has set a benchmark for the succeeding Governors in the state and called on other Governors in Nigeria to emulate him.

Addressing the large audience at the occasion, Governor Mimiko emphasised the need for a modern abattoir to give way for more hygenic meat for human consumption to eradicate avoidable diseases.

He said the abattoir represents one of his administration’s legacies in the state and that all the butchers in the state were adequately carried along in the process of building and concessions of the abattoir

Mimiko, who noted that the new Semi Mechanised Abattoir will open up socio- economic development in Akure and it’s environs, said that it was semi mechanised so as to be religiously-compliant for the Muslim community.