From whichever direction you approach Oko-Oba Agege, a Lagos suburb, your nose is first assailed with the stench enveloping the entire area. The putrid smell is unmistakable. It’s that of dead animals and rotten meat!
What you see at a nearby abattoir facility is not decomposing bodies of dead animals, but scores of cow, freshly slaughtered and being cut into pieces in readiness for the meat markets in Lagos and beyond.
You then begin to wonder how on earth such an environment stifled by the stench of rotten meat could be the place where the meat consumed daily by millions of Lagosians and others come from.
Welcome to the Lagos State Abattoir Complex, Oko-Oba, Agege! The hustle and bustle at this meat market is reminiscent of the atmosphere at any of the normal large markets dotting the city of Lagos. But the condition and atmosphere at the slaughterhouse has continued to be a source of worry to many residents of the area, who see the facility as a blight on the efforts of the political authorities to make Lagos a mega city.
A visit by The Point to Lagos’ foremost meat market last weekend showed that despite the rehabilitation and restructuring of the facility, the level of compliance with government’s approved standards has remained very poor, as nothing has changed in terms of hygiene at the slaughterhouse.
The question on the lips of many residents is: Does the atmosphere at the meat market fit into government’s vision of Lagos as a mega city? Can the abattoir be upgraded to international standards? A resident of the area, Mr. Jide Alabede, lamented the foul odour oozing from drainages in the area due to the activities at the abattoir.
Alabede alleged that the waste from animals slaughtered at the abattoir were usually flushed into the gutters in the area, resulting in the stench that has taken over the atmosphere in Oko-Oba.
“Those of us living around here have complained to no avail about the abattoir. We have our houses here and we have nowhere else to go. Our gutters here have been taken over by the animal waste generated from the abattoir. We are in serious danger here! We are exposed to possible outbreak of epidemics.
The authorities should do something about the abattoir because the bad smell poses serious danger to the health of the people living around here,” he said. Another resident, Ugochukwu Nnana, urged the Lagos State government to relocate the abattoir to a secluded and non-residential area of the state.
Nnana said such action would save the people living in the area the agony of breathing in such foul air, which could endanger their health. “Governor Akinwunmi Ambode should save us now by moving the abattoir to another location. The facility poses serious danger to those of us living in this area.
Please, urgently come to our rescue, sir,” he said. A meat vendor, Alhaji Kazeem Yusuf, however, told The Point that currently, the Lagos State government and other stakeholders in the abattoir said they were putting heads together to fully harness the Eko Large Ruminant Animal Project to enhance the integration of cognate sub-projects such as feed milling operation to ensure timely availability of quality compounded animal feeds in the desired quantity, animal slaughtering and processing and distribution and marketing of processed beef.
The Registrar, Veterinary Council of Nigeria, Dr. Marcus Avong, said there were only three standard abattoirs in Nigeria, and that the number of slaughterhouses measuring up to such standard was inadequate, when compared with the country’s population and what obtained in other climes.
Avong attributed the situation to lack of standards or regulations for abattoir operations in the country. He said, ”The abattoir workers usually lack necessary tools and equipment to work with, resulting in infections.
Today, the unhygienic condition of abattoirs and slaughter houses poses serious danger to public health: There are no facilities for waste management and water supply for proper washing of meat.
”Transportation of meat from abattoirs in passenger vehicles or motorcycles is a common practice in most towns and cities, and this exposes meat to disease vectors such as flies and dust. Inspection of animals by veterinarians in most abattoirs to ascertain the health of the cows is rarely done.”
The VCN registrar lamented that even if healthy animals were taken to such abattoirs for slaughter, the meat might end up being contaminated during processing. “Although it was the council’s responsibility to enforce standards in abattoir operations in the country, there’s inadequate legal backing to carry out the assignment,” Avong said.
Those of us living around here have complained to no avail about the abattoir. We have our houses here and we have nowhere else to go. Our gutters here have been taken over by the animal waste generated from the abattoir. We are in serious danger! We are exposed to possible outbreak of epidemics
According to him, there is no national meat law, governing the activities of abattoir operators in the country, except in states like Lagos, Anambra and Ogun. He added, “The problem again is having laws in place to govern abattoirs and slaughter houses. “We do not have a national meat law.
I’m aware that in some years past, efforts were made by the Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to enact a national meat law, but the law did not see the light of the day. I’m also aware that even for the states that have the law, implementation is a challenge.”
Avong added that the national meat law issue came up at an interactive session hosted by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Agricultural Production and Services. He said, “Members of the committee had seen the need for the law and expressed their readiness to prioritise any bill initiated by the council in that regard.
”To this end, we are in the process of dusting up that same bill, from the Ministry of Agriculture, that was thrown out by the National Assembly. We will review the document, fine tune it and then resubmit it to the committee for easy passage this time around. The VCN is also in the process of amending the Veterinary Surgeon Act to strengthen the process of accreditation or certification of abattoirs.”
Investigations by the The Point also revealed that the butchers prefer the slaughter slabs to the well-equipped modern slaughter facility put in place by the Lagos State government. This is because the modern facility attracts a fee of N2,500 while the ‘traditional’ alternative attracts only N1,000.
A veterinary doctor, Mr. Patrick Nwankwo, told The Point that in spite of the new laws, butchers in Lagos State were still in the habit of transporting meat through unhygienic means, while abattoirs in the state had become eyesores.
Nwakwo added that the efforts of the state government to improve hygiene in most abattoirs in the state remained a mirage, as butchers and other people had gotten used to carrying meat on their heads, shoulders, in unwholesome sacks, nylons and dirty carts, while some others transport them on motorcycles, in contravention of the new law.
“It is a worrisome development we have had to complain about for many years. Our greatest fear is that the abattoir continues to exist like a keg of gunpowder waiting to explode with serious health and environmental implications for the people.
Funny enough, meat from this abattoir are not only consumed in Lagos, there are many people who patronise the abattoir from neighbouring states,” he said. Nwakwo, however, called on the governments at all levels to set up standard abattoirs across the country to minimise the dangers posed by quacks to public health.
Another meat vendor, Nasir Usman, said, “Our association has always been in the forefront of improving meat hygiene, which we obviously believe has a direct impact on the health of Lagosians.
“We are human beings, we are not animals. So there is no way we can manhandle the meat which we know is for consumption. We have laid down policies here, we have laid down rules and regulations here.”
An abattoir management services operator, who pleaded anonymity, expressed total dissatisfaction with the dirty condition prevailing in the abattoir, saying that the facility had the capacity to slaughter about 3,000 animals daily.
He lamented that the abattoirs hardly get 200 cows to slaughter in a week. Efforts by The Point to speak with the chairman of the firm managing the abattoir, Mr. Musiliu Smith, proved abortive. Smith, a retired Inspector General of Police, could not be reached.
