Jos: Rise of illegal slaughter slabs

Eleven years of repeated crises in Plateau State  has had  profound   effects on the socioeconomic activities of residents. For a city that prided itself as the commercial hub of the Middle Belt Region, recurring ethno-religious disturbances between 2001 and 2012 created border lines between members of the major religious groups in Jos,  with adverse consequences  […]

Eleven years of repeated crises in Plateau State  has had  profound   effects on the socioeconomic activities of residents. For a city that prided itself as the commercial hub of the Middle Belt Region, recurring ethno-religious disturbances between 2001 and 2012 created border lines between members of the major religious groups in Jos,  with adverse consequences  for  the state’s economy.  
One of the establishments suffering from the recurring crisis is the Jos Abattoir, a government-owned slaughter facility which for many years served the people of the state effectively,  irrespective of religious and ethnic divides. Prior to the last ethno-religious upheaval in 2012, the single Jos Abattoir which was so popular that the entire surrounding community next to Dogon Karfe in the northern edge of Jos South Local Government Area is named after it, housed both Muslim and Christian butchers. The 40-year-old structure had also attracted customers from all the ethnic groups in the state, who thronged the facility to buy beef for their households.  
The expansive abattoir which was once defined by hovering black vultures on  its surrounding trees, also once boasted of slaughtering hundreds of cows, sheep and goats on a good day.
The Mushroom Abattoirs
Now, there has been a major development, and the  situation today is different. The 2012 crisis which had a devastating effect on the Muslim butchers, made them relocate from the central abattoir. They have since established small semblances of abattoirs  in parts of Jos North. About six such neighbourhood abattoirs, which are typically operated under unhygienic conditions, now exist. They are to be found at Yan Ganda, Yan Shanu,  Bulbula, Layin Majema, Rikkos and Filin Ball. These are abattoirs that do not qualify to be so named.
Affirming this, a leading butcher who operates in one of the small and ill-equipped abattoirs, and Jos North chairman of Plateau Butchers Association, Alhaji Usman Aliyu described the six neighbourhood abattoirs as ‘attachments’. He said  “There is only one abattoir which is located at Dogon Karfe, but because of the past crises, we had to leave that place and start these attachments. They can’t rightly be called abattoirs. An abattoir is where you find standard facilities, and veterinary doctors that look at the kind of animals brought in to be slaughtered.”
Although business seems to be booming in the ‘attachments’, the obvious lack of facilities, especially decent water, affects the sanitary condition of meat, and consequently pose health hazards to consumers. Besides, the operation of these ‘attachments’ denies  the state government the needed revenues, as the butchers, including Ibrahim Abdullahi, confess that they have not been paying such revenues.     

Abdullahi, who resides in the area, said one of the major challenges for the butchers is water. He explained, “Sometimes the butchers use water from the river in washing the meat, and this is not good for the consumer’s health.” Abdullahi said though the butchers had fixed water pipes,  and occasionally get water from the Plateau State Water Board, water had not been flowing from the pipes in the last three months.
They however have two wells within their reach, which they use in the event of water scarcity, but at present they rely largely on rainfall. Aliyu, the chairman, spoke of promised water and sanitary issues by the state government which was only partially fulfilled. He recalled  “The deputy governor once came here and we complained to him about water,  and that we needed the refuse here to be cleared. After he left, about two trailers came to pack the refuse, but that was the last we heard. We also contributed over N300,000 to construct water pipelines, but now we no longer get water from the  water board.”
Aliyu who was instrumental to establishing the Yan Ganda ‘attachment’, said though there are no certified veterinary doctors in any of the six slaughter slabs in Jos North, there are experienced butchers like himself who had undergone training on identifying healthy animals from unhealthy ones, before they are slaughtered. He expantiated   “It is compulsory  that we look at the animals and the kind of meat that is being sold. When the main abattoir was opened, I was one of those who went on training to Bauchi, where we learnt how to identify healthy animals and those that are not healthy, and even when the animal is being slaughtered we know which meat is from a healthy animal and which is not. So we have warned our members that if they decide to purchase a cheap animal that is not healthy, it will be to their detriment.”  
Will Central Abattoir rise again?
Despite the widely held view that it would be better for butchers and meat buyers ,for all butchers in Jos to operate at the main abattoir complex in Abattoir, the chairman expressed reservation about it happening, except certain conditions are created by the state government. Aliyu said, “We  sat with the state government and a committee was even set up. I personally sat with Governor Jonah Jang on the issue, and we gave conditions which bordered on our safety, but nothing has been done   about it. The conditions we gave include having a military outpost in the abattoir, because the area is Christian-dominated. We know that we have been enjoying relative peace and we wish that peace should continue. But if something were to happen, we would need the military to protect us and possibly move us out of the place safely.  
“Another controversy that must be addressed is that since the crisis, Christians in the area are now the ones that slaughter the cattle. If we go back, will they allow us to take over slaughtering of the cattle as we used to do for everyone in the past? That is another question the committee failed to answer. The third is that our tents have been removed by the present occupants of the abattoir. We all used to mingle together, both Muslims and Christians, but now that our tents have been removed, will they allow us take back our space?”

The present operators at  the Abattoir also have their reservations about a possible return of Usman Aliyu and his fellow butchers who now work at  the Jos North slaughter slabs. Daily Trust gathered that the Christians never liked the idea of their Hausa-Muslim counterparts ‘monopolizing’ the killing of cattle. A butcher at the abattoir, Kingsley Kelechi, said, “The Hausa people never believed that we were fit to slaughter any cow. They did all the slaughtering, and the unwritten rule was clearly indicated that if any other tribe slaughtered any cow, no Hausa butcher or Hausa meat seller was to touch the meat. We would rather not have them back on such terms. We are doing well here without them.”
On the whole, there is more to the ‘small’ issue of who slaughters cattle, should the Hausa butchers return to the Jos central abattoir. Although the mutual suspicion between the Hausa-Muslim residents of Jos and their Christian counterparts,  has reduced considerably, the time does not seem ripe yet for the two groups to operate at the abattoir the way they operated prior to the past decade of communal crises. This is more so as the state government has not met the Muslim community’s request for a military security outpost at the abattoir.
Reconstructed Central Abattoir   
If the Plateau State Government will move in the direction of providing special security to give what would be a superficial sense of safety at the central abattoir, it would come sometime later. What the government is working on now is a rehabilitation of the central abattoir. The abattoir  looks as if it has never been renovated throughout the 40 years it has existed.
From the exterior and right through to its interior, the entire complex is a carcass of its old self. Installed machines have been vandalized, and one or two that either could not be removed or are not worthy of the effort of  vandals, have long packed up. The only facility that works is the water system, which itself was not functional until a recent move changed the picture.
The acting Project Manager of the abattoir, Dr Atang Ishaya Bawa, who has worked just a little over one month at the abattoir, told Daily Trust that he had to call in technicians to carry out some repairs, before water could be made to flow from the abattoir’s reservoir to the different washing points around the abattoir.
Dr Bawa expressed the optimism however that the story of decay would soon change. “Just a couple of days ago the consultants came here,” he said during an interview at the abattoir with Daily Trust, referring to the consulting firm contracted to oversee the renovation of the abattoir. He said the abattoir management had already given its input to a design for the renovation, and the consultants had assured that equipment had already been procured for the planned renovation.
The Plateau State Ministry of Agriculture is the office of government which supervises the breeding, slaughtering and consumption of cattle and other meat sources across the state. By extension, it is the branch of government which supervises abattoirs anywhere in the state. The ministry which confirmed the plan to renovate the central abattoir in Jos , also asserted that the days of ‘illegal slaughter slabs’ were numbered.

Chief Veterinary Officer of the Ministry, Dr Doris Bitrus said recently  that preparations  to reconstruct the Jos Abattoir had matured considerably, and that it would only take as much time to fully reconstruct the central abattoir ,for the state government to make all Jos butchers operate at the abattoir,  and for all meat sellers to source their cow meat from the abattoir.
“Those illegal slaughter slabs (across Jos North) are going to close,” the Chief Veterinary Officer said, adding, “The people who operate them set them up as a result of past crises. But the atmosphere has changed greatly, and everyone will be moving to the central abattoir when the reconstruction work is done. Government is neutral over the crises and would take necessary steps to make the abattoir conducive for everybody.”
Many Jos residents are not only pessimistic about the Jos Abattoir returning to the days when people from all religions and tribes operated there. They are also not upbeat about the prospects of the abattoir being reconstructed soon.
“We have been hearing the renovation story for at least two years now,” said a butcher at the abattoir, who requested anonymity for fear of victimization.