‘Unhealthy beef, donkey meat not allowed in FCT’

Director of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Baba Shehu Lawan has said unhealthy beef and donkey meat will not be allowed into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from other states. Lawan, who spoke during a stakeholders meeting on Meat Haulage Policy with the FCT Butchers Association said the board has been mandated to seize and […]

Director of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Baba Shehu Lawan has said unhealthy beef and donkey meat will not be allowed into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from other states.

Lawan, who spoke during a stakeholders meeting on Meat Haulage Policy with the FCT Butchers Association said the board has been mandated to seize and destroy fresh meat brought into the territory.

Lawan, in a statement by the board’s Head of Information and Outreach Programme Unit, Muktar Ibrahim, said the move was not aimed at causing economic loss to anyone but to upgrade the meat value chain.

The Director, Veterinary Services, in the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Dr Regina Adulugba, said it was unacceptable that while other states have since upgraded their meat haulage policy, the FCT was lagging behind. She promised that as soon as the ministers settled down, the FCTA would declare an emergency in its abattoirs and slaughter slabs to ensure that each animal slaughtered in FCT is healthy and safe for human consumption.

AEPB’s Sanitarian Ajueyitsi Simeon, Director of Environmental Health and Safety Department, enjoined meat sellers to improve on the quality of meat offered for sale as low patronage by high class hotels was of concern. He highlighted the deplorable state of abattoirs and the unhygienic way meat is conveyed to slaughter points.

He warned that his men would penalise anyone that persisted in the unwholesome practice of transporting fresh meat in taxi cabs, Keke NAPEP, motor cycles or on rusty carts, insisting that there must be vehicles solely dedicated for meat transportation.