The National Butchers Union of Nigeria (NBUN) has raised alarm over the smuggling into Rivers State, unapproved beef for consumption to serve members of the public in Rivers State.
Assistant public relation officer of the Union in Rivers State chapter Baba Ajayi Tanko, in an interview with our reporter said some dealers are taking advantage of the closure of the Trans Amadi abattoir by the State Government to bring in unwholesomeo beef into Rivers State.
Ajayi further said that the beef transported into Rivers State is not supervised by health officials. He aledged that some already processed meat transported into Rivers State were preserved with chemicals.
“Due to the closure of slaughter, those people that we have been putting eye on have been bringing dead Cows, Donkeys, Horses and different kind of meat that they killed from other States to Rivers State, because nobody is monitoring them again. They bring in poisonous meat that have been rubbed with formalin” he stated.
The assistant public relation officer of the National Butchers Union of Nigeria, Rivers State Chapter Baba Ajayi Tanko is calling on Rivers State Government to consider re – opening the Trans Amadi abattoir market, to enable traders commence proper trading.
The assistant public relation officer also said life has not been easy for traders at the slaughter market eleven months after the slaughter market was closed down. He warned that continued closure of the abattoir at the slaughter market will further allow those bringing in unwholesome beef into Rivers State to continue in their illicit trade.
“Dealers that always converge those goods from the North can not send again because there is no place to offload and no place to kill. Anyone that manages to bring Cow to Rivers State will sell the way he likes”
” We are pleading with the government to open the slaughter, so that things will be easy for people” he stated.
