By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federal Capital Territory Administration Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS) has implemented moves to upgrade abattoirs across the territory as part of efforts to enhance standards.
This was disclosed by the Secretary of the ARDS in the nation’s capital, Mr Abubakar Ibrahim when he led some officials of the secretariat to inspect facilities at the Karu Abattoir, the largest in the city.
He said the inspection will give him necessary information on the areas that need urgent attention.
He said “Abuja is the face of Nigeria and it is imperative that we set good standards in whatever we are doing whether it is services or infrastructure. This should be at par with international standards.”
“There is a lot to be done to achieve standards in the abattoirs, we are going to sit down with the technical staff and the management to see what we can do, if possible we have to look for partners to enter into Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement,” he explained.
Mr Ibrahim asked all the staff in charge of abattoirs to do more in the area of revenue generation and sanitation.
He also called on the veterinary health officials to increase their surveillance activities to ensure that butchers do not use tyres to process meat, saying they must be mindful of both the health and environmental risks associated with it.
On uncompleted projects, he directed the Department of Veterinary Services to convene an urgent meeting with contractors to address the issues towards completing the projects.
In her remarks, the Director of Veterinary Services, Mrs Regina Adulugba, explained that the department was working towards the installation of gas furnaces as the best and safest alternative to the use of tyres.
She said that all efforts will be deployed to ensure that all unsafe practices are stopped.
Modupe Gbadeyanka