…as FG procures 37 vehicles for butchers

By Gabriel Ewepu, Abuja

THE Federal Government and Lagos State Government are set to partner on safe meat transportation across the country according to best global practices.

This was made known by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in a statement.

The Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria and Director, Federal Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services, Dr Maimuna Abdullahi Habbib, gave the hint while on a study tour of the air-cool Meatvans from the Abattoirs and Slaughterhouses in Lagos State along with some stakeholders of the facilities.

Habbib also said the process of transportation will be facilitated by a policy drafted to ensure smooth operations, enforcement and implementation of the process across the nation.

Essence of the visit was to understudy the model of meat haulage in the state’s abattoirs, under the umbrella company known as the Eko Refrigerated Meat Haulage aimed at adopting the best practices in abattoirs nationwide.

The tour also had the Bank of Agriculture, BoA, National Agricultural Insurance Cooperation, NAIC, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, and others.

She said: “The objectives of the tour was to understudy the State air-cool Meatvans, the Abattoirs and the Slaughterhouses.

“The Ministry would facilitate the process to ensure that a policy was drafted to ensure smooth operations, enforcement and implementation of the process across the nation.”

However, she said the Ministry would strengthen its collaboration with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, to ensure smooth and successful transportation of meat from various abattoirs to markets across the country.

Meanwhile, she (Habbib) disclosed that, “The Ministry has procured 37 vehicles that would be distributed to butchers for free in order to facilitate transportation of meat across the country.”

In a remark, the Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ruth Olusanya, made it known that, “Prior to the launching of ‘Eko Meat Van Project’, in year 2004, meat haulage business in Lagos State was rather disorganised, haphazard and unregulated, wooden carts were used to transport meat and carcasses from abattoirs and slaughter facilities to the deboning and bulk-breaking sections.”

According to her, four private investors and Butchers Association in Lagos State, formed what was referred to as the executing stakeholders to run the fleet of air-cool Meatvans from the abattoirs and slaughterhouses to the various meat markets statewide, and was funded by Polaris Bank in agreement with the stakeholders.

She also added that in 2009, her Ministry launched the Eko Refrigerated Meatvan Project, which was an advancement of the air-cool Eko Meatvans into refrigerated form, which the number of investors’ companies increased to 14 along with the State Butchers’ Associations and Lagoon Butchers’ Ventures, which were all successfully screened and licensed to operate the project under a jointly-registered cooperative umbrella called the Agege Meat Van Multipurpose Cooperative society.