Suleja modern abattoir, built during the first tenure of the late Niger State governor, Eng. Abdulkadir Kure is battling to regain its main goal, which is to be run under a hygienic environment. It was gathered that the facility was a replacement to a previous one, formerly situated around the town’s main market, considered as small, and very close to residential buildings.
Water, which is the essential thing used in such places, was identified as a major problem of the facility. Other challenges are blocked or improper waste disposal, water channels, a less than one-kilometre access road that leads into the site that is yet to be tarred, which is a source of worry to the motorists and other commuters, especially during the rainy season, among other problems.
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It was gathered that the majority of meat being processed there goes to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, with a little percentage taken to other neighbouring states, and other environs within Suleja.
Malam Umar Sani is the auditor of the butchers union of the abattoir. He said about 300 cows, 150 goats and sheep are being processed in the facility daily, with about five thousand people working through direct or indirect labour.
He put the percentage of processed meat that is taken to Abuja from the facility at 80 per cent. He said the facility is more popular than its counterparts within Abuja and beyond, because of how cheap meat costs there.
“A meat dealer could slaughter a cow and give out its parts to the butcher, based on his choices. There is no issue of imposition where you don’t have an interest in the animal, as it’s the case in other places. The facility is the first point of call for many butchers, especially for those that have little or no capital of their own,” Sani said.
According to him, the abattoir has two boreholes with one provided by the state government at its inception, and the second provided by the Suleja Area Council. The facility is faced with the challenge of inadequate water since the breakdown of one of the boreholes with the other barely pumping water.
Daily Trust gathered that presently, the butchers rely on water vendors.
This situation has left the facility in an unhygienic state which worries not only visitors, but residents in the surrounding neighbourhood.
Some butchers who spoke to Daily Trust explained that a thousand naira is being charged on every cow slaughtered in the abattoir, an amount confirmed by an official who craved anonymity during a visit. He went ahead to explain that six hundred naira from the amount goes to the Suleja Area Council revenue collectors, while the remaining four hundred naira is shared between the butcher’s union and the Sarkin fawa, or butchers chief, who together take the responsibility of cleaning the facility and also settling the vigilantes who provide security. He noted that two hundred naira is also charged for sheep or goat.
The abattoir currently houses business facilities such as cold room, provision shops, restaurants, among others. All these including a nearby makeshift market attached to the facility where meat and vegetables are being sold contribute to the revenue generation of the facility.
The staff members of the facility include butchers, meat cleaners and conveyors, animal blood and bone collectors, among others. While bones are being burnt to ashes and stocked, the animal’s blood is being fetched and cooked, and later sold to poultry feed makers as they are part of the vital ingredients used in making poultry feed.
There is almost nothing not worth using from a cow, as its waste is collected by some farmers from the facility’s dumping site for their farms.
A stakeholder in the market, Hudu Isa, accused some officials responsible for monitoring activities inside the facility of negligence and not doing their work accordingly. He said there are also cases of inadequate manpower in both veterinary and health workers attached to the abattoir.
He charged the state government and also Suleja Council Authority to assist the abattoir with adequate water supply in order to meet up the proper cleaning demands. He also lamented the lack of vans that are supposed to be used in conveying meat from the abattoir to various destinations, as opposed to the use of motorcycles or rickety vehicles in transporting the processed meat.
One of the few good techniques identified when Daily Trust Saturday visited the abattoir was how the cow parts were being roasted with the use of firewood or charcoal, instead of the use of tyres which is the norm in most abattoirs despite warnings that it was dangerous to health.
The number of labourers, especially among the youth categories, is of the class of drug consumers, as has been alleged. This circumstance has made the facility environs the centre of drug consumption and sale, with little or no attempt from the authority in charge of drug abuse to curb this.
The facility is said to also be a hideout for thugs who terrorise citizens in that area or those who visited the facility.
On the opposite is the Larry site of the abattoir where cows were kept by cattle dealers or well to do individuals among the butchers, who take the animal for slaughtering based on market demand.
Mallam Haruna Alhassan is the chairman of the facility also known as Zangon-Shanu.
He said butchers are also buying or taking cows on loan from the facility and they make their payment after selling off the cows. According to him, there are two ways of taking care of cows inside the facility; while the ones brought from nomadic herders are taken into the nearby bush for grazing, those for fattening are kept inside pending the day they would be slaughtered.
“We keep some of the cows that we buy from nomadic herders for about three months and feeding them well, which in turn makes them fat gradually,” Alhassan added.
He described the lack of water as their problem.
Efforts to speak to the Suleja Area Council Chairman, Abdullahi Shuaibu Maje, were not successful, as he did not respond to calls or text messages sent to him by our reporter, ahead of filing this report.
On his part, the Secretary to the Niger State Government, Ahmed Matane, while responding to Daily Trust Saturday, said the abattoir which was supposed to be a revenue-generating source to the Suleja council, has not got the expected maintenance in return.
“As a result, the state government is taking a strategic action by bringing in an investor to take over the facility under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
The SSG further said that facilities like markets, motor parks and abattoirs are supposed to be under the area council. “There are four set objectives that should include improvement of quality of infrastructures there, more hygienic environment, increased source of revenue, and also provision of more job opportunities to our populace. “The state governor, Alhaji Sani Bello, is very concerned about the situation and has directed prompt action about that,” The SSG explained.
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