An Ecologist, Mr. Habib Omotosho, has urged government all levels to employ more veterinarians in abattoirs to control and promote effective supervision of animal slaughtering activities in the country.
Omotosho, who is also the National Coordinator, Environmental Advancement Initiative, an NGO, gave the advice in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.
The ecologist was speaking against the backdrop of the 2019 World Veterinary Day with the theme: “Value of Vaccination’’, marked on April 27 annually.
World Veterinarian Day was created in 2000 by the World Veterinary Association to highlight and promote the lifesaving work performed by veterinarians around the globe.
Omotosho, who underscored the need to have more veterinarians in the nation’s abattoirs, said that some slaughter houses either have few or no veterinary personnel to carry out animal slaughtering.
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According to him, governments, particularly state and local, which abattoir operations fall into their ambit, need to employ more veterinarians to assist to vet and ensure animals are healthy before slaughtering.
“This will go a long way in preventing meat consumers from contracting diseases,’’ he said.
Omotosho also urged governments to modernise and standardise the abattoirs to meet international standard.
“Slaughter houses are managed by local councils and they ought to follow the prescribed standards but due to non-existence of modern facilities, environmental pollution arising out of animal slaughtering activities cannot be controlled,’’ he said.
He said that if abattoirs were modernised and equipped with modern facilities, it would prevent pests and vectors of diseases from gaining access to the slaughter houses. (NAN)
