Butchers raise alarm over unwholesome beef

The National Butchers Union of Nigeria (NBUN), Rivers State chapter, has raised the alarm over the smuggling of unapproved beef for consumption to serve members of the public in the State.

“Some dealers have taken advantage of the closure of Trans-Amadi abattoir, by the state government to bring in unwholesome beef into the market,” The Assistant Public Relations Officer of the union in Rivers, Babajio Tanko, said

The beef transported into the State was not supervised by health officials, alleging that some already processed meat transported into the Rivers were preserved with chemical.

They bring in donkeys, horses different kinds of meat that they killed in other states into Rivers State. The closure of the Trans-Amadi abattoir by Rivers State has encouraged them a lot because there is no one or authority to monitor them and control them again. They (dealers) would bring in poisonous meet rubbed with chemical into the state.

The Assistant Publicity Relations Officer of the union called on the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, to reconsider reopening the the popular Trans-Amadi Slaughter market to enable customers resume proper trading.

He said “The effect is not only on my people, but, also on Rivers people. Any dealer that could bring cow(s) into Rivers State, will like to sell it a exorbitant price. It would now be ‘you either buy, or leave’.

“So, when you look at it, you find out that it is very difficult to go and buy. This is because the Trans-Amadi Slaughter market is closed and the dealers that bring in cows cannot go to market because there is no place to offload the goods and no place to kill the cows”.