By Favour Kingsley
Following years of neglect of the Ozoro abattoir, one of the Delta State meat trading hub, the Chairman, Hon. Michael Akpoili, on Wednesday has cried out to the local government to urgently rehabilitate the facility’s crumbling entrance and slaughter area, even as he lamented a sharp drop in patronage blamed on soaring cattle prices and harsh weather.
Speaking to our reporter during a visit to the abattoir, the chairman, Hon. Akpoili, said the local government needed to intervene as a matter of urgency to restore the facility to a functional state.
“We need the local government to fix the abattoir for us. People are complaining about the entrance and the road because most times trucks carrying the cows get stuck and sink into the muddy ground,”
Akpoili said. “The inside, where we slaughter and keep the cows, is also in bad shape. We are urging the government to come and fix it so we can have smooth day-to-day operations.”
On concerns about the health of animals brought into the abattoir , Akpoili said butchers only purchase cattles that have been certified fit by veterinary doctors before they leave the North, debunking the rumours of the presence of sick cows at the abattoir.
“We don’t have sick cows here. When they purchase the cows from the North, there are assigned veterinary doctors that test them before they are bought. If they see a sick cow among the purchase , it will be dropped. A sick cow cannot survive the journey from the North down to the South. We buy healthy cows to sell to our people,” he explained.
The abattoir chairman also disclosed that the volume of cattles slaughtered daily has declined in recent times, blaming the drop on rising prices as well as the effects of cold weather and raining season.
“Yes, it has reduced recently because of the increase in price. Also, due to the cold weather and rainfall, we don’t keep as many.
“Those who were buying seven cows now buy four or five because the prices are very high,” he said, while noting that security at the abattoir remained good and vigilant.
A middle-aged meat seller at the abattoir, who chose to be anonymous, corroborated the chairman’s account, commending the leadership for the efforts to keep operations running despite the odds, but stressed that government support was still needed.
As Ozoro’s butchers and traders continue to weather muddy roads, rising costs and a long commute to market, their message to the local government was united and unmistakable: fix the abattoir before the next raining season.
