By Daniel Tyokua
The Federal Capital Territory Administration Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS), has begun moves to upgrade abattoirs across the territory.
Secretary of the FCT-ARDS, malam Abubakar Ibrahim gave the indication yesterday when he led some officials of the secretariat to inspect facilities at Karu abattoir.
He said the inspection will give him necessary information on the areas that need urgent attention.
“Abuja is the face of Nigeria and it is imperative that we set good standards in whatever we are doing whether it is services or infrastructure. This should be at par with International standards.
“There is a lot to be done to achieve standards in the abattoirs, we are going to sit down with the technical staff and the management to see what we can do, if possible we have to look for partners to enter into Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement”
Ibrahim asked all the staff in charge of abattoirs to do more in area of revenue generation and sanitation
He called on the veterinary health officials to increase their surveillance activities to ensure that butchers do not use tyres to process meat, saying they must be mindful of heath and environmental risks associated with it.
In her remarks, the Director Veterinary Services Dr.Mrs Regina Adulugba told the Secretary that the departmemt is working towards the installation of the gas furnaces as the best and safest alternative to the use of tyres.
On uncompleted projects, he directed the Department of Veterinary Services to convene an urgent meeting with contractors to address the issues towards completing the projects.
The secretary’s visit to Karu abattoir which is the largest in the FCT is his second visit to abattoir since his assumption of duties.
