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Tag: Butchers

  • Butchers urge Niger LG to resuscitate abattoir boreholes

    Butchers urge Niger LG to resuscitate abattoir boreholes

    The Niger Chapter of National Butchers Union of Nigeria (NBUN) has called on Chanchaga Local Government Council to fix the two boreholes at the Minna abattoir.

    Alhaji Garba Kwabo, the state Secretary of NBUN made the call on Saturday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna.

    Kwabo said that the boreholes would ensure proper hygiene and the butchers’ handling of meats for the public.

    “We have three boreholes and only one is functioning which is inadequate for a modern abattoir such as Minna abattoir.

    “We use water to clean the meat we sell to the public. Without enough water you will not get clean meat.

    “If we don’t wash our slaughtering implements and the drainages very well, soon there may be an outbreak of disease in the abattoir,’’ he said.

    Kwabo said that it was the local council’s is constitutionally mandate to take responsibility of sanitary and environmental hygiene as well as to provide enough water in the abattoir.

    “The local government authority use water tankers to supply water in order to complement the only functional borehole; but it is still inadequate,’’ he said.

    Kwabo also said that the union was working with the state Ministry of Fisheries and Animal Resources in its commitment to deliver only healthy meat to the public for consumption.

    “The ministry sends health officials to inspect our animals and if any animal is not healthy they make sure we don’t slaughter it for consumption,’’ he said.

    The Unions Secretary said that the boreholes were over 15 year old, adding that two of them were donated by two politicians and the third one built by the local government.

    He said that before the recent economic recession in the country, over 100 cows were slaughtered daily at the abattoir but only 60 were now slaughtered daily.

    In a recent interview with NAN, Kwabo had appealed to the state government to institute a policy to compensate its over 25,000 members for loss of unhealthy animals.

  • Ecologist wants law to ban butchers from exposing meat

    An ecologist, Mr Abdullahi Aremu, has called for legislation to ban butchers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from carrying meat with motorcycles or exposing meat in markets.

    Aremu, the Director-General, Advocacy for Environmental and Sanitation Integrity, an NGO, made the call on Tuesday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    He described the wanton exposure of meat as “unhygienic and dangerous to human health.

    “Observation shows that many butchers, particularly in Abuja suburbs, have cultivated the attitude of exposing meat on streets and in markets.

    “The legislature at all levels should enact a law to ban this habit and punish butchers or meat sellers who expose meat on the roads and in markets,’’ he said.

    The ecologist said that exposure of meat often attracted flies, vectors of diseases, adding that the exposed meat was, therefore, unwholesome and not fit for human consumption.

    Aremu urged relevant authorities to deploy veterinary officers and health workers to abattoirs to ensure that the set standards for animal slaughtering and processing were strictly adhered to.

  • Lagos trains 400 butchers on abattoir management

    Lagos State government has trained no fewer than 400 butchers and live cattle dealers from various abattoirs and slaughter slabs.

    The training was aimed at ensuring a hygienic environment within abattoirs and wholesomeness in the red meat value chain business.

    The programme was organised by the Ministry of Agriculture.

    Presenting certificates to the participants at the end the programme, Commissioner for Agriculture Oluwatoyin Suarau called for attitudinal change among stakeholders and concessionaires in the red-meat-value chain business especially in the areas of operational procedures and abattoir management.

    He said the government in addressing these challenges sponsored some butchers, live cattle dealers and other stakeholders on a study tour of Kenya and Botswana Red Meat Industry.

    “The aim of the tour then was to expose the butchers to the international standard of operation in the industry towards improving the hygiene status in all the approved abattoirs and slaughter slabs and to ensure wholesomeness in the meat that is locally consumed,” Suarau said.

    Lagos State Butchers’ Association Chairman, Alabi Bamidele Kazeem praised the government for the capacity building programme, saying it is a sign of things to come.

    He implored the participants to train other butchers not opportune to participate so that the programme’s objective can be achieved.

  • Buhari: anti-graft battle’s enemies’ll face penalties

    Buhari: anti-graft battle’s enemies’ll face penalties

    President fetes less-privileged

    President Muhammadu Buhari last night warned that those planning to deter his administration from fighting corruption will face the consequences. He did not name such people.

    The President spoke at the Presidential Villa during the breaking of fast with some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), taxi drivers, hair dressers, motorcycle riders, barbers, butchers, tailors, and junior workers of the campaign office of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He said: “Whoever deters us from fighting corruption will suffer the consequences.”

    The President said that it was unfortunate that some members of the elite were self-centred and only cared for themselves as there was very little to show for the huge income got from sales of oil in the 16 years the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruled.

    Noting that they mismanaged what accrued to the country, he said that the past administrations could not fix power, rail, and provide drinking water for the populace, among other problems.

    He told the group that his administration was conscious of their needs and desire but that the government met very poor conditions.

    The prices of oil in the international market, he noted, fell from above $100 to $30 per barrel, which has adversely affected the economy.

    “I assure you that the leadership of this country is conscious of you. I’m being told that more has to be done.

    “Our intentions are good and honourable but I have to remind you of what we inherited from the previous administration.

    “Be mindful that we care about you on daily basis. We will try to improve health services so you will spend less time looking for medical care.

    “Tell your family that this government is concerned about your welfare and will work very hard to improve it.”

    The President took time to personally serve some of the physically-challanged Nigerians the type of food they wanted to eat during the dinner.

    Delivering the vote of thanks, a disabled, Musbahu Lawal Didi, praised the President for having the interest of disabled persons at heart.

    He also urged the President to set up a Commission for the disabled so that their interest can be further taken care of.

    Muslim and Christian prayers were offered by two IDPs  —Musa Abdullahi from Gwoza, Borno State and Joseph Jauro from Adamawa State.

    At the dinner were the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal.

    The Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate represented Senate President Bukola Saraki.

     

  • One day for our own butchers

    On Thursday one of the world’s most notorious bloodthirsty figures was sent to jail for 40 years. Twenty-one years after the Bosnian war in which he played no small part, Radovan Karadzic evaded arrest for 13 years, and even after his capture in 2008 and arraignment, it took nothing less than eight years to find him guilty. The wheels of justice ground slowly, even too slowly, at least from the perspectives of his victims, but, at last, the man who was dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia will now pay for his crimes.

    In 1995, during the war, in a district called Srebrenica, Mr Karadzic, president of Bosnia at the time, was accused of inspiring the killing of some 7,500 Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, a campaign that was said to be “aimed at killing every able-bodied male”.

    Yet, that was just one of the many crimes the butcher was accused and convicted of. Justice was indeed long in coming.

    In our own country, and in the face of dizzying daily revelations of atrocious financial conducts, one can say that indeed we do have our own butchers and that one day they too will pay for their crimes.

    On Tuesday it was reported that some of our erstwhile leaders who served as governors, ministers and in other capacities in the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration and possibly others before, managed to stash away a cool $200b in the United Arab Emirates. Apart from the cash, there were mansions said to be owned in Dubai, not by the rich Arabs whose land it is, but by our own leaders. One ex-minister said to be a front for a former a First Lady, allegedly owns two houses there. Another reportedly lays claim to malls.

    Two of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministers have reportedly jetted off to repatriate the cash and officially impound the properties believed to be illegally acquired. By the way, one of the President’s often lampooned foreign trips is said to have paved the way for the discovery and expected recovery. Thanks to the new order and the heat brought on by the Buhari Presidency pact with the UAE, some of those with dodgy cash and questionable properties in Dubai have starting moving out to such presumed safer places as Singapore, Casablanca and even islands belonging to the United Kingdom. We also hear that Dubai parties hosted by such Nigerians have since thinned down.

    One week before the Dubai report, our front pages chilled us with some N3.2 trillion said to have been kept away from the federal coffers by authorities in the national oil firm NNPC. That report evoked memories of a certain former governor of the Central Bank who essentially revealed that the federal oil corporation was up to some of the dirtiest financial practices Nigerians had known since we struck the liquid gold in the late 50s. The Central Bank chief, much harassed at the time for his guts, has since gone on to mount a befitting throne.

    A little over a week ago, word was out, again, that a memo from the Presidential Villa authorised the release of some N3.145 billion allegedly to be split among chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Goodluck Support Group. A Permanent Secretary generated that memo, it was learnt, but it is unclear who directed it to be generated.

    Some of those implicated in these shady deals have been charged to court. More will sooner or later have their day in court. Possibly, some will be discharged and acquitted. But it is clear that people we had in positions of authority set out from day one to fleece the country, suck it dry of its lifeblood and leave it to stagger on its bones until it can stagger no more. They had no more love for this country than Mr Karadzic had for Bosnian Muslims and their Croat compatriots. Mr Karadzic played a major role in a war that consumed over 100,000 souls and led to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

    The 70-year-old butcher was found guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, among others, and was put away for 40 years. What verdict will justice hand our own butchers, whose brazen and systematic approach to greed and criminality must have wiped out only the good Lord knows how many souls? How many of our troops were cut down by better-equipped Boko Haram fighters? How many doctors fled to other countries because they could no longer watch patients die for lack of drugs in the hospitals? Can we quantify the degradation of our school infrastructure as a result of diverted funds?

    Mr Karadzic had guts and fooled the security community with his cucumber-cool composure. He dressed smart, sporting some cool suits and was a master of disguise. When he was running away from the law, it was said that he still managed to travel under a fake name to Italy to watch Serie A matches. A fugitive in Belgrade, he worked at a private clinic, claiming to be an alternative medicine practitioner and treating patients for sexual problems and disorders, again, under a false name. A man who usually sported a clean-shaven face and  hair longer than John Kerry’s, Mr Karadzic was once seen in a full-blown grey beard, his full hair tied into a pony tail, a visage doctored by a pair of professor’s reading glasses.

    A man who studied psychiatry and neurotic disorders and depression, caused his people such mental problems and disorders. Mr Karadzic also seemed to mock his people and his patients claiming to be a passionate physician with answers to their private worries.

    Mr Karadzic got away with butchery for so long. But in the end, all the tricks in the book could not shield him from the day of reckoning. Our own butchers have been quite smart too, affecting in their day to be the best we could find. And we couldn’t tell the difference. But like the Butcher of Bosnia, their day will come too.

  • Butchers greet Buhari, Tinubu, Ambode

    Lagos State Butchers’ Association has congratulated President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, All Progressives Congress (APC) National leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Lagos State Governor-elect Akinwunmi Ambode and other elected APC candidates.

    A statement by its chairman, Alhaji Alabi Bamidele Kazeem (a.k.a B K), hoped that Gen Buhari would bring the change Nigerians deserve.

    It enjoined Ambode not to forget his campaign promises.

    The association urged Lagosians to extend their hands of fellowship to the three senators elected in Lagos.

    It said: “As the spirit of friendship and cooperation between Lagos State Butchers’ Association and APC continues to grow, we wish to reaffirm our readiness to work closely with all of you to strengthen and enrich our ties, as well as to elevate our partnership.

    “We sincerely believe that the current political dispensation will bring good tiding for all of us and Nigeria in general.”

  • Fagge: Govt policy has turned dons to butchers, hawkers

    Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) President Nasir Fagge has said the Federal Government policy for universities to generate funds internally has converted professors to butchers and hawkers.

    He said ASUU’s struggles were predicated on the belief that the university system is deformed, its driving philosophy mortally damaged and its established purpose stillborn.

    Fagge spoke at the 63rd University of Ibadan (UI) Postgraduate School Interdisciplinary discourse on the topic “ASUU struggles and the Revitilisation of Public University Education in Nigeria”.

    The ASUU president lamented that there was a systematic agenda to paralyse public university education to make way for a market-based privatisation of university education, adding that Nigeria’s leadership lacks integrity in governance.

    He said:”IGR policy of government has meant a shift of focus to production of bread, pure water, fish and meat sale.

    “Universities are now competing with the peasant traders they are supposed to serve. Some, such as the University of Ibadan, close their campuses to goods from outsiders and run a close economy while the Department of Economics teaches competition and free market.

    “Professors are appointed as butchers, hawkers and supervisors of enterprises that are at the best a waste of time and energy.

    “Scarce manpower is diverted from the classrooms and laboratories in the pursuit of enterprises that are incongruent with the university mission.”

    Fagge said the leadership quality since independence evinces the negative outcomes of the university system, adding that the irrelevant educational curricula, programmes and pedagogy in universities have succeeded in producing poor leaders and imitators rather than innovators.

    “More than seven panels have been set up by successive administrations to evaluate conditions in public universities.

    “The failure to implement reports of such panels was due to failure of integrity in governance.

    “Contemporary assessment of products of the system characterised them as unemployable and lacking in basic social, emotional and literacy skills.

    “The educational curricula, programmes and pedagogy today are as irrelevant and unrealistic as they were in colonial times.

    “However, we must agree that the system is effective in producing imitators, poor leaders and culturally disconnected individuals.”

    The ASUU president noted that private universities render below par services and engage in unwholesome practices to attract and retain students yet provide only three per cent access to university education, despite Federal Government’s approval of new ones.

    “It therefore shows that the direction of university education presently can only lead to loss of identity, national disintegration, sustenance of dependency economy and a political ideology of dominance and exploitation.”

    In his welcome address, the Dean, Postgraduate School, Prof Adeyinka Aderinto, said qualitative public education was not negotiable, adding that ASUU struggles have helped improved the infrastructural and manpower development in universities.

  • Trans-Amadi butchers elect officials, 14 years after

    Trans-Amadi butchers elect officials, 14 years after

    It was dream come true last Sunday, when members of Rivers State chapter of National Butchers’ Union of Nigeria (NBUN), Trans-Amadi,   Obio/Akpor Local Government Area (OBALGA), elected leaders to run their affairs in the next four years.

    The election, which produced Alhaji Musa Baba Owere and Alhaji Haruna Abdu as Chairman and General Secretary respectively, came 14 years after a protracted battle to oust the last Ibrahim Maisumdu Beli-led exco.

    Others members of the Executive included, Ibrahim Lawal, Assistant Secretary, Sulaiman D-Sule financial secretary, Bashiru Dande, Assistant financial secretary and Emenike Ogu was elected Welfare officer.

    Also elected are Ibrahim Musa P R O (1), Murain A. Taofeeq  Amobi  P R O (2).  Alhaji Isiaka Omofunde Treasurer, Shagari Musa Auditor(1), Lawal Abdulahi Auditor (2), Uba Rabina Chief Whip, Alhaji Ali Chikas Exco(1), Alhaji Amini Dangote Exco (2), and Kabiru Sani Yakubu emerged Organising Secretary.

    Beli was allegedly imposed by the immediate past Executive Chairman of OBALGA, Prince Timothy Nsirim as Caretaker Committee chairman for five years, because of his relationship with the former chairman. This was after he  served out his two-term of four years each, thereby keeping him on the seat for 13 years.

    “The position made him very powerful and untouchable. The state of the market and slaughter house became deplorable with no funds to run it. Sanitation in the area crumbled to zero, the water supplying system (boreholes), broke down at a time with no money to fix it, the stench from the place became unbearable, no platform to discuss the issues, because union meetings were never conveyed, efforts and correspondents to dialogue with Nsirim during the period met brick walls, members were helpless, efforts to conduct elections were quashed by the council chairman.

    “He went and obtained an interim order of court to stop us from conducting elections.  Intervention by our national chairman was bluntly ignored by the chairman (Nsirim).

    “Tension rose in the area, breakdown of law and order was imminent, especially among our youths, our elders led by the current Union chairman, Alhj. Owere and our national President, Chief John Osamede Adun (Bob Izua), intervened by sending petition to the state governor and security agents in the state for their intervention,” a member of the new Executive recalled.

    Trans-Amadi Slaughter is the biggest abattoir in the state and slaughters over three hundred cows every day, on the average levy of N1,000 on each cow slaughtered there.

    Beli was however removed by the court in 2013, to give way to a five-man transitional Committee led by Alhj. Salisu Umar Ubaningi. He and his members successfully conducted the elections after fixing the Union for 1year and one month.

    Speaking on the outcome of the election, Suleiman Danjuma  Sule said:  “We have waited for the election for a long time and the mandate of the people on who to lead them has been established and we are happy about it.

    “We are happy with Ubaningi-led CTC members for the way they organised this election. They tried and we are satisfied with the peaceful exercise.”

    Also in his reactions shortly after the swearing-in, the chairman expressed happiness on the success of the election and pledged to carry everybody along in the running of the Union.

    He called for the support of all members and appealed to everyone doing business at the slaughter market to be law abiding, noting that the Union would be revived in due time with all the incentives put in place.

    “I am very happy that the election has finally been conducted and happier because it was very peaceful. For a long time, the Union has been battling to see this day come through and God has made it possible today.

    “I thank my people (NBUN), members for the show of love to us (the new Executives), a mention must be made of the Rivers State government led by Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, the OBALGA council chairman, Dr. Lawrence Chuku and his people, all the security agents in the state, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin and my National Union(NBUN), who came and conducted the election. I appreciate their unalloyed supports and concerns that led to the success of the exercise.”

    The National Secretary of NBUN, and chairman election organising committee, Alhaji Umaru Shaibu speaking about the outcome of the election said: “We were in the state four days before the election. The reason being that we came to put things in place especially as regarding the advisement, sell of nomination forms for the various positions to interested candidates and to conduct the screening.”

    Alhaji Surajo  Lawal Dabai, who lost to the new chairman, congratulated  him and expressed the willingness to work with him for the good of the members.

    He noted that it was the will of God for his opponent to secure the seat and promised to try again in the next four years. He advised the winner to ensure he comes up with programmes and activities that would unite and bring about the desired progress to the members.

    Also Alhaji Ubaningi, union CTC Chairman, congratulated the chairman and his executives for being selected for the positions. He expressed satisfaction at the peaceful conduct of the election, describing it as free and fair.

    He advised Nigerians to borrow a leaf from Trans-Amadi butcher on the way to organise elections, especially as the next general elections draw close.

  • Butchers comply with verdict

    The Lagos State Butchers Association (LSBA) has elected officers to run its affairs for three years.

    The election was conducted in compliance with the judgment  of the Court of Appeal presided over by Justice Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh.

    Last month, the Appeal Court upheld the judgment of Justice Olatoregun Ishola of the Federal High Court, Lagos in a suit involving members of the association.

    Elected at the Matori Slaughter Slab are the Chairman, Alhaji Sulaimon Afuwape; first deputy chairman, Alhaji B. K. Alabi; econd deputy chairman, Alhaji Isiaka Asiwaju; Secretary, Alhaji Ganiyu Omotosho; Treasurer Mr. Toyin Ayoka; Assistant Treasurer Alhaji Fatai Babatunde; Financial Secretary, Mr. Rabiu Akintola; Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olawunmi Adeyinka and Assistant Publicity Secretaty, Alhaji Bala Katako.

    Others are the Organising Secretary, Mr. Adeniyi Olasupo; Welfare Officer, Alhaji M. Akande; Assistant Welfare Officer, Alhaji Musibau Adigun; Social Secretary, Alhaji M. BaakiYusuf; Assistant Social Secretary, Mr. Idowu Arilesola; Auditor, Alhaji Babatunde Mogaji; Woman Leader, Alhaja Risikat Alao while the Ex-Officos included Mr. Olabamiji, Alhaji Muritala Kareem, Alhaji Muraino Alao, Mr. Momodu Adetayo and Mr. Buliaminu Popoola.

    A group within the association comprising Mr. Mukaila Akanbi, Mr. Moruu Shotayo and Mr. Babatunde Alabi had approached the Federal High Court last year to challenge the continued stay in office of the former officers of the association.

    The defendants are Alhaja Adijatu Ojikutu, Alhaji Raimi Balogun, Alhaji Sulaimon and Alhaji Taiye Osunosho, being trustees of the association in Lagos State.

    The plaintiffs, in the suit had contended that the former officers had over stayed  in office contrary to the provisions of Article 13(1) and (5) of the Lagos State Butchers Association Constitution.

    The plaintiffs  through an originating summon sought to determine whether the continued tenure of the officers as the state executive council/trustees violated the constitution of the association.

    They prayed the court to dissolve the executive and order fresh elections into the association in accordance with its constitution.

    The court preside by Justice Ishola  granted their prayers in terms of the relief sought and ordered the dissolution of the executive and ordered fresh elections to be conducted within 14days of the judgement.

    Dissatisfied with the judgment, the defendant/appellants, Alhaja Adijatu Ojikutu, Alhaji Raimi Balogun, Alhaji Sulaimon and Alhaji Taiye Osunosho, appealed for an extension of time to three months to conduct the elections in line with the constitution.

    The notice of appeal which was further amended on December 4, last year, was based on four grounds  and a brief of argument deemed properly filed on November 19, of the same year, conveyed the appellants’ arguments.

    The respondents moved a preliminary objection that the appellants filed the their brief out of time without order of the court and that the brief was signed by an unidentifiable person.

    Justice Ikyegh on May 30, this year struck out the appeal on technical grounds and upheld the preliminary objection of the respondents.

    Justice Ikyegh was also in agreement with Justice Chinwe Iyizoba, that “the document labeled the brief of the appellant could have been properly struck out in the lower court by reason of the fact that it was not a brief within the contemplation of the relevant rules of the court.

    “The preliminary objection, therefore succeeds and it is upheld. The appellant’s brief is hereby struck out for being incompetent. The appeal is also hereby struck out by not being supported by a brief of argument,” he said.