After years of construction and perfecting administrative procedures, the Oyo State Government is set to inaugurate a multi-billion naira abattoir, which is the largest in Nigeria. BISI OLADELE writes that the project, will bring about world-class meat processing standard and transform the city’s economy.
Along Ibadan-Oyo Expressway in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State is the sprawling Ibadan Central Abattoir. It holds the key to hygienically produced meat, job opportunities, revenue generation for the government as well as protection of public interest.
In its resolve to build a model abattoir that meets the standard set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the government spent N4 billion on the project which sits on a 10-hectare land. Construction of the state-of-the-art abattoir lasted for about one year.
The abattoir is, perhaps, the largest in West Africa.
By the time Governor Abiola Ajimobi inaugurates the project for operation by the end of the year, meat processing will have stepped up to the standard of the World Health Organisation (WHO). No fewer than 200 traders, including meat retailers and those trading in ancillary products and services, are expected to be employed. More traders will also access shops at the market complex and the in-built motor park; thereby injecting life into the small community.
With a police station, clinic, commercial bank and other social services incorporated in the abattoir complex, Ajimobi’s name will go down in the history of Oyo State as a governor whose tenure witnessed massive economic rebound and urban renewal. When fully operational, the abattoir will create an economic cluster and mini-town with potential for growth and development based in meat and allied products from the slaughtering and processing centre.
The project
The Ibadan Central Abattoir is a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) project undertaken by C & E Limited, a local construction company that specialises in PPP ventures. The abattoir project was conceived and initiated in 2009 during the tenure of former governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala. It was conceived as a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project for 30 years.
His successor, Abiola Ajimobi, continued with the arrangement though with a minor amendment in the shareholding and tenure structure. Currently, the tenure stands at 25 years with the government earning 30 per cent of the abattoir’s total annual revenue.
The abattoir offers both modern and traditional slaughtering methods, rapid turn-around time and excellent hygienic conditions as against the current informal structure that leaves room for unhygienic slaughtering and meat distribution processes.
The project has the capacity for 1,000 heads of animals (cow, sheep/goats and pigs) per day and is expandable to 5,000 heads per day with excellent ancillary facilities.
Manual slaughter slabs
The abattoir has two manual slaughter slabs with average area of 1500 m2 each and well furnished to accommodate over 200 butchers slaughtering cows, pigs, goats and sheep simultaneously.
Mechanical slaughter slab
The abattoir boasts of the mechanical slaughter slab, which is in use in all developed countries. It has the capacity to slaughter 500 cows per day, which is expandable to 2,000 per day.
Lairage
The lairage comprises the Veterinary Doctors’ Office, Health Officers’ Office, Modern Laboratory and three concrete-paved holding pens for animals before slaughtering. The holding pens are approximately 12, 000 m2 in size. Arrangement for offices for veterinary doctors and health officers makes the environment conducive to the discharge of their duties. Since animals are brought into the abattoir in large quantity, the doctors and health officers will find it more convenient to offer services in a centralised place; thereby ensuring that all animals pass health test before they are slaughtered and passed on to the public for consumption. Their services will also be enhanced with the provision of the modern laboratory.
The holding pens offer a comfortable place for the animals to stay for a minimum of 24 hours before they are slaughtered. This enables the animals to be stable after a long journey from the northern part of the country before they are slaughtered. The pen for the cattle is different from the sheep’s and pigs’.
Security and storage
The abattoir has two large cold rooms with 24-hour electricity supply and a modern red brick incinerator. It also has three gate houses and a police station for security purposes.
Administration/hospitality
Within the large complex is an administrative block, which comprises offices for members of staff of the firm and related workers. The block also houses Butchers Cooperative Building, a commercial bank, a canteen and a clinic to cater for ailing butchers, staff and customers.
Market and shops
There are currently 224 shops for grabs by meat sellers and other traders in the abattoir.
External services
The abattoir contains five conveniences, good road network with asphaltic pavement and concrete drains as well as external electrification, including solar-powered street lights.
As part of the agreement reached by the government and the firm, all other abattoirs in the 11 local government areas in Ibadan are to move to the central abattoir to ensure slaughtering of animals in a hygienic manner. The idea is to guarantee standardisation of the meat being processed in the city for the health of consumers.
Other smaller informal abattoirs in the city have already been declared illegal by the government; with the expectation that butchers will move to the central abattoir to begin operation before the end of the year.
Representatives of government and the firm have held series of meeting with the butchers’ association in a bid to educate them on the importance and gains of the central abattoir to their businesses and the health of members of the public. The association, in a December 10, 2014 letter to Ajimobi, also expressed their preparedness to move to the new abattoir.
Government has also written to all other abattoirs in the city to move to the modern abattoir for further activities.
When the government finally enforces the order by December, activities in the central abattoir will be in full swing, bringing fulfilment to all stakeholders, including residents in the community.
It is estimated that the project will generate about 2,000 jobs with coordinated revenue to the government and protection of the health of the public.
Much more than the government and members of the public, veterinary doctors practising in the state are very excited at the project.
Speaking about the abattoir, the Chairman of the Oyo State branch of the Association of Veterinary Doctors, Dr Musbau Ibrahim, said the association would be the happiest to witness its inauguration.
According to him, the association had been in the forefront of agitation for a modern abattoir, given the dangers inherent in informal abattoirs which he described as unfit.
Dr Ibrahim said a modern abattoir is central to the health of the public, given the fact that Nigerians consume much meat.
He explained that the new project will ensure that all necessary ante-mortem and post-mortem tests are conducted on all the animals before they are passed onto the public for consumption.
He added that the central abattoir would also ensure the welfare of animals; from where they are purchased to where they are slaughtered.
“The animals are properly checked to ensure wholesome meat is delivered to the populace, thereby reducing diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis and anthrax that could be contracted from eating meat,” he said.
The veterinarian also expressed hope that meat can be exported from the abattoir if properly managed, adding that it will also help the disease reporting system in the country.
He added: “We have met with butchers to educate them on the need to run a proper abattoir.”
He said the association was willing to partner with the government on the project for the health of the public.
