RSG Shuts Eleme Slaughter

The Rivers State Government has announced the closure of Eleme Slaughter Slab indefinitely over poor sanitary condition of the environment in the state.
This was contained in a letter signed by the Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs Kindness Egbelu and made available to The Tide, yesterday, in Port Harcourt.
According to the letter, the closure of the Eleme Slaughter Slab was announced by the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Charles Nworgu after the official inspection of the slaughter in the state.
“The closure of the slaughter was announced with immediate effect from January, 2018, in line with the provisions of Chapter 86 of the Rivers State Meat (Inspection and Sale) Law”, the letter indicated.
The letter also revealed that the closure of the Eleme Slaughter was as a result of various reports and inspections carried out on the slaughter which revealed that the facility’s operations and practices have fallen short of the accepted practice enshrined in the state abattoir law.
According to the letter, the ministry’s inspection results revealed the use of polluted water from stream to wash meat, use of plastics, scrap motor tyres to burn animal skin for meat, and insanitary condition of the slaughter environment, which portend danger to the consumers’ health in the state and beyond.
The commissioner said the ministry would no longer compromise on good sanitary conditions with any meat seller, including the small-scale sellers in the state.
The ministry called on the general public to report any slaughter slab that burns meat with motor tyres for immediate action, saying that the ministry’s action was to prevent communicable diseases, and sudden death that night arise from the use of burning chemical of motor tyres and plastics in roasting meat for human consumption.
He said apart from the black soot caused by the burning of motor tyres, the chemical from the tyres portend great danger to human health.