The Environmental
Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON), has urged area councils to ensure improved hygiene standards in abattoirs across the country.
The Head, Registration Ethics and Standards Enforcement, Mr Dominic Abonyi, made the call while speaking with  newsmen  recently.
Abonyi said that the call became necessary to ensure that proper public health measures were met.
He said that effective abattoir sanitation was crucial in preventing the outbreak of diseases.
Abonyi insisted that EHORECON would not relent in intervening wherever there were gaps in achieving sanitation.
The sanitation officer also stressed the need for improved hygiene in transporting meat from the slaughter house to the point of sale.
He said that the provision of adequate facilities was crucial in promoting cleanliness and ensuring safety operations in abattoirs.
“If somebody is carrying meat in an unhygienic manner, it is the responsibility of the environmental department of the area council to apprehend that person.
“It is their primary responsibility in the first place to provide a design of how meat should be conveyed.
“So if the person is now found to be carrying meat on his laps on a motor bike, such should be impounded and taken to court for prosecution.’’
Abonyi said that EHORECON would intensify its sensitisation campaign to further enlighten people on the dangers of transporting meat in an unhygienic manner.
“You are not supposed to convey meat in a manner that it should be accessible to fly or dust.
“But in this case you find out that they either have it on their laps, in the wheelbarrow or on top of a motorbike driving the street, dripping blood and causing nuisance.”
Some Abuja residents criticised the current method of meat transportation,  describing it as unhealthy.
Miss Diana Dogwo said she felt irritated by the site.
“Most times I feel like not eating meat anymore,’’ Dogwo said.
A meat seller at Wuse market Malam Mohammed Isa, canvassed for greater enlightenment programmes for meat sellers on more hygienic ways to handle and transport meat.
Isa also called for the provision of adequate waste containers for storage of abattoir wastes and the rehabilitation of dilapidating facilities.
He further urged market management to ensure proper maintenance of the drainage system.