NILEST D-G advocates law to restrict slaughter of animals to abattoirs
The outgoing Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST), Prof. Mohammed Yakubu, has urged on the Federal Government to impose total ban on the slaughter of animals outside abattoirs across the country.
He said in an interview in Zaria that laws should be enacted to back the ban in conformity with global best practice.
This, Yakubu said, would enable the country to fully utilise its huge hides and skin resource, so as to grow the economy and the livelihood of people in the sub-sector.
According to him, restricting animals slaughter to abattoirs is a component of the National Leather Policy.
He said that the institute would offer technical support and provide training for relevant stakeholders, as well as engage with legislators to support the ban.
The outgoing director general also said it was important for Nigerians to adopt new thinking that will unlock the huge potential of the country’s leather industry.
Yakubu said that the institute will train heads of local abattoirs nationwide to “tell them of the new thinking of government in line with the National Leather Policy about abattoir administration, particularly as it relates to hides and skin”.
“Our next line of engagement which may happen this year or early next year is to organise workshops for the people in charge of local abattoirs all over Nigeria.
“We will start zone by zone, and we may invite them to NILEST. We are going to talk with UNIDO for them to give us support.
“We’ll initially organise a train-the-trainer workshop for the heads of the abattoirs, tell them the new thinking of government in line with the National Leather Policy about abattoir administration, particularly as it relates to hides and skin.
He also said that the institute would interface with legislators and lobby them to enact a law to stop people from slaughtering animals “just anywhere”.
“It’s time for people to take their animals to abattoirs to be slaughtered and handled properly according to standard.
“We will start with states, meet with chairmen of committees on agriculture in the state assemblies to get their buy-in and enact the law. Once that is done, it will trickle down to local governments.
“The moment we get everybody involved, everyone will know that hides and skin is a national resource that will make immediate impact on the Nigerian economy.
“Each hides and skin will count, so that we know how many we have in each state.
“If the industries know that the raw material is available and cheap, because it’s not being eaten, they will only ask and we’ll supply,” he added.
Yakubu believes that the initiative will bring about more investment into the leather industry, thus, creating employment and adding revenue to government.
“In a very short time, Nigeria will return to its past glory with respect to hides and skin,” he said.
“We are also trying to see how we can train meat inspectors in our abattoirs.”
He recalled that hides and skin officers used to be employed in ministries of agriculture.
“We want to bring that back, and embark on massive training and retraining of that cadre.”
The outgoing director general also said the institute had forwarded a policy statement to the federal ministry of agriculture and the National Council on Agriculture to bring back the hides and skin officers cadre.
“We need to hold massive training for those that will fill that gap from the local governments upward.
We also want our abattoirs to be modernised all over Nigeria; we want a situation whereby people are not allowed to slaughter animals just anywhere.
“If you must slaughter your animal, you must go to a registered abattoir where we’ll have officers who will ensure that the removal of the hides and skin is done according to standard.
“We want a situation where you own the animal but the hides and skin belongs to government, and if it is damaged there may be sanctions.
“We are going to give licence at the abattoirs to officers qualified to do the flavin of the animals.”
Yakubu added that an inspector will be attached to each abattoir who will ensure that the hides and skin are not damaged.
“If it is extracted wrongly we can withdraw your license. We want the process to be fully professionalised.
“Though these were practiced in the 70s, but is no longer the case, may be because it is not being enforced.
“The institute’s enabling law has given us regulatory functions and we want to use it maximally.”
