Ikpoba Community in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State have petitioned Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area Council over health hazards posed by abattoirs in the community, stating that the unhygienic conditions under which they operate is capable of triggering the outbreak of epidemic in the community, the consumers of meat from the abattoirs and the general public.
In a petition addressed to the H. O. D. Environmental Health Department, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area dated 3 June and signed by Messrs Efosa Chris Osagie and Keith Osagieduwa Imafidon, the secretary and Okaighele of the community respectively, pointed out that the stench emanating from the abattoirs are capable of causing diseases in the community.
According to the statement, “We the above named community wants to use this medium to alert you on the danger of possible outbreak of diseases in the market, due to the unhealthy method use by the butchers in the butchering of live stocks for human consumption.
“We have written series of letters to both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability in the past with no result, as under arm deals went through during this period. This case in particular of an abattoir built in a residential area by a onetime Council boss, Hon. Chief Douglas Efosa Usoh. He was cautioned before he built the facility and he promised to put all necessary measures in place, which he never did. The abattoir in question is located along Eghobamien Street, Off Ikpoba Slope, Benin City, the waste from the abattoir is an eyesore deposited at the back of someone’s compound, and the surrounding is overgrown with weeds, untidy, making the entire area to be smelling and the gutters are all dirty. We cannot condole this anymore; we have been in this strugele for about twenty years now with little or no solution in sight. Attached are pictures of the debris carcass and mounting of cows waste to buttress facts”, the petition stated.
Efforts to reach Chief Douglas Usoh for his side of the story failed. The H. O. D. Environmental Health Development of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Council could not also be reached for their reaction to the petition. Newscurve24 will publish their side of the story once we’re able to reach them.