In an interview on Tuesday in Abuja, Yakubu Baba, who is the registrar of the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCN), said this.
"I think that by the end of this administration, we will have about six to seven or nine modern abattoir markets across the country that will meet global standards so that even other African continents can learn from the system," he said.
Mr. Baba said that the ministries of the environment, agriculture, and health worked together because they were all connected.
He remembered that health inspectors used to check abattoir markets to make sure they were safe for the environment before they were forced to leave.
"The health inspectors then worked at the abattoir markets with veterinary doctors."
He said that veterinarians checked the animals that were going to be killed to find the sick ones.
Mr. Baba said that if 60 percent of diseases are found in any animal during the inspection, that animal will be put down and the government will pay compensation.
The registrar said that the federal government had decided to use the global way of doing business in the markets to bring back the old sanitary inspection system.
He said that the abattoir markets had been given a modern system so that people could get enough water and other things they needed to make sure the markets worked well.
He said that the whole process is done in a way that is clean and good for the environment.
"I think that as a country, we are making progress because we have solved the problem of the slaughterhouse."
"When you see how our slaughterhouses were run before our government got involved, you won't want to eat meat."
"But today, it's clear that our work is paying off. We've really brought back the health inspectors from back then," he said.
The registrar said that the sanitation problem is part of the 17 parts of the council's regulatory control.
He said that two of the 17 parts are abattoir sanitation and inspection of the premises. He also said that sanitation is on the list of things that can be done at the same time in the constitution.
He said that the purpose of the concurrent list in the Constitution is to give the states and local governments the power to take care of sanitation under public health laws.
