By Asma’u Ahmad
The Director of Public Health at the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), Dr Abubakar Joshua, has advised the state government to provide slaughter houses for chicken sellers.
Dr Joshua gave the advice in Gombe while fielding questions from newsmen on the rate at which chicken sellers were exposing waste indiscriminately in the metropolis.
“Exposing the waste indiscriminately is an issue of public concern and a threat to public health and is unbearable. If you go round the metropolis, those selling chicken are just slaughtering it in an open place and disposing the waste.
“There is the need for government to provide a place for them, to avert the risk of infection in case of outbreak of diseases like the avian influenza. With a place designated for them, they will be able to properly manage the waste,” he said.
Reacting to the development, the General Manager of the Gombe State Environmental Protection Agency (GOSEPA), Alhaji Nasiru Haruna, said the agency has started giving notices to people selling and slaughtering chickens outside designated areas.
“The state government has allocated a space for them at the Gombe Main Market just like abattoir. They are operating illegally and we will take measures for failure to comply with government directives,” he warned.
