The Kogi State government has asked residents to abstain from the consumption of beef for a period of seven days following the discovery of some poisoned cows in the capital, Lokoja.
It further ordered immediate burial of the carcasses from the 20 poisoned cows discovered on Wednesday.
“What the government is able to bury today is a good number of the affected cows and not all of them,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying.
The Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kogi State Command, Mr. Suleiman Mafara, spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja.
“The Agro Rangers Unit of the command alongside the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as the Sanitation Board of the Ministry of Environment, have conducted a confirmatory test on the carcasses of the cows.
“The test result showed that the carcasses contained poisonous content and thereby inedible and not fit for human consumption.
“Consequently, the government is advising the residents of Kogi, particularly this within Lokoja, where the incident happened, to avoid consumption of cow meat in the next seven days,” he advised.
Madara, however, assured residents that officers of the command and other security operatives are doing everything possible to calm any form of tension that might arise from the situation.
Beef on sale
He said the command has sent out surveillance teams who were still maintaining peace in the environment as well as combatant officers in the event of any threat of reprisal attack to put the situation under control.
Head of the Agro Rangers Unit of the NSCDC State Command, Mr. Bayode Emmanuel, said the Butchers Association in the markets was carried along in the whole process of the investigation and examination of the carcasses to the burial of the cows.
Emmanuel explained that the carcasses of the cows recovered were subjected to the prescribed standard of treatment before they were buried which was witnessed by all the relevant stakeholders.
The Director of Veterinary Services, Kogi Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Salau Tarawa had on Thursday, advised to residents to shun cow meat for at least one week as the 20 cows might have ingested poisonous substances while grazing.
– NAN