Livestock dealers doing business in the nation’s capital, Abuja, have been warned against selling of rams and other Livestock at none designated areas of the Federal Capital City.
The Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Mr Ikharo Attah, issued the warning while inspecting some of the designated areas, on Thursday in Abuja.
Attah said that the administration would not fold its hands and watch ram sellers litter the city with emergency livestock markets that usually spring up during religious festivities.
The minister’s aide cautioned that anyone caught selling ram in areas not approved would run the risk of having the livestock confiscated and taken to court.
According to him, the administration will approach the judge and pray the court to grant a forfeiture order permitting the administration to donate such seized items to orphanages, less privileged homes and prisons.
“The position of the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, has remain the same in the last three years and even more tougher this year. The minister agrees that there is nothing wrong in bringing rams for sales in Abuja during widely recognise festivity.
“But what the minister found inappropriate is and kept telling each and every one of us is that we should not allow selling of rams in nondesignated areas particularly in the city centre.
“Except at spot that are already earmarked for such purposes like the abattoirs, ram market at Dei-Dei, Kugbo ram market and some other few ram markets. But outside the designated areas it will not be allow by the authorities,” Attah said.
Already, he said the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, headed by Mr Osi Braimah, has set up a committee to enforce compliance to regations on livestock trading in the FCC.
He explained that the committee had been reinvigorated to check the sales of ram. He advised ram sellers to contact AEPB for proper guidance on how to go about selling their livestock without violating the law.
