ABUJA: An estimated 1.2 million tonnes of poultry products are smuggled into Nigeria every year, causing economic losses for the country’s poultry industry, according to the Nigerian Poultry Association (PAN).
Dr Ayoola Oduntan, the president of PAN, placed the annual losses to the industry at some $2.75 billion, reports the Daily Trust.
Dr Oduntan was speaking at the 2015 PAN national poultry summit in Lagos.
Dr Oduntan also said that the smuggled products, the majority of which are frozen chickens and turkey, can have major impacts on the health of Nigerians.
He explained that breakages in the ‘cold chain’ occurring during long periods of storage expose some of these products to potentially dangerous bacteria, and claimed that the smuggled products are sometimes stored with carcinogenic chemicals.
Dr Oduntan said: ” Nigeria cannot continue to be a dumping ground for all kinds of poultry and poultry products. Considering the level of unemployment in this country, government must do everything it can to reopen closed farms, create employment and develop the industry.”
Dr Oduntan expressed a belief that small reductions in the level of smuggled products reaching the country would have a large effect on the sustainability of the Nigerian poultry industry.
