The meat we eat and the years we lose: How Nigeria’s abattoirs quietly erode our life expectancy

Nigeria's struggle with the world's lowest life expectancy, averaging just 55 years, is compounded by a hidden threat: the meat consumed daily. Beyond common causes like malaria and insecurity, unsafe practices in the nation's abattoirs pose a pervasive public health risk.

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But buried beneath these headline causes is a quieter, more pervasive threat, the food we eat, especially the meat that forms a central part of our diet.

Legally under local government control, Nigerian abattoirs often suffer from weak structures, inadequate funding, and a severe lack of veterinary supervision. This environment allows diseased or pregnant animals to be slaughtered and sold without proper inspection. Butchers frequently resist veterinary guidance, clinging to dangerous traditional methods, a defiance that symbolizes a deep-seated systemic issue.

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Unknown to many, a lot of people die from food poisoning traceable to meat sources, or in some cases had contracted viral or bacterial diseases through wrong processing of meat and its byproducts.

Hygiene in these facilities is abysmal, with open drains, contaminated water, and unregulated waste disposal creating breeding grounds for disease. The consequences are dire, as meat enters the food chain without adequate safety checks. This national emergency, hiding in plain sight, chips away at the health of millions through chronic exposure to pathogens and preventable illnesses.

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It is a national emergency hiding in plain sight.