Lagos government confiscates truckload of contaminated ponmo

The Lagos state government on Monday said it confiscated a truck load of contaminated cow hide popularly known as ‘ponmo’ in Nigeria.

The permanent secretary of the Lagos state ministry of agriculture, Olayiwole Onasanya, said the ponmo was confiscated at Ijegun, a suburb in the Ikotun-Igando Local Council Development Area of Lagos state. Onasanya said the ponmo was imported into Nigeria by some businessmen who are at now at large.

He said the Police in Ikotun area of the state arrested a vehicle loaded with ponmo before informing the officials of the state. He said the ponmo was preserved with chemicals for the purpose of being used as leather material but was sold for to Ikotun residents for human consumption.

The permanent secretary said the cow hide has been transported ministry’s outstation at Johnson Agiri Office Complex, Agege, for disposal at a medical waste dumpsite in Ewu Elepe, Ikorodu, area of the state. He also said that all relevant agencies in the state have been duly informed of the discovery and the disposal exercise.

He promised that the state government will continue to put effort towards monitoring activities of importation and sale of ponmo in Lagos state.

Recal that the state government had earlier warned residents of Lagos of the high health risk ponmo consumption.

The Lagos state commissioner of health, Jide Idris, also said that three people who were connected with the sale of contaminated ponmo were arrested.