The Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha has expressed his concerns about the consumption of cow skin popularly known as ‘kpomo’.

According to the minister, kpomo is harmful to human health, as he believes it poses serious risk to the body.

Maiha explained in an interview on Channels Television, that the way animals are slaughtered for consumption prevents Nigeria from engaging in the production of bags, belts and shoes.

He noted that the skin of the animals is used to create the aforementioned items, which is a million-dollar industry. Since Nigerians are accustomed to eating these raw materials, a significant amount of potential revenue is lost.

The minister also bemoaned the process of killing the animals and using kerosene to burn them. He claimed that this practice contaminates the meat and poses health hazards to humans.

“We are not there yet, because of certain circumstances. If I tell you now that we are eating shoes, bags, belts. These are artisan’s skills that we are eating and these are the raw materials for making shoes, bags and belts.

Practically, that assertion is true. Because we love to eat meat with the skin attached to it, you slaughter an animal, pour kerosene or engine oil on top of the animal, set it on fire. After 20 minutes, the fire goes out, and you begin to scrape the hair because you want to eat your meat with the skin attached to it.

That skin, worth about $1 million, is no longer available because we are eating it. When you make a bonfire out of an animal without being processed yet, you’re putting kerosene, which comes from crude oil which enters into the meat. What you are doing today, has a serious health hazard if you insist on eating that meat in such a manner.”