The Lagos State Government on Monday said it had confiscated a truckload of poisonous cowhide (ponmo) at Ijegun, a suburb of Lagos, in the Alimosho Local Government Area of the state.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Olayiwole Onasanya, who described the cowhide as Ebola ponmo said the item was imported into the country by some ‘unscrupulous individuals’.
According to the statement, the permanent secretary pointed out that the cowhide was preserved with chemicals to serve as a leather material, but it was being sold for human consumption before police intervention.
“He noted that the confiscated Ebola ponmo has since been transported to the ministry’s outstation at Johnson Agiri Office Complex, Agege, for disposal at the medical waste dumpsite in Ewu Elepe, in the Ikorodu area of the state.
About 30 tonnes of dangerous ponmo were seized by the state government earlier this year.