The horrible experience of Clinton James Twitter/@ClintJeezz in a restaurant in Benin city is a far cry from what Nigerians are suffering daily from most restaurant and food vendors. Quite a large number of ready to eat food are everywhere in Nigeria and all of them operate unchecked by the appropriate authority, perhaps the authority staff also patronize the one that is closer to them.
I am much more concerned about the hygienic aspects of the food that vendors and restaurant sell to Nigerians. Let us deal with human factor first, how many of us ask the restaurants or food vendors if the person that prepare the food we eat outside our house is certified to prepare such food, is the person free from hepatitis, is the person free from covid-19 among other diseases and virus that can be transferred to the consumers.
The challenge of the average Nigerian is satisfying hunger coupled with the challenge of the food crisis that is getting worsened in our country today.
Environmental factor challenge is also begging for an immediate solution from the government, which are unsafe environment, unsafe water, unsafe waste disposal and exposure of food to insects and dust where food vendor does not care about covering the food. These are more prevalent in most cities in Nigeria.
I recall my fight with a man who carries a slaughtered skinned goat meat on his motorcycle and tied it with rubber, transporting it to another location in a dusty road. While I was telling him, this is not healthy he was busy speaking in his dialect and people around the scene were looking at me as if I am asking for too much, more so this very city has Environmental officers, even though they are not up to 300 to take care of four million population. Our country employs more medical doctors compare to an environmental officer who will prevent a health-related outbreak, but employs doctor that will take care of the health issue when it happens.
World health organization position is that food safety must be recognized as a public health function and access to safe food as a basic human right.
Aliyu ilias
Consumer Advocate