Love that smoky kanda in your pepper soup? The Abia State Government says it could be slowly poisoning you.

The Abia State Government has finally had enough. It has ordered its environmental health officers to storm every abattoir across the state with immediate effect and shut down one particularly nasty practice — using old vehicle tyres to roast animal skin, popularly known as kanda or kpomo.

According to cbinews.tv, the directive came straight from the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Philemon Ogbonna, during a meeting in Aba on Thursday. And his message was blunt: tyre-roasted kanda is a serious public health time bomb.

And he's not wrong. This isn't just an Abia thing — it's a nationwide habit.

So, what's the big deal about tyres?

For years, butchers have found tyres to be a cheap, hot-burning fuel to burn off animal hair quickly. But when a tyre burns, it doesn't just give off fire. It releases a cocktail of toxins.

We are talking Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals like lead and cadmium, and thick carbon soot that literally blackens the skin. Studies from Port Harcourt and Lagos abattoirs have found these chemicals seep straight into the meat.

The Veterinary Council of Nigeria and the US Agency for Toxic Substances have repeatedly warned that those chemicals are carcinogenic. In plain English: long-term consumption can increase cancer risk, and damage the liver, kidneys and heart. A 2023 Punch investigation found Lagos traders were even mixing tyres with plastic pellets and spent engine oil. It's that serious.

This is why several states — Lagos, Rivers, and parts of the South-East — have banned the practice before, but enforcement has always been patchy.

Back to Abia. Commissioner Ogbonna said officers must now enforce strict environmental and health standards in all slaughterhouses. No more tyre roasting. Period.

He also gave them a second task: enforce the government's order sacking sand miners and dredgers from Umuigwe and Uratta communities in Osisioma LGA, noting that sand mining is not permitted under the Aba master plan.

The Commissioner also charged the officers to step up public sensitisation on proper sanitation and keeping surroundings clean.

And the officers have been busy, it seems.

The Abia State President of the Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHOAN), Obieze Odimuko, and Treasurer Mrs Onyinyechi Nwigwe revealed that between June 2025 and August 2026, they visited 1,382 villages and 79,955 premises, served 50,236 abatement notices, recorded 22,143 compliances, and prosecuted 2,559 defaulters.

That's a massive sweep. If they bring that same energy to the abattoirs, that smoky tyre kanda might finally be off the menu for good.

For now, if your kanda is jet-black underneath and smells like a vulcaniser's workshop, you might want to give it a miss.

Source: cbinews.tv

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