It was 8 am on a Saturday and the Oshodi Terminus was bustling as usual with travellers who wanted to join vehicles taking them to different parts of the country.
On this day, business seemed good for Iya Shalewa, who sat in a corner where she was circled by a huge crowd. In front of her was a table, on which stood a big bucket of Peppered Ponmo or “Ponmo Alata sue-sue” a very hot spicy, succulent and peppery cow skin. On the same table is a big carton containing different brands of sachet alcoholic drinks that are also for sale. The sachet of alcoholic beverages is to digest the peppered Ponmo, down the throats of the buyers.
The buyers mainly drivers and bus conductors who swam around Iya Shalewa were all struggling to get the Ponmo, which has attracted huge buyers in Nigeria.
The demand for the cow skin which the federal government has warned buyers against for fear of contracting the deadly anthrax disease, is a confirmation of the huge followership that Ponmo commands in Nigeria. Despite the Anthrax scare and the warning from the government against its consumption, Nigerians still retain hides and skin of cattle popularly called Ponmo on their menus.
Ponmo is a favourite of many and it is common at parties, bukaterias, and home dishes. It’s of low nutritional value compared to beef, turkey and chicken. Ponmo contains energy, carbohydrate, water, protein, fat and fibre. It also contains calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc.
The government last July warned against eating Ponmo which is made from the skin of cows after the Chief veterinary officer of Nigeria was notified of symptoms of a suspected case of Anthrax on a farm in Suleja Nigeria state, where some of the animals were oozing blood from their body openings including Anus, nose, eyes, and ears.
Anthrax is a major zoonotic disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which primarily affects animals such as cattle, sheep, and goats but can also infect humans who come into direct contact with the infected animals or consume contaminated animal products.
Findings at popular markets like Ojuwoye in Mushin, Ketu and Mile 12 in Kosofe local government, Ojodu market in Berger district, Isheri market at Magodo and others across Lagos state show that Ponmo is one of the popular edibles that Nigerians cannot do away with, especially now that other alternatives like chicken, turkey, snails and fish are costlier and outside the reach of the common man.
Prices of food items and the alternatives to Ponmo have skyrocketed in the country, forcing people to stick to what is affordable. Checks at the various marketplaces show that a kilo of chicken is between N3,000 and N3,500, depending on the district where the market is located.
A kilo of Turkey is N4,500 while that of fish, be it croaker, Titus, Mackerel or Shawa is N2,500. A family of five will eat a kilo of these only once because it can’t be more than five or seven pieces.
Snails, Tilapia, Shinynose and other types of fish are still in the preserve of the rich because of their high price. The medium size of a snail is between N1,500 and N2,000 and can only feed one person, meaning that a family of five will need at least N10,000 worth of it for a meal.
Bola Adebiyi, a seller at Ojodu market in Berger District says Ponmo is a popular ingredient in certain dishes and that buyers, initially in the first week of the warning by the government stayed away, but resume the patronage some days later when they noticed that its consumption they did not affect them in any way.
A piece of Ponmo is between N300 and N400 and it is usually dilated for sale by the sellers to make it easy for buyers to select the desired quantity.
Sikirat Ajomale, a seller of Ponmo at Ojuwoye market in Mushin Lagos, said many people still eating Ponmo despite the scare of Anthrax and that the warning by the government has made it very expensive in the market.
Ponmo, Ajomale said is now the supportive edible owing to the state of the economy. “Even when people buy meat, fish, and snail, they will still buy Ponmo whose price has increased from the previous N100, N200 a piece because it adds to the ingredients in the soup and makes it last longer, especially for a family of five or more.
A store owner at Olowoira beside Magodo In Lagos, Chisom Kachikwu observed that buyers have taken interest in where they purchased Ponmo as they now seem to bother about the environment where it is sold and ensures the seller is a trusted supplier who observes proper hygienic condition during its processing.
While some refrain from Ponmo since the government warned, many are unaware of the health risks of anthrax-contaminated Ponmo and continue to consume it, Kachikwu stated, adding that strict monitoring of abattoirs by Sanitary Health Inspectors to ensure that only healthy cattle are prepared for sale has led to reduced numbers of cattle that are slaughtered daily, resulting in a short supply of hides and skin that are used to make Ponmo.
This has led to a slight increase in price due to the limited supplies caused by reduced supply while some sellers chose to increase the price as a reflection of the potential risks involved in selling Ponmo.
Up to date, there has been no known arrest of sellers of Ponmo in line with the warning against its consumption
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