FCTA to strengthen its Animal Disease Surveillance and Report System
By Hudu Yakubu, Abuja
As part of efforts by the FCT Administration to mitigate the outbreak and spread of animal diseases in Abuja Nigeria’s capital, the Mandate Secretary Agriculture & Rural Development Secretariat of the FCT, Mallam Abubakar Ibrahim has disclosed the plans by the Secretariat to strengthen its disease surveillance, detection reporting and control system.
The Secretary made this remark during a working visit to the FCT veterinary clinic at Nyanya where he expressed satisfaction on the state of facilities at the clinic with particular reference to the diagnostic laboratory which was commissioned by the Minister of State, FCT Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu in 2021.
He commended the veterinary officials for efficiently managing the facilities at the laboratory which he noted was fully equipped to meet the needs of animal owners and livestock farmers in the FCT.
He stressed the need for animal owners and livestock farmers in the FCT to desist from patronizing quack clinics.
“As you can see, the facilities here are state of the art and comparable to the best anywhere in the world. I therefore would like to call on residents to patronize the clinics in order to access quality animal healthcare”.
Speaking on the issue of disease prevention and control, the Secretary disclosed that the Secretariat has through the Department of Veterinary Services strengthened its surveillance system to enhance its capacity to detect and combat the outbreak and spread of animal diseases.
“We intend to build the capacities of our Veterinary Health officials and Doctors to expose them to the modern trends in disease surveillance and reporting”, Abubakar said.
The visit also took the Secretary to the FCT Fish market at Kado where he directed the Department of Fisheries to ensure that the issues that have prevented the full utilization of the Laboratory be addressed to enable it carry out its responsibilities of conducting daily laboratory tests to ensure the safety of fish sold to the public.
Emmanuel Ukoh
