By Ishaq Dan-Imam, Lokoja
The Kogi State Government, in north-central Nigeria, has presented a range of veterinary medical equipment including meat inspection kits, veterinary ambulatory kits, and surgical kits to the Department of Veterinary Services under the Ministry of Livestock Development, in a bid to strengthen animal disease diagnosis, veterinary services, and food safety in the state.
Speaking during the presentation in Lokoja the State capital on Saturday, the Commissioner for Livestock Development, Dr Olufemi Bolarin, said the initiative was designed to enhance effective livestock extension service delivery across Kogi State.
In a related move, the Kogi State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (Kogi L-PRES) distributed 21 motorcycles to livestock extension agents across the state’s 21 Local Government Areas.
The gesture, he said, would provide mobility support to boost extension and advisory service delivery within the livestock value chain clusters.
Additionally, 1,000 livestock extension manuals were distributed to farmers across the 64 livestock value chain clusters in the state.
Dr Bolarin urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the facilities and equipment provided, stressing that they were intended solely for livestock extension and advisory purposes.
He also charged the Kogi L-PRES State Project Coordinator, Mr Otaru Abdulkabir, to prioritise staff welfare and remuneration to ensure increased productivity in the livestock sub-sector.
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Earlier, Mr Abdulkabir outlined the structure of the livestock extension and advisory services in Kogi State, expressing satisfaction with the integration of farmers into basic veterinary services.
He explained that the Value Chain Cluster Coordinators play a crucial role across the various clusters in the state’s priority livestock value chains.
According to him, livestock extension services in Kogi have gone digital, with extension workers now using KoboTool to capture real-time data during field operations — a move that showcases their technical capacity and enhances efficiency.
Abdulkabir further noted that the collaboration between Kogi L-PRES and the Kogi Agricultural Development Project (ADP) has transformed the livestock sector, yielding positive and measurable results.
He assured stakeholders that the success recorded so far would be sustained in the coming years.
Ghost farmers
In their separate remarks, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Timothy Ojomah; Managing Director of Kogi ADP, Dr Bello Ogirima; State Coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, Mrs Abah Helen; and a representative of the livestock farmers, Mr Ibrahim Daniel Arome, commended the initiative, describing it as a major step towards strengthening livestock productivity in the state.
They, however, advised the government to guard against the menace of ghost farmers and ensure that only genuine farmers benefit from state and federal agricultural interventions.
One of the beneficiaries, Mr Daniel Arome, thanked the state government and L-PRES for the gesture, pledging to make effective and responsible use of the resources provided.