Senator Tasks Nigerian Government To Provide Veterinary Centres
The Deputy Senate Chief Whip, Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi, has urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to establish a Federal Veterinary Medical Centre in each geopolitical zone of the country for timely reports and response to zoonotic diseases.
Abdullahi made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the launching of “Connecting Town to Gown (COTOG),” an initiative of Livestock Management Services (LMS).
His words: “Having such facilities across the country would enable veterinarians to make prompt responses to such diseases and improve public health. It is time for the ministry to think about the Federal Veterinary Medical Centre, at least one in each geopolitical zone, which will now be institutionalized. There should be a policy in that regard. In reporting zoonotic diseases, you must have a national framework that veterinarians can report to; they cannot just jump in when there is nowhere to land,” he said.
Also speaking, Dr Bala Muhammad, Convener of the COTOG project, said the government was in the process of establishing veterinary medical centres across the zones.
He added that the gesture would provide COTOG interns an opportunity to participate in specialized clinical activities. According to him, COTOG will leverage collaboration with veterinary teaching hospitals to establish or reactivate one functional veterinary practice in each of the 776 local councils, with an average of 15 working positions in each practice.
On her part, Prof Abdulkadri Usman, Commissioner for Animal Health and Fisheries Department, Sokoto State, affirmed that the state is at the forefront of veterinary practices in the country. In an effort to combat zoonotic illnesses, enhance animal and public health, Usman stated that the state employs 165 veterinarians, making it the largest employer of veterinarians in the federation.
“We have very rigorous and productive disease reporting. We are one of the states that carry out animal vaccination against zoonotic diseases and other livestock diseases. This has brought a lot of improvement, especially now that we are very close to the Niger border; we have animals coming from Niger, even Cameroon, through our borders,” he said.
Also, Dr Vivian Iwar, Executive Director, ECOWAS Regional Animal Health, described the veterinary services industry as a 61 billion-dollar industry. Iwar advised the veterinarians to find their foot in the industry and contribute their quota to the nation’s GDP, noting that their efforts would enable them to realize the benefits of the profession.
Agro Nigeria
