Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi, Deputy Senate Chief Whip, has urged Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to establish a Federal Veterinary Medical Centre in each geopolitical zones of the country for timely reports and response to zoonotic diseases.Abdullahi, representing Niger North Senatorial District, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the launching of “Connecting Town to Gown (COTOG)” an initiative of Livestock Management Services (LMS)Abdullahi, the Chairman of the occasion, said that having the facility across the country would enable veterinarians make prompt response to such diseases and improve public health.“It is time for the ministry to think about Federal Veterinary Medical Centre, at least one in each geopolitical zone, which will now be institutionalised.
There should be policy in that regard.“In reporting zoonotic disease, you must have a national framework which veterinarians can report to; they cannot just be jumping, when there is no where to land,” he said.Dr Bala Muhammad, Convener of the project, said government was in the process of establishing veterinary medical centres across the zones.He added that the gesture would provide COTOG interns opportunity to participate in specialised clinical activities.According to him, COTOG will leverage the collaboration with Veterinary Teaching Hospitals to establish or reactivate one functional veterinary practice in each of the 776 local councils with average of 15 working positions in each practice.“COTOG tagged:
Skilled up, Be employable, is an initiative of LMS aimed at linking industry experts to our Universities, to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge acquired during veterinary training in school, and clinical field skills among students and early-career veterinarians.”Prof Abdulkadri Usman, Commissioner for Animal Health and Fisheries Department, Sokoto State, identified the state as being at the forefront in veterinary practices in the country.Usman said the state, in an effort to curb zoonotic diseases and improve animal and public health, employed 165 veterinary doctors, making the state the highest employer of veterinarians across the federation.The commissioner said the state provided 24 hours service, adding that the state had veterinary doctors in all its area councils and districts.“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 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, identified veterinary services industry as a 61 billion dollars industry.Iwar advised the veterinarians to find their foot in the industry and contribute their quota to the nation’s GDP.According to her, such efforts will enable them to realise the benefits inherent in the profession.(NAN)
