The Kwara State Government has received a total of 330,400 doses of anthrax vaccine from the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project to tackle zoonotic diseases.

The vaccines came through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Oloruntoyosi Thomas, who received the consignment on Monday in Ilorin, appreciated the collaborative efforts of the Federal Government and L-PRES Project toward freeing Nigeria from anthrax.

Mrs Thomas assured the donors of adequate utilisation of the vaccine, promising to improve on the state-wide sensitisation campaign against zoonotic diseases with focus on livestock farmers and other livestock value chain operators.

In a remark, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Funke Sokoya, commended the Federal Government’s drive towards the eradication of infectious diseases.

Mrs Sokoya called for more synergy with relevant bodies towards preventing disease outbreaks and eradication.

Director of Veterinary Services in the ministry, Dr Abdulateef Olugbon, appealed to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, through L-PRES Project Office, to assist the state with logistics required to achieve the targeted purpose.

Mr Olugbon said that more than 30,000 doses of anthrax vaccine had yet to be administered due to logistic challenges.

The state Project Coordinator, Olusoji Oyawoye, thanked the Federal Government for the prompt delivery of the vaccine, noting that the gesture would aid proper implementation of L-PRES animal health sub-component in the state.

Earlier, the team leader, Dr Abubakar Sidiq, disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, with the support of L-PRES National Coordination Office, started the production of 13 million doses of anthrax vaccine.

Mr Sidiq said that the vaccine would be distributed across the 36 states of the federation, with 330,400 doses allocated to Kwara State.

According to him, the L-PRES Project Office and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture are coordinating the provision of inputs such as vaccine boxes, brim bags of vaccines, as well as some of the logistics required for administering the vaccine.

“National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom notified the National Office of L-PRES that the vaccines were ready to be delivered to the states. So, we are here to officially hand over these vaccines with the hope that they will be used judiciously to meet the target of having a nation free of anthrax,” Mr Sidiq said.

(NAN)