Agriculture minister Mohammad Abubakar says it is imperative to safeguard the health of the country’s livestock by ensuring regular and adequate vaccination.

Mr Abubakar made the assertion during the flag off of the 2022 free mass vaccination campaign against transboundary animal diseases in the North-East.

The minister was represented by Dr Maimuna Habib, the Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria at the event held in Dadinkowa, Yamaltu Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State.

Mr Abubakar said the ministry would support Gombe State and other states in the North-East Geopolitical Region with about two million Free Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Peste Des Petits Ruminants (PPR) and Newcastle Disease (ND) vaccines, among others.

Mr Abubakar noted that livestock production was a major means of livelihood in Nigeria which employed about 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population, helped food nutrition and security as well as means of livelihood for the majority of the country’s rural dwellers.

“But going forward, we intend to scale up vaccination coverage as more resources become available,” Mr Abubakar said.

“Nigeria’s Livestock population is put at about 22.3 million Cattle; 53 million Sheep; 99.8 million Goats; 9.2 million Pigs and over 425.7 million Poultries, spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country, kept by majority of Nigerians especially in rural and semi-rural settings.”

He said that the full potentials of these animals and the attendant socio-economic benefits they provided could not be guaranteed unless they were in a state of good health.

Mr Abubakar said this could only be achieved through vaccination against diseases like CBPP and FMD in cattle; PPR in sheep and goats, and NCD in chickens.

He urged Development Partners and Non-Governmental Organisations, as well as neighbouring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger, to key into this initiative by supporting the states with more vaccines and the logistics needed to carry out the mass vaccination in the country.

Madibbo Yahaya, the Chairman Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Gombe State Chapter, thanked the federal government for the programme which was geared towards achieving increase in food production, generating more revenues for farmers and sustaining the diversification in the agriculture sector.

(NAN)