Veterinary Doctors in the country have confirmed their readiness to combat the outbreak of anthrax and other livestock diseases as part of effort to support the food sufficiency programme of the federal government.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
To achieve the feat, the doctors operating on the auspices of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria, (VCN), said that series of retreats have been put in place to enhance efficiency in the battle against the anthrax disease outbreak.
This is coming as the Veterinary Council of Nigeria lamented that the number of veterinarians in the country was not enough to handle the situation.
The Federal Ministry of Livestock Development had recently confirmed the outbreak of anthrax in a farm in Zamfara State and pleaded for vigilance and proactive measures to mitigate the risks associated with the disease.
But the Acting Registrar of VCN, Oladotun Fadipe, urged the government to take more proactive measures against the disease, saying that Nigeria needs at least two veterinarians in each local government across the nation to curb the spread.
He emphasized that many of the livestock diseases if curtailed in animals would ensure safety for human beings and contribute to the government program of food sufficiency.
Fadipe, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja at the end of the 2025 staff retreat, explained that the number of veterinarians that are trained in Nigeria today are not enough to service the system stating that outbreak of anthrax and other livestock diseases would continue if more vets are not employed.
“Prevention, they say, is better than cure but when you go to many of the states in this country, you have very few veterinarians in the system.
“And that is why this outbreak will continue. We are calling on the government to ensure that every local government should have at least two veterinarians in their employment.
“The number of vets that are trained in Nigeria today is not even enough to service the system, yet a lot of those vets are not being employed.
“So, it is a call to government that if we have vets at their duty posts and properly placed, they will detect animal diseases before ithey outbreak,” he stated.
Speaking earlier, a veterinary doctor and President, Farm Alert, Dr. Femi Kayode, noted that the theme: “Enhancing efficiency and productivity in challenging times”, underscore the need to step back and look inward to ensure productivity and efficiency while deploying their expertise to the world as staff of Veterinary Council of Nigeria.
Kayode spoke of the need to re-engineer the mindset of the VCN staff for work ethics and introduce technological tools such as Artificial Intelligence, (AI) to further improve their capacity and enhance their productivity.
“It’s an important thing that we’re doing this today and I’m hoping that by the time this retreat is done, people will come up with a better mindset.
“People will understand the quality and the values of tools that they use to enhance productivity.
“And more importantly, I think the African continent will be grateful for moments like this where we have to step back to ask ourselves critical questions to move us forward,” he added.
On her part, the Deputy Registrar of VCN, Dr. Helen Oputa stated that the retreat was meant to encourage the staff and change the paradigm for dedication to work while serving the nation irrespective of challenges.
Expressing optimism about the retreat, she said: “We are seeing results in our output and everyone is already practicing what has been learnt. The theme speaks to the mindset to go through and to keep them going. We need to address their mindset and give them m hope to energize them to continue pushing.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
