About N44 million has been approved by the Bauchi State Government for the 2023 Annual Livestock Mass Vaccination Campaign across the 20 local government areas of the state.
The State Governor, Bala Mohammed, stated this in his speech at the launch of the exercise which held on Monday at Kangere in Bauchi LGA.
He said that his administration sustained the Annual Livestock Vaccination Campaign since it came on board because of its importance in preventing animal disease outbreaks and making animal production in the state disease free and profitable.
According to him, “Annual Vaccines Provide immunity against major Transboundary Animal Disease (TADS) for a period of one year. This necessitates the need for the annual ritual of vaccinating our animals.
“For the year 2023, I gave approval for the release of the sum of N44 million to the Ministry of Agriculture for the conduct of the vaccinating campaign across the state.
“As an improvement in the exercise, New Cattle Disease (CD-12) vaccine has been added to the two major vaccines normally administered in the state (i.e. Contagious Bovie Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) and Pestes de Pestes Ruminanciumk (PPR). The newly introduced NCD-12 vaccine is to be administered to local chickens belonging to our rural people in order to prevent losses being incurred annually due to New Castle Disease.
“So far, one million doses (10,000 vials) of CBPP vaccine for Cattle, 500,000 doses (500) Viais) of PPR vaccine for sheep and goat and 400,000 doses (2,000 vials) of NCD-12 vaccine for poultry have been procured and ready to be administered to three (3) categories of animals across the 20 local government areas of the state,” he said.
Mohammed who called on the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture involved in the vaccination exercise to remain committed and ensure that all nooks and crannies of the state are adequately covered, urged the benefiting stakeholders to cooperate with the staff by massively bringing out their animals to be vaccinated.
He said that the role of the livestock subsector in the provision of protein and economic empowerment had made it necessary to improve and strengthen veterinary services in the state.
He pledged to build a befitting modern veterinary specialist clinic at Ran Road, in the Bauchi metropolis with a view to improving efficient and effective delivery in veterinary services, and to have a referral veterinary facility that would serve the people and generate revenue to the state.
The governor added, “The contract has been awarded, site for the construction has been formally handed over to the contractor and mobilisation funds will be made available to the contracting firm to ensure commencement of work on the project immediately.
“Furthermore, since last year, approval has also been granted for the employment of 40 veterinary medical students of Bauchi State origin who have already been appointed and started getting their monthly salaries.
“We decided to sustain the Veterinary Medical Students Employment Scheme we inherited from the previous administrations despite paucity of funds due to the pivotal role the scheme plays in the area of providing wholesome animal products, jobs and wealth creation as well as food security and safety.”
