The Federal Government has commissioned a new veterinary vaccine storage centre in Jimeta, Yola North Local Government Area of Adamawa State, with capacity to hold about 40 million doses, in a move aimed at strengthening livestock disease control in the North-East.
The facility was inaugurated by the Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, during a three-day working visit to Adamawa State.
The solar-powered centre is designed to serve as a national and regional hub for storing and distributing veterinary vaccines, with a cold-chain system intended to preserve vaccine quality and potency.
Maiha said the facility represents a strategic investment in animal health and would improve the government’s capacity to respond to livestock diseases across the region.
The project is being implemented under the Livestock Productivity, Resilience and Support Project (L-PRES) with support from the World Bank. Similar vaccine storage facilities have also been established in Abuja, Sokoto, Edo, Lagos and Anambra states.
The National Project Coordinator of L-PRES, Sanusi Abubakar, said the facility’s off-grid solar power system would help prevent vaccine losses associated with electricity interruptions.
He added that the centre would operate under a public-private partnership arrangement, with government and private-sector stakeholders sharing responsibility for its operations.
The minister also used the visit to address concerns surrounding the Federal Government’s pilot ranching programme being implemented in five states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Maiha said the initiative was not intended to take land from individuals or communities, explaining that participating states would determine suitable locations through consultations with communities and other stakeholders.
The Adamawa government said the investment was significant because of the importance of livestock to the state’s economy.
The state Commissioner for Livestock and Aquaculture Development, Usman Lamurde, said livestock production contributes nearly 40 per cent of Adamawa’s annual internally generated revenue.
The vaccine hub is one of six livestock-related projects commissioned during the minister’s visit to the state.
Others include an integrated waste management plant, cattle resting point, rehabilitation of the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve with additional boreholes, a strategic artificial insemination centre at Adamawa State University, Mubi, and a water-harvesting structure with a weather station.
The latest investment forms part of the Federal Government’s wider effort to modernise Nigeria’s livestock industry, improve animal health services and build a more coordinated livestock value chain.
