The Kwara State Government has received a total of 330,400 doses of anthrax vaccine from the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES), to tackle zoonotic diseases.
The vaccines came through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs 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.
Thomas assured the donors of adequate utilisation of the vaccine, promising to improve on the state-wide sensitisation campaign against zoonotic diseases with a focus on livestock farmers and other livestock value chain operators.
In a remark, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Funke Sokoya commended the Federal Government’s drive towards the eradication of infectious diseases.
Sokoya called for more synergy with relevant bodies towards preventing disease outbreaks and disease eradication.
The Director of Veterinary Services in the ministry, Dr Abdulateef Olugbon, appealed to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, through the L-PRES Project Office, to assist the state with the logistics required to achieve the targeted purpose.
Olugbon said that more than 30,000 doses of anthrax vaccine were yet to be administered due to logistic challenges.
The State Project Coordinator (SPC), Mr 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, had disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, with the support of the L-PRES National Coordination Office, started the production of 13 million doses of anthrax vaccine.
Sidiq said that the vaccine would be distributed across the 36 states of the federation, with 330,400 doses allocated to Kwara.
According to him, the L-PRES Project Office and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture are coordinating the provision of inputs such as vaccine boxes, and 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,” Sidiq said.
NAN
