The Federal Government, through the World Bank-assisted L-PRES, donated over 200,000 vaccine doses for animal vaccination across Gombe state.
Dr Sanusi Abubakar, the L-PRES National Coordinator, while presenting the vaccines to the state government in Gombe on Monday, said that the initiative was aimed at enhancing disease prevention.
Abubakar said the vaccines would help improve animal health, protect public health, boost productivity, and strengthen the livelihoods of livestock farmers in the state.
Abubakar, who was represented by Dr Sadik Usman, an official of the National L-PRES, said the intervention would empower the state to tackle transboundary animal diseases that affect livestock productivity and reduce farmers’ income.
“The package includes 150,000 doses for Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), a bacterial disease affecting cattle lungs; 50,000 doses for Newcastle Disease, a viral infection impacting poultry; and 4,000 doses for Foot-and-Mouth Disease, a highly contagious viral illness affecting cloven-hoofed animals.
“These are intended to control the spread of transboundary animal diseases and improve overall productivity”, he said.
The National Coordinator urged stakeholders to ensure the vaccines reach beneficiaries.
He also announced that another batch of vaccines, specifically for Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), would soon be delivered to the state.
Receiving the vaccines on behalf of the state government, Dr Barnabas Malle, the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives, commended the National L-PRES for its efforts to improve livestock productivity in the state.
Malle said the vaccines were intended for free administration to livestock across the state to combat deadly animal diseases.
He said this gesture complements the state’s annual mass vaccination, noting Gombe previously procured Anthrax vaccines with L-PRES support.
The commissioner said that, given the large livestock population in Gombe, the doses would go a long way toward complementing the state’s annual efforts.
He said the state plans to procure more vaccines to ensure full animal coverage.
Malle pledged that the vaccines would be used judiciously in line with the donors’ mission and vision.
Prof. Usman Abubakar, the Gombe L-PRES Project Coordinator, said the intervention was vital to the state’s agricultural economy.
Abubakar said the identified diseases pose major livestock threats and that a working group for vaccination oversight will soon be formed.
He urged herders and livestock farmers to have their animals vaccinated, stressing that the program is both free and effective.