The Gombe State Government says it will immunise more than 200,000 livestock free of charge following the receipt of vaccines from the national office of the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project.
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya received the consignment on Monday in Gombe as part of efforts to curb deadly animal diseases and boost livestock productivity across the state.
Receiving the vaccines on behalf of the governor, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives, Dr Barnabas Musa Malle, commended the L-PRES Project for prioritising Gombe in its livestock development interventions.
Malle said the vaccines would complement the state’s annual mass vaccination exercise, recalling that Gombe had earlier benefited from the procurement of Anthrax vaccines with L-PRES support.
He said the current consignment includes vaccines for Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Newcastle Disease and Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP).
“Although Gombe has a large livestock population, these doses will significantly support our annual vaccination efforts. His Excellency is also considering procuring additional vaccines to ensure wider coverage,” Malle said.
He assured that the vaccines would be used judiciously and lauded the strong collaboration between the state Ministry of Agriculture and the L-PRES Project.
Presenting the vaccines, the L-PRES National Coordinator, Dr Sanusi Abubakar, represented by Dr Sadik Abubakar Usman, said the consignment consists of 150,000 doses for CBPP, 50,000 doses for Newcastle Disease and 4,000 doses for Foot-and-Mouth Disease.
He said the intervention was aimed at controlling trans-boundary animal diseases and improving livestock productivity, adding that another batch of vaccines for Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) would soon be delivered to the state.
Also speaking, the Gombe State L-PRES Project Coordinator, Prof. Usman Bello Abubakar, described the intervention as critical to the state’s agricultural economy.
He said the targeted diseases are among the major causes of livestock losses in the region and announced plans to set up a working group to oversee the vaccination exercise.
Abubakar urged herders and livestock farmers to present their animals for the exercise, stressing that the vaccination is free, safe and effective.
