Okwe Obi, Abuja
Sixty years after suspending registration of livestock imported from neighbouring countries, the Federal Government at the weekend, disclosed plans to reintroduce the policy to curb spread of diseases in the country.
Government also unveiled plans to review policies with regard to the movement of livestock between Nigeria and neighboring countries.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, stated this in Abuja, at the inauguration of the governing council of the Nigerian Veterinary Council, five years after the previous one was disbanded.
He said: “As a ministry, we are taking steps to reintroduce the registrations of cattle and sheep coming into the country. It used to be done 50-60 years ago and we can even track their movement across the country. We must do something about it.”
Nanono urged veterinarians to be more proactive in responding to Fruit and Mouth diseases which are more endemic in the month of February, March and October, February and March, when livestock move from the North to the south.
According to him, “this is a very serious problem and I think we need to be more up doing to limit the damage of our livestock. More importantly, we need to be more responsive during outbreak of diseases. It is being extremely slow and I think we must correct that.”
He further disclosed that the ministry is in the process of presenting funding request to Federal time Council to tackle pest and diseases across the country, saying as soon as they get approval they would immediately swing into action to ensure we contain this diseases.
“As veterinarians, you must be interested that a lot of development are coming into the sector, and you start thinking of how to key into the development that are coming into the country.”