By Zulkarnain Muhammad
Gombe State Government, has received over 200,000 doses of livestock vaccines from the national office of the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project, aimed at combating deadly animal diseases across the state.
The vaccines, which will be administered free of charge to livestock owners, are intended to strengthen disease prevention efforts and boost animal productivity in Gombe State.
Receiving the consignment on behalf of the government , the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives, Dr. Barnabas Musa Malle, expressed gratitude to the L-PRES national office for prioritising Gombe in its livestock development interventions.
Dr. Malle noted that the vaccines would complement the state’s annual mass vaccination programme, recalling that the state had earlier benefited from the procurement of Anthrax vaccines with the support of L-PRES.
“Today, you are here with 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,” he said.
He added that Governor Inuwa Yahaya is also considering the procurement of additional vaccines to ensure wider coverage of livestock across the state.
The commissioner assured that the vaccines would be used judiciously and commended the strong collaboration between the State Ministry of Agriculture and the L-PRES Project.
Earlier, while presenting the vaccines, the National Coordinator of L-PRES, Dr. Sanusi Abubakar—represented by Dr. Sadik Abubakar Usman—outlined the composition of the consignment.
He said the package consists of 150,000 doses for Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), 50,000 doses for Newcastle Disease, and 4,000 doses for Foot-and-Mouth Disease.
According to him, the intervention is aimed at controlling trans-boundary animal diseases and improving overall livestock productivity. He urged all stakeholders to ensure that the vaccines reach the intended beneficiaries and announced 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, Professor Usman Bello Abubakar, described the intervention as critical to the state’s agricultural economy, stressing that prevention remains the most effective approach to disease control.
He identified the targeted diseases as major threats to livestock survival in the region and disclosed plans to set up a working group to oversee the vaccination exercise.
Professor Abubakar encouraged herders and livestock farmers to present their animals for vaccination, assuring them that the exercise is free, safe and effective.
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