By Yunusa Isa, Gombe
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has received over 200,000 doses of vaccines from the national office of the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project. The consignment is intended for free administration to livestock across the state to combat deadly animal diseases.
Receiving the vaccines on behalf of the governor, the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Cooperatives, Dr. Barnabas Musa Malle, expressed appreciation to the L-PRES national office for prioritizing Gombe in livestock development initiatives.
He noted that the vaccines would complement the state’s annual mass vaccination efforts, recalling that the state had previously procured Anthrax vaccines with L-PRES support.
“Today, you are here with vaccines for Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Newcastle disease, and CBPP,” Malle said. “I know we have a large population of livestock in Gombe State, but these doses will go a long way in complementing our annual efforts. His Excellency is also considering the procurement of additional vaccines to ensure full coverage of the state’s animal population.”
While pledging that the vaccines would be used judiciously, the commissioner commended the synergy between the State Ministry of Agriculture and the L-PRES Project.
Presenting the consignment, the L-PRES National Coordinator, Dr. Sanusi Abubakar—represented by Dr. Sadik Abubakar Usman—detailed the breakdown of the doses.
“The package includes 150,000 doses for Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), 50,000 doses for Newcastle Disease, and 4,000 doses for Foot-and-Mouth Disease. These are intended to control the spread of trans-boundary animal diseases and improve overall productivity”, he said.
The National Coordinator charged stakeholders to ensure the vaccines reach the intended beneficiaries. He also announced that another batch of vaccines, specifically for Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), would soon be delivered to the state.
The Gombe State L-PRES Project Coordinator, Professor Usman Bello Abubakar, added that the intervention is vital for the state’s agricultural economy, noting that “prevention is always better than cure.”
He identified these diseases as major killers of livestock in the region and expressed readiness to constitute a working group to oversee the vaccination drive. He encouraged herders and livestock farmers to avail their animals for the exercise, emphasizing that the vaccination is both free and effective.