Dennis Udoma, Uyo
Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom has called on the private sector to take advantage of the vast economic potentials and infrastructure to establish agro-based industries in the state.
The Governor made the appeal while declaring open this year’s professional continuing education seminar, organized by the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN) for its members at the weekend in Uyo.
He said, though the educational enlightenment for the improvement of veterinary practice by members was timely, the state government had expected people in the private sector to capitalize on the abundant congenial and tremendous economic potentials of the state to set up agro-allied businesses.
The seminar which was tagged, ‘‘Sustainable Livestock Production in Nigeria for Global Market’’ the governor said, would emphasize the need for livestock industry to contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP) adding that, all hands must be on deck to ensure that livestock industry is not left behind, as government was diversifying from crude oil to agriculture.
As a result of this Governor Udom stated, his administration had contributed towards achieving the goals by training suitable professionals on modern artificial insemination technique in South Africa, the establishment of a modern cattle ranch through Public Private Partnership (PPP), Ultra-modern hatchery for quality day old chick production, renovation/putting into use one of the best abattoirs East of the Niger and provision of accommodation for the Zonal Veterinary Laboratory amongst others.
While reminding the participants that the purpose of the seminar was to stimulate discussion and acquire more knowledge on methods to improve on the nation’s livestock industry, the governor who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sufficiency, Dr. Markson Enang also challenged them on the need for mass food production to cater for the teeming population in the country, as government could not afford to do it alone.
Also, the National President of Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. Godwin Abonji said, the seminar was staged in Uyo, Southern Nigeria in order to fulfil one of the obligations of training and re-training their members.
He said that, the challenges facing the profession was enormous calling on members to join hands with the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) to uplift the association by paying up their mandatory dues now that, the body was away from dependency on oil to agriculture.
In the same vein, the Chairman, Veterinary Council of Nigeria Ad-Hoc Committee on Continuing Education, Prof. Gabriel Ogundipe in his keynote address said, this year’s continuing education programme was one in the series organize by the council to update members on the development in the livestock industry, having held one in Kaduna for council members from the North hence, the one in Uyo for the southern veterinarians.
Prof. Ogundipe however maintained that, the seminar at the end of the day would proffer solutions to the many challenges confronting livestock production especially, the issue of self-medication, unregulated cases in anti-biotic which, has hindered their products from getting into the international market.
According to him, ‘‘these diseases come from nowhere than livestock which at times create fear amongst the people like in the case of Ebola outbreak’’.
