The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has disclosed its readiness to facilitate the vaccination of 15,000 livestock in Nasarawa state to ensure the production of healthy animals and meat in the state.
Abubakar Madi, the ICRC Head of Livestock in Nigeria, made this known in Lafia, the State Capital at a livestock stakeholder’s conference, saying that the vaccination exercise would hold from Dec.1 to Dec. 17, in Awe and Keana Local Government Areas of the state.
ICRC is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland with a mandate to protect victims of international and internal armed conflicts and other situations of violence such as refugees, war-wounded persons, and other non-combatants.
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Madi explained that the conference was organized for veterinarians, pastoralists and other stakeholders from the two local government areas to enable them to exchange notes in preparation for the upcoming vaccination exercise.
He disclosed that ICRC had been carrying out several humanitarian interventions in the state since 2018, including the deworming of over 200,000 livestock, adding that the two local government areas were chosen for the exercise as a result of the large population of pastoralists, most of whom were displaced from other areas due to crises.
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Nuhu Bunu, the Permanent Secretary, Nasarawa State Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, while commending ICRC, restated the commitment of the state government to collaborate with Red Cross and other partners toward ensuring better welfare for citizens.
“On behalf of the state government, I want to commend ICRC for donating over N15 million worth of veterinary drugs to the ministry and we promise to use the drugs for the purpose it was meant and we are assuring them of the government’s support towards the success of the upcoming vaccination exercise,” Bunu said.
