The Federal Ministry of Livestock Development has launched a free anti-rabies vaccination drive in Nasarawa State.
Officials said the campaign aims to eradicate rabies nationwide by 2030 through mass immunization.
The Federal Ministry of Livestock Development has begun a free anti-rabies mass vaccination exercise for dogs and cats in Nasarawa State as part of efforts to eradicate the disease in Nigeria by 2030.
The one-week campaign was officially flagged off in the Akun Area Administrative Council by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Chinyere Akujobi, who was represented by the Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, Samuel Anzaku.
Ms Akujobi said the exercise followed the recent commemoration of World Rabies Day on September 28, which renewed global efforts to fight one of the world’s deadliest yet most preventable diseases.
She stressed that rabies control requires the involvement of all stakeholders, including dog owners, veterinarians, hunters, teachers, and parents, not just government agencies.
“Rabies control is a shared responsibility and a collective investment in the health and safety of our people,” she said.
According to her, Africa and Asia still bear the highest burden of rabies, with thousands of deaths recorded yearly, most of them children under the age of 15.
“The good news is that rabies is entirely preventable through the vaccination of dogs and cats, which are the main sources of infection in our environment,” she added.
Ms Akujobi explained that the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development has prioritized rabies control under the One Health framework by working closely with human, animal, and environmental health stakeholders.
She revealed that 26,000 doses of anti-rabies vaccines were procured for the first phase of the program, assuring that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is committed to eliminating rabies nationwide.
In his remarks, the Director of Veterinary Services, Nasarawa State Ministry of Agriculture, Musa Abdullahi, urged residents to bring their pets for vaccination, describing rabies as “100 per cent fatal but 100 per cent preventable.”
Other officials, including the National Coordinator for Rabies Control, George Uzoaga, and a member of the National Technical Working Team on Rabies Elimination, Lawal Ademola, called for stronger teamwork among citizens and government agencies.
One of the beneficiaries, Sunday Bako, thanked the federal government for the free exercise and promised continued community support to end the spread of rabies in the state.
