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There is currently an ongoing case of suspected outbreak of Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia popularly called CBPP in Kogi State. This in no small term has resulted in massive economic loss of cattle with one single herder losing as much as 100 cattle and many more losing between 30 to 60 cattle.
Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is an infectious disease of cattle caused by the Mycoplasma mycoides mycoides bacteria that causes inflammation and enlargement of the lungs. This inflammation can lead to fluid accumulation in the chest cavity and destruction of lung tissue. Damaged areas of lung often harden and adhere to the chest wall, which interferes with effective breathing thereby causing cattle to die from lack of oxygen.
As a way of reminding ourselves, CBPP was eradicated from the USA in 1892, Zimbabwe in 1904, South Africa in 1924, Australia in 1972 and the Peoples Republic of China in the 1980s. Sadly, we are heavily still suffering from this ill luck in Nigeria and it’s not likely to go away any time soon.
Because of these massive losses and the lack of adequate disease surveillance in the state, the public has most likely been consuming dead cattle between the last 4 – 6 weeks.
What do we need to do as a State?
1. Move close to the herders and understand the extent of damage. The Honorable Commissioner of Agriculture, Honorable Kehinde Oloruntoba, in a private discussion with him, has given a direct instruction to the Director of Veterinary and Livestock, Dr. H.E. Shaibu, to go do an impact assessment of the situation. This at least will give us a fair view of what we are dealing with
2. Mount Veterinary Officers in ALL slaughter slabs. This of course is not feasible except the state government maintains and funds a healthy relationship with the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, Kogi State Chapter. As it stands, the state government has in its employment just three (3) veterinary doctors. With a cattle population of seven (7) million and above, this is grossly inadequate in normal situation talk less of an outbreak.
3. Empower the task force committee with the necessary security personnel to confisticate any dead cattle been sold to the market. I hold a strong opinion that the general public has in one way or the other been consuming dead cattle for the past 4-6weeks. This is usually the case in Nigeria when there is an outbreak and there are no urgent government intervention to cushion the effect of this huge losses on the herders
4. Reactivate our cattle control post. As it stands now, the state does not have any mechanism to check the unhealthy movement of cattle. You can’t handle any disease outbreaks without knowing where and how cattle are been transported. With a little commitment from the government, this could be instituted
5. Stamp out sick cattle and vaccinate healthy ones five (5) years consecutively. This will involve huge cost but it’s our ONLY lasting pathway not just in Kogi State but in Nigeria towards eradicating the disease
– Dr. Femi Kayode
Chairman, Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), Kogi Sate Chapter
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