BY AHMED AKANBI
The Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria (CVO), Dr Samuel Anzaku, has said a sustainable increase in livestock production cannot be achieved without placing animal health at the centre of national planning.
Anzaku spoke in Abuja at the opening of the maiden national conference of the Association of Ruminant Veterinarians in Nigeria (ARUVIN) held at the Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute, ARMTI, from September 14 to 17, 2026.
The conference, themed ‘Enhancing ruminant productivity: Health, market systems and climate resilience,’ attracted the President of ARUVIN, Dr Adah Ogwuche, President of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN), Prof Mathew Adamu, President of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, Dr Moses Arokoyo, keynote speaker Mr Snorri Sigurdsson of Arla Foods, and delegates from across the country.
Describing the conference as historic, Anzaku said cattle, sheep and goats remain central to Nigeria’s livestock economy and to the livelihoods of millions, supporting food security, household income, employment, trade and rural resilience.
He listed major constraints holding back the sector to include: animal diseases, weak preventive services, poor production practices, limited access to veterinary care, feed and water shortages, weak market linkages, and climate variability.
According to him, the challenges are interconnected, as poor nutrition increases disease susceptibility while climate stress raises disease risk and reduces access to pasture and water, stressing that health, nutrition, markets and climate resilience must be addressed together.
He said the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development under Hon Idi Mukhtar Maiha as minister is committed to strengthening animal health systems, with control of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) as a top priority because of its huge losses among smallholder sheep and goat farmers.
Anzaku disclosed that government is strengthening PPR surveillance through serosurveillance and sero-monitoring across states and automating the National Animal Disease Information System (NADIS) for timely, data-driven decision making and rapid response.
He, however, cautioned that technology alone cannot fix surveillance, noting that field veterinarians remain the critical link between livestock owners and the animal health system.
Earlier, ARUVIN President, Dr Adah Ogwuche, linked ruminant health directly to food security, rural incomes and the national economy, describing the conference as a milestone that grew from an idea in 2019 through persistence and congresses in Lagos, Jos, and Taraba.
”Our cattle, sheep and goats are not only animals in our care; they are food on family tables, income in rural households, and a pillar of our national economy,” he said.
He noted that ARUVIN was created to bridge academia, industry, field practice and government and is now affiliated with the World Association for Buiatrics (WAB).
In his goodwill message, NVMA President, Dr Moses Arokoyo, described Nigeria’s livestock industry as a national asset waiting to be unlocked, citing AU-IBAR’s estimate of 268 million pastoralists serving a 1.4 billion AfCFTA market while 306 million Africans remain undernourished.
He said Nigeria’s challenge is not shortage of animals but low productivity, poor animal health and weak value capture, urging ruminant veterinarians to lead with surveillance, vaccination, digital technology and biosecurity, and to understudy Kenya and Botswana, warning that “the cost of inaction places our future in constant dependency mode.”