BY AHMED AKANBI
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s livestock sector have called for the integration of private veterinary laboratories into the national surveillance system to improve data collection and early detection.
They identified poor reporting and fragmented data as major threats to animal disease control in the country.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting on strengthening Nigeria’s veterinary laboratory network in Abuja, the participants said collaboration among federal, state, local government and private laboratories was critical to building a robust surveillance system.
Director of Infectious and Transboundary Animal Diseases at NVRI, Professor Clement Meseko, said no single institution can achieve effective surveillance alone.
“It’s very interesting that we are discussing veterinary laboratory network, particularly collaboration between government laboratories, national laboratories, state laboratories, and more importantly, the private laboratory,” he said.
Meseko explained that private labs are closer to farmers and can quickly collect samples and report suspected outbreaks.
“For instance, if there is an indication of an infectious disease in a poultry farm, the private lab is closer and can send samples to state labs before it gets to the national reference lab,” he said.
Meseko urged government to strengthen and incentivise private laboratories to encourage participation, saying “there will be benefit to them in the number of diseases they analyse, and benefit to government because we will have access to wider data.”
Country Manager of GALVmed Nigeria, Moses Arokoyo, said the biggest gap in the system is lack of data integration.
“So what we have seen as a gap is the fact that there is no integration of data. If an event is not recorded, it means it didn’t happen,” he said.
Arokoyo said harmonising data from public and private labs would help Nigeria identify patterns and prepare for outbreaks.
“Outbreaks don’t just happen. There is a pattern over time. Once that pattern is established, we are better prepared,” he noted.
He said GALVmed is supporting the effort through the National Animal Disease Information Service, NADIS.
“The summary is GALVmed wants Nigeria to have robust data. The missing link is reporting. The reporting system is very poor,” he added.
President of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria, Matthew Adamu, called for investment in laboratory infrastructure at state and local government levels.
“We need the veterinary teaching hospitals to be well equipped. We want the states’ laboratories to be well equipped. Personnel should be trained and retrained,” he said.
Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, Dr. Samuel Anzaku, represented by Dr. Adeniyi Adedoyin, said under-reporting has persisted for 10 years despite the Animal Disease Control Act.
“Why do we have teaching hospitals and different labs generating data, and everybody keeps to their own data? Without a paradigm shift, we will not achieve results,” he said.
Director General of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Dr. Onallo Akpa, also called for more investment in research to tackle Newcastle Disease and other endemic poultry diseases.
Stakeholders concluded that an integrated network of public and private labs would improve surveillan
ce, support early detection and strengthen Nigeria’s livestock health system.