Veterinary Association advocates livestock production boost to transform economy

The National Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) has said the association is capable of drastically increasing Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product GDP of the federal government through massive and qualitative livestock production.

Moses Arokoyo, National President of  NVMA Moses Arokoyo, a veterinary doctor stated this on Saturday in Jos,  during a press conference, preparatory to the association’s national conference to be held in Jos, as part of activities marking 100 years of existence.

“As veterinarians, based on our expertise, we can add to the GDP of this nation, we can improve it. I want to use this opportunity ahead of the 2025 budget to appeal to the government, to His Excellency, to give us veterinarians the opportunity to impact positively on the economy of this nation. I’ll give you an example: If you bring in 10 million broilers and run six cycles of 10 million each, harvesting them at 2kg with modern vaccinology and technology, the expertise we have enables us to contribute ₦420 billion to the economy.

“On the other hand, the same can be done with livestock through artificial insemination for our local breeds. If we do that for 50,000 cattle, we can put ₦300 billion on the table. Add those together, and we are already talking ₦720 billion, without even considering aquaculture”.

Arokoyo explained that beyond the financial gains, the association is capable of tackling emerging diseases from animals to humans.

“Beyond that, as veterinarians, we are gatekeepers of public health. You may not know, but 2.6 billion of the sicknesses and diseases people experience today come from zoo gnosis diseases, and about 2.7 million deaths result from zoonosis. Zoonosis is any disease that can move from animals to humans. If we are talking about 2.7 million deaths (verified by WHO).

Arokoyo called for the actualization of the pronouncements by President Bola Tinubu, to create the Ministry of Livestock Development.

“Not too long ago, he declared a state of emergency with regards to food security. As veterinarians in Nigeria, we have repositioned ourselves, and we continue to do that because we believe strongly that we have a role to play”.

“As we begin, we are going to have professionals and experts, veterinarians like ourselves, coming from different fields to share with us how to improve through artificial intelligence”; he explained.