Bird flu hits 18 states in Nigeria

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, yesterday revealed that 18 states in the country have Avian Influenza disease, otherwise known as Bird Flu.

Adesina made this disclosure while speaking at a two-day refresher training course organised for federal and state epidemiology officers on Avian Influenza (AI) prevention and containment in Ibadan. He lamented that a total of 322 poultry farms have been affected by the disease.

The minister noted that the figure available to him indicated that Kano has the highest number of 156, Plateau 82, Bauchi 19 and Kaduna 14 farms.

Adesina, who was represented by deputy director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Ademola Majasan, bemoaned the resurgence of the disease at the time when the country was about to achieve national self-sufficiency in poultry and poultry products, with the possibility of exports to the ECOWAS sub-region

“The last outbreak of the disease which occurred between February 2006 to July 2008 affected the poultry industry at the point when we were about to achieve national self-sufficiency in poultry and poultry products, with the possibility of exports to the ECOWAS sub-region.

“The outbreak affected poultry farms in 25 states and the FCT that led to depopulation of more than 1.2 million birds, destruction of 118, 183 eggs and payment of the sum of N631 million as compensation”.

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