- The Federal Government has renewed its commitment to completely wipe out Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), a devastating viral disease affecting small livestock, by the year 2030.
- Eliminating the disease is being treated as both an economic safety net and an animal health priority, as small ruminants serve as primary livelihood assets for millions of rural Nigerian households.
- Veterinary authorities are updating Nigeria’s strategic disease management frameworks to optimize risk-based vaccination mapping, laboratory linkages, and cross-border trade controls.
The Federal Government has reaffirmed its long-term determination to eradicate Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), a highly contagious viral affliction plaguing sheep and goats, across the country by 2030.
Eko Hot Blog reports that officials noted that enhanced regional surveillance, targeted vaccination programs, and strategic cross-border cooperation remain the central pillars to achieving the timeline.
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The assurance was delivered by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, Chinyere Akujobi, while opening a intensive two-day Stakeholders’ Workshop in Abuja.
Organized to review and update Nigeria’s National Strategic Plan for the Control and Eradication of PPR, the gathering brought together domestic and international animal health experts.
According to a media statement released by Henrietta Okokon, the ministry’s Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations on Friday, Akujobi characterized the elimination of PPR as an existential necessity for Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Safeguarding these animals directly addresses rural poverty, improves grassroots livelihoods, boosts livestock productivity, and expands sub-regional trade corridors.
The permanent secretary pointed out that the economic devastation caused by the transboundary virus remains a massive challenge across Africa, Asia, and parts of the Middle East.
With Nigeria boasting Africa’s largest population of small ruminants, surpassing 200 million sheep and goats, and sharing active commercial veterinary trade routes with Niger, Benin, Cameroon, and Chad, updating protective barriers is highly crucial.
The Abuja workshop focused heavily on creating an evidence-backed National Strategic Plan for 2026–2030.
The revised framework will successfully integrate localized veterinary services with ECOWAS regional coordination bodies and international trade risk standards.
Speaking along similar lines, the Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, Samuel Anzaku, noted that while the nation has recorded notable victories in animal disease control, structural updates are required to align with global assessment benchmarks.
He emphasized the need to embed real-time epidemiological field data into modern hotspot mapping, ensuring public and private veterinary funding drives measurable results.
The African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), represented by Dr. Perdita Hilary Lopes, applauded Nigeria’s push.
Lopes emphasized that a PPR-free Africa by 2040 remains an indispensable catalyst for achieving long-term women’s economic empowerment, youth employment, and resilient agricultural food systems across the continent.
The intensified 2026 push builds directly upon foundational pillars erected by the Ministry of Livestock Development earlier in the year.
In January, the Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar Maiha, inaugurated a comprehensive 33-member National Technical Working Group to steer the response, warning that the transboundary virus actively threatens the economic stability of smallholder farmers and pastoralists.
By incorporating parameters reviewed during the West African surveillance summit held in Abuja late last year, the ministry is targeting a fully funded, systematically rolling vaccination deployment to secure the nation’s massive animal population.
