Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
The Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS) of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) said it seeks to vaccinate between 15,000 to 20,000 dogs in the ongoing mass rabies vaccination exercise across the 62 wards of the six area councils in the FCT.
The Mandate Secretary ARDS, Abdullahi Suleiman Ango, declared this Wednesday during a field evaluation of the ongoing two-week rollout of the initiative to curtail the spread of the disease in the FCT following recent rabies outbreak in Gwagwalada and Kuje Area Councils.
“Our target is 15,000 to 20,000 dogs. We have the firm conviction that with this, we are going to stop whatever we are scared or afraid is going to happen.
“We have over 100 experienced veterinary officers on the field, so two weeks is sufficient to cover the FCT,” he said.
He emphasized that direct field supervision was key in evaluating the efficacy of the deployment and to ensure data integrity.
Ango added that following intervention, there had been no further outbreaks of rabies in the FCT aside from the initial cases in Gwagwalada and Kuje.
Evaluating the technical aspects of the campaign, the Director of Veterinary Services, Dr. Karnak Dandam, noted that over 100 veterinary personnel and an initial batch of 12,000 vaccine doses had been deployed to ensure coverage across all wards.
“Rabies is a deadly disease. If a rabid dog bites a human and post-exposure treatment is not administered immediately, death is inevitable once clinical symptoms manifest.
“However, it is 100 percent preventable if the primary vectors—specifically dogs—are vaccinated,” Dandam said, noting that vaccinating dogs would eliminate the risk of human transmission.