Governor of Bauchi State Bala Mohammed has called on all Fulani stakeholders in the country and the state to come out en-masse and vote for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the forthcoming elections in order to return them to power in the interest of good governance.
The governor who spoke yesterday at the launch of the 2023 Livestock Mass Vaccination Campaign in Bauchi also called on all eligible Fulani voters to vote for Atiku Abubakar on Saturday.
While assuring stakeholders in the livestock sector of his government’s commitment to partnering with them in order to boost livestock production in the state, the governor assured ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of his administration’s support for their initiatives.
He said, “Indeed, over 70 percent of the people of the state have agriculture as their preoccupation and means of livelihood. Livestock production being an integral part of agriculture is a full-time vocation for wealth creation along its value chain which goes a long way in serving as means of employment and keeping our youths away from many societal vices.
“I pledged to build a befitting modern Veterinary Specialist Clinic at Ran Road, Bauchi with a view to improving efficient and effective delivery in Veterinary Services, and to have a referral Veterinary facility that will serve our people and generate revenue to the state.”
The governor said the state government had awarded the contract for the building of the veterinary clinic, adding that “Insha Allah, mobilisation funds will be made available to the contracting firm to ensure commencement of work on the project immediately.”
He recalled that the state government had last year employed 40 veterinary medical students of Bauchi State origin who have already been appointed and have started getting their monthly salaries.
“We decided to sustain the Veterinary Medical Students Employment Scheme we inherited from the previous administrations despite paucity of funds due to the pivotal role the scheme plays in the area of providing wholesome animal products, jobs and wealth creation as well as food security and safety.
“My administration intends to address the unhealthy state of our abattoirs. Accordingly, I have given approval to the Ministry of Agriculture to submit a Council Memo on the renovation of the existing Bauchi Metropolitan Abattoir as well as construction of a new modern abattoir at a new location in Bauchi.
“It is my belief that once the animal health sector is fully equipped and enhanced, the health of the human population will be more secure due to the fact that 60-65 percent of emerging and reemerging human diseases originate from animals, many of whom are zoonotic”.
“For the year 2023, I gave approval for the release of the sum of N44 million to the Ministry of Agriculture for the conduct of the vaccination campaign across the state. As an improvement in the exercise, NewCastle Disease (CD-12) Vaccine has been added to the two major vaccines normally administered in the state (i.e. Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) and Pestes de Pestes Ruminantium (PPR),” he said.
