Bird flu: Bauchi bans movement of poultry products

The Bauchi state government has banned movement of poultry products from states that have recorded outbreak of Avian Influenza, also known as bird flu.

Ibrahim Bello, the desk officer, state Avian Influenza control programme announced the development on Friday, listing Gombe, Kano and Plateau among the states.

Bello, who spoke during an interview with NAN, said efforts were being made to reactivate control posts on major highways.

“The ministry for animal resources and nomadic resettlement has banned the movement of poultry products especially from these three states that have recorded outbreaks,” he said.

“We are now making efforts to reactivate our control posts and inspection points across the major highways in and out of the state.

“The ministry is trying now to go round to sensitise the chicken sellers in their various markets in order to create awareness.”

Bello said that the state had not recorded any case of bird flu, but had some structures on ground in case of any eventuality.

He said that the ministry would resuscitate the state technical committee on Bird Flu, and the state rapid response team in anticipation of any outbreak.

Bello said that veterinary officers were put on red alert when outbreaks were reported in Lagos and Kano.

“We had stakeholders meeting with them and we informed them of the situation in the country as far as bird flu is concerned,” he said.

“We briefed them on update on movement and control of poultry and poultry products within their domains.

“We also told farmers the need to improve sanitation and security on their farms so that they don’t allow infections get into their farms.”

The desk officer recalled that not less than 75 farmers were affected, while over 350,000 chickens were destroyed between 2006 and 2008 during the last outbreak of avian influenza in the state.