President of the Veterinary Medical Association of Nigeria, Professor Bello Agaie has urged that government to extend Coronavirus palliatives to poultry and livestock feed millers by giving them access to grains in the National Strategic Grains Reserves.
He said the grains will preserve and keep the livestock and chickens healthy during the period of the lockdown.
Agaie also called for stimulus packages for the animal sub-sector value chain actors to enable them cushion the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown.
He commends the NCDC and the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 for bringing on board the BSL-3 laboratory of the National Veterinary Research Institute Vom, Plateau State as one of the network laboratories to handle laboratory confirmation of suspected cases of the infectious Coronavirus.
He added that the government should as a matter of urgency speed up the process of procuring adequate and sufficient World Health Organization, WHO approved Covid-19 test kits and reagents to enhance the work of accredited laboratories across the country.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
