The Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) is set to establish and equip 20 model veterinary hospitals across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones with $500M funding to improve the quality of animal healthcare.
The National Project Coordinator, Sanusi Abubakar, revealed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He listed the beneficiary states as Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Borno, Plateau, Niger, Kwara, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, Edo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Ondo, Ekiti, and Oyo.
Abubakar disclosed that seven of the 20 model veterinary hospitals are already at various stages of completion. These hospitals are located in Sokoto, Niger, Enugu, Ondo, Borno, Adamawa, and Edo States.
Main project goals
According to him, the primary goal of the project is to facilitate easier access to veterinary services for cluster livestock farmers, among other objectives.
“The hospitals are designed to enhance clinical services provided by veterinarians, as well as to offer training and ambulatory services for farmers across the 20 states where Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) is being implemented,” he said.
“These model veterinary hospitals are strategically located to serve identified value chain clusters in the various states,” he added.
To ensure accessibility, the project will provide fully operational ambulatory vehicles to offer mobile veterinary services in areas lacking direct access to the hospitals.
“By estimation, the animal health infrastructure will serve more than 450,000 value clusters in its first and second year of full operations,” he further explained.
Private sector collaboration for sustainability
The Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) national project coordinator added that the infrastructure would be linked to the private sector through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement to ensure sustainability.
He noted that more than 80% of registered veterinarians were in the private sector, emphasizing that involving them would guarantee the full utilization of the facilities.
He also said that this arrangement would ensure the mentoring and training of younger professionals who will soon take on leadership roles.
“L-PRES is a 500 million US dollar World Bank project currently active in about 20 states across Nigeria,” Abubakar explained. “The project’s objective is to improve the productivity, commercialization, and resilience of livestock value chains.”
He added, “Most activities at the state level focus on enhancing the livestock value chain, which includes support for natural resources, water, and pasture. On a national level, we focus on institutional support.”
“We have built seven veterinary hospitals in every geopolitical zone. Currently, we are upscaling the facilities, and by the end of the year, we hope to increase the number with an additional eight,” he said.
Future vision for veterinary care
Abubakar explained that the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) framework aims to ensure that all 450,000 targeted livestock value chain clusters receive veterinary care or services.
He further emphasized the organization’s plan to create an ambulatory service system, allowing farmers to simply make a call for veterinary services to be brought to them.
He added that the project is also collaborating with veterinary doctors, paramedics, and community health officers to support farmers’ livelihoods. The model veterinary hospitals will serve as hubs for these professionals, facilitating their support for the project’s efforts.
