BY GABRIEL EWEPU

ABUJA- THE Veterinary Council of Nigeria, VCN, said the council was going tough on quackery in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, as it had put in place measures to eradicate the illegal business carried out by unqualified persons.

This was stated by the Chief Veterinary Officer, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Dr. Garba Zayyan, who was represented by Dr. Ademo Idris, while delivering a keynote at a one day seminar organised by FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat in collaboration with Veterinarian Council of Nigeria.

Zayyan also said that the VCN had placed a ban on non-veterinarians in the FCT from handling livestock products, including dispensing of powdered drug preparations and treating of animals, as it was the exclusive preserve of veterinarians to do that, therefore stated that anyone caught will be prosecuted.

He said: “You will agree with me that the veterinary practice is dominated by quacks. The Veterinary Council of Nigeria, VCN, view this with a lot of concern and it became an item in its agenda. At its 87th regular meeting in March 2004, it resolved to create the Veterinary Practicing Premises Registration            Committee.

“We should realise that compared to other professions, ours is now free for all, with individuals venturing in and out at will. In line with this, sale of pet green cards by people other than veterinarians is hereby banned. Also, dispensing powdered drug preparations by rationing into small packages is prohibited in FCT.

“Treating animal diseases is an exclusive preserve of the veterinarians such as no person should indulge in it. Anybody caught will be prosecuted in line with the Veterinary Surgeons Act (as amended).

“I wish to call on veterinarians to be careful in licensing premises for other people. You should only license premises in areas where you live as the committee will no longer recognise situations where the veterinarian lives far away from the premises.”