Kogi Vets Demand New Rabies Law, More Officers on World Rabies Day

The Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), Kogi State chapter, has called on the state government to recruit at least two veterinary doctors for every Local Government Area and to pass a modern rabies control law, warning that the state remains vulnerable to a disease that is almost always fatal once symptoms appear but entirely preventable.

Dr Tolu Omotugba, the association’s chairman, made the appeal on Monday in Lokoja during a news conference at the NVMA Secretariat to mark the 2026 World Rabies Day. The global theme this year is “Stronger Together.”

Kogi has 21 local government areas, a large population of dogs used for hunting and security, and porous borders. These factors, Omotugba said, leave the state exposed.

“Rabies is 99.9 per cent fatal once symptoms appear but 100 per cent preventable,” he stated. Yet the state currently has only about 28 to 30 veterinary officers in the civil service—far below the 50 to 100 (and in some cases 200) found in many other states. Some LGAs have no veterinary presence at all.

He proposed a minimum of two veterinarians per LGA to improve disease reporting and surveillance, particularly for zoonotic threats of public health importance. Ideally, he said, the state should aim for five per LGA.

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Omotugba recalled the 2025 outbreak in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, where 12 people died, including an entire family of three. “A single dog bite, a single scratch, can end a family,” he said.

The association is pushing for the domestication of the Kogi State Rabies Control and Responsible Dog Ownership Bill 2026.

Existing legislation—the colonial-era Rabies Act of 1935 and the Dogs Law, Cap 36 of Northern Nigeria—allows for seizure and licensing but lacks provisions for modern population management, compulsory annual vaccination, a dog registry, meaningful penalties for stray dogs, or humane alternatives to shooting on sight.

Licensing rates remain extremely low. Less than five per cent of dogs in Lokoja, Okene, Anyigba and Ankpa are licensed. “We cannot eliminate a 21st-century disease with 20th-century laws,” Omotugba declared.

He also called for a dedicated budget line for rabies under the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project to fund free mass dog vaccination, public sensitisation and post-exposure prophylaxis in state hospitals, as well as the establishment of a Kogi One Health Rabies Task Force bringing together the Ministries of Health, Environment, Education and Livestock Development, veterinarians, medical doctors, environmental health officers and community leaders.

The appeal comes against a national backdrop of renewed urgency. Nigeria recorded more than 100 rabies cases between January and August 2026, according to the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development. The country has an estimated dog population exceeding 30 million and is targeting 70 per cent annual vaccination coverage and zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030. In 2025 the Federal Government deployed 26,000 vaccine doses to eight high-risk states; the Federal Capital Territory has recently begun vaccinating 20,000 dogs. Nationally, only about 12,700 veterinarians are registered, with far fewer in public service.

Kogi’s recent livestock initiatives under Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, including L-PRES support for extension workers, veterinary equipment and private veterinary practice, provide a foundation on which stronger rabies control can be built. Omotugba urged the state to seize the moment: “Let Kogi lead as the first state in the North-Central to be rabies-free.”

The message of World Rabies Day 2026 is clear. Ending rabies requires coordinated action across human health, animal health and the environment. For Kogi, that begins with more veterinary officers on the ground and laws fit for the present century.