By Felicia Imohimi
Prof. Eustace Iyayi, Special Assistant to the Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, has called for an emergency response to the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak in Ogun.
He said the outbreak should be treated as an animal-health emergency requiring rapid and coordinated action.
Iyayi made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
Reacting to the outbreak, he said it should not be treated as a problem affecting individual farmers alone.
Iyayi said immediate priorities should include confirming and mapping cases, containing the disease, protecting unaffected farms, communicating with farmers and providing an appropriate recovery mechanism.
He said available reports indicated that the outbreak had affected farms around the Ikangba/Agoro axis, stressing the need for farm-by-farm epidemiological investigations rather than relying solely on reports of pig deaths.
“Ogun outbreak should be viewed as both an emergency and a warning. The immediate objective must be to stop transmission and protect unaffected farms.
“But the longer-term objective should be to transform the way Nigeria manages diseases in intensive livestock clusters.
“The experience of Oke-Aro, Gudugba and the current Ikangba/Agoro episode shows that high-density pig production, communal facilities, animal movement and weak farm-to-farm biosecurity can create conditions in which ASF spreads rapidly.
“The appropriate response is therefore not only culling or disinfection after an outbreak; it is a complete disease-risk management system built around surveillance, biosecurity, movement control, diagnostics, farmer reporting, compensation and recovery finance,” he said.
Iyayi said the containment response should follow a “One Health/animal-health emergency approach”, led by veterinary authorities and coordinated between the Ogun Government and the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development.
He called for immediate disease surveillance, with a rapid-response veterinary team conducting active surveillance of affected and neighbouring farms, investigating unusual pig deaths, and collecting appropriate samples for laboratory testing.
He also recommended movement controls, including temporary restrictions on the movement of live pigs from affected premises and into affected clusters, as well as the movement of carcasses.
Iyayi said the restrictions should also cover contaminated equipment and vehicles moving between infected and unaffected farms.
“Particular attention should be given to Oke-Aro and other high-density pig settlements, because a large number of farms in close proximity creates substantial transmission risk.
“The authorities should establish, based on the epidemiological investigation: infected zone, protection zone and surveillance zone.
“The exact radius should be determined by veterinary epidemiologists according to the outbreak characteristics rather than applying an arbitrary distance to every outbreak.
“Humane culling/stamping-out, where epidemiologically justified and where ASF is confirmed, may require infected and appropriately identified exposed animals to be humanely destroyed in accordance with the approved control protocol.
“Carcasses must be safely disposed of, because improperly disposed carcasses can become major sources of infection,” Iyayi said.
He also recommended tighter control of communal slaughter facilities, saying the Gudugba outbreak investigation provided useful lessons.
According to him, the investigation identified a communal slaughter facility as a possible transmission pathway.
“Communal slaughter facilities in affected clusters should therefore be placed under strict veterinary supervision, with temporary suspension where necessary,” Iyayi said.
NAN reports that ASF is a severe and highly contagious viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs, with mortality rates that can reach 100 per cent.
Nigeria has recorded repeated ASF outbreaks, with research documenting substantial mortality and economic losses during previous outbreaks.
A study of 62 farms involving 6,208 pigs in Ogun, Oyo and Lagos during the 2019–2021 outbreak recorded a 60.6 per cent mortality rate, while herd sizes fell by 92.1 per cent following mortality, panic sales and other emergency measures.
The study estimated financial losses from pig mortality at N166.26 million.
In Ogun, 1,789 of 2,868 pigs died, representing a mortality rate of 62.4 per cent.
The latest outbreak is the third reported in Ogun within a decade and has affected pig farms around the state, with farmers reporting substantial mortality and financial losses. (NAN) www.nannews.ng
FUA/TAK
Edited by Tosin Kolade