Rabies Outbreak: FCTA Assures FCT Residents of Safety, Targets 20,000 Dogs in Mass Vaccination Drive

By Stanley Onyekwere

The Mandate Secretary of the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS) of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Comrade Abdullahi Suleiman Ango, has urged residents across the territory to remain calm and confident in the administration’s proactive measures to contain the recent rabies outbreak.

Speaking on Wednesday after leading an on-the-spot monitoring and evaluation team to Kuje and Gwagwalada Area Councils, Ango emphasised that, under the leadership of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, the administration is fully equipped to safeguard public health and tackle the threat of rabies.

Reassuring the public, the Mandate Secretary noted that, apart from the initial cases recorded in Gwagwalada and Kuje Area Councils, no further cases had been reported across the FCT following the immediate and professional intervention of veterinary teams.

“Everybody should remain calm. The government is there for them. Whatever needs to be done, we are going to do it at the appropriate time.

“Our Minister is a performer, a proactive leader who has always assured us that when you want to serve, you must serve diligently.

“With him at the helm of affairs, I don’t think residents of the FCT need to be scared of anything,” Ango stated.

Ango explained that his personal supervision of the ongoing exercise across the area councils was designed to ensure direct oversight, transparency and accurate reporting to the FCT Minister, whose prompt approval made the intervention possible.

He disclosed that the Secretariat was targeting between 15,000 and 20,000 dogs during the two-week campaign across all 62 wards in the six area councils, expressing confidence that the exercise would effectively halt the spread of the virus.

He added that more than 100 experienced veterinary officers had been deployed, making the two-week timeframe sufficient to achieve the desired coverage.

Also speaking during the monitoring tour, the Director of Veterinary Services at the Secretariat, Dr Karnak Dandam, described rabies as a deadly but 100 per cent preventable disease once its primary vectors—dogs—are vaccinated.

Dandam revealed that more than 12,000 vaccine doses were currently available and being administered across the wards.

He noted that community participation had been strong, with local council authorities in Kuje and communities such as Bassan Jiwa village actively mobilising support for the vaccination campaign.

Beneficiaries at the vaccination centres praised the administration’s swift response.

Nation Yusuf, a local dog owner who brought his animals for their first rabies vaccination, expressed satisfaction with the exercise.

Similarly, Bashir Yusuf, a local hunter who presented his three dogs for treatment, commended the FCTA for providing timely veterinary care at no cost to residents.