Unregulated Veterinary Drug Sales In Oyo State: Act Of Neglect Aggravating Public Health Risks Through Antibiotic Residues And Antimicrobial Resistance

Oyo State is strategically positioned as a frontline state when it comes to livestock and agricultural production in Nigeria, and this puts the state under the spotlight of antimicrobial abuse in Nigeria.

The state has one of the largest livestock industries (especially poultry), and this makes her one of the highest users of antimicrobials across the value chain of production.

Unfortunately, the uncontrolled expansion and growth of indiscriminate sale of registered veterinary drugs (antimicrobials, especially antibiotics) and even unregistered drugs (drugs without NAFDAC number/certification) has been a matter that should be of public concern in the face of antimicrobial resistance. These drugs are very common on the streets of Ibadan, the capital city of the state, and other urban settlements in the state.

Indiscriminate sales and use of veterinary drugs have skyrocketed across the state.

In recent findings, we discovered that veterinary drugs are being sold just like any snack in the street, where they are displayed on roadside tables, roadside kiosks, and metal containers. These are evidence that veterinary drugs/premises are not being regulated. These give the impression that there are no rules or guidelines to regulate the sale and distribution of veterinary medications and services generally, which we know there are.

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Our correspondent was at the poultry / day old chicks (DOC) market at Oluyole, Ibadan, and we observed that traders (who we can safely assume, from interaction with them, are not really learned in the administration of drugs) display their wares which are drugs on tables (under the sun). It will interest you to know that veterinary medicines without NAFDAC registration numbers were put on sale in the open.

Interestingly, in some of the interviews, some traders revealed that they paid as much as a hundred thousand naira (N100,000) to learn the trade of selling veterinary medicaments illegally.

Unfortunately, this could be a major contributor to the pernicious and dangerously ugly plague of antimicrobial resistance in Oyo state and Nigeria at large.

The plague of antimicrobial resistance has been ravaging the livestock industry and the medical field as a whole. How this affects human health is that people fall sick, and antibiotics that should be used to treat them will not work because they had unwittingly abused the antibiotic before.

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Why is Oyo state so strategic in the spread of the illegal trade of veterinary medicaments and the consequent life-threatening antimicrobial resistance? The growing livestock and poultry markets ranging from day-old-chicks (DOCs) to live birds and processed chicken move from Oyo State (Oluyole DOC market majorly and other minor hatcheries) to every nook and cranny of the country, thus making Oyo State an important and pivotal critical control point for the menace of antibiotics residue, indiscriminate use of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in Nigeria.

Hence there is a need for the Oyo State government through the Department of Veterinary Services and the Veterinary council of Nigeria to look critically into this area with a conscious effort to enforce the stoppage of indiscriminate distribution of non-registered (and even approved) drugs by non-licensed veterinary outlets in the state.

We like to seize this opportunity to implore the Government and the Veterinary Council of Nigeria ( VCN) to rise up to this occasion and stem the tide of the scourge of antimicrobial resistance through the uncertified sales and unprescribed use of veterinary drugs scattered around Ibadan and other towns in the state. The effort to stop indiscriminate use of antimicrobials should be considered a public good, which is in the interest of public health.

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This altruistic effort is within the purview of Government, and so we urge the relevant organs of state to mandate their staff to protect lives and properties by effectively regulating the poultry/livestock industry according to international best practices.

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