A notable challenge facing Nigeria’s livestock sector is the absence of timely and affordable professional care.
A 2025 review estimates that roughly 40% of the nation’s herd may be lost annually to a mix of insecurity, climate shocks, disease and poor management—a loss estimated at ₦7.17 trillion.
A shortfall in human resources worsens the problem. Although thousands of veterinarians are licensed nationwide, only a fraction remain active in public practice.
As a result, many rural and pastoral communities depend on costly informal care or ill-resourced private clinics.
Field studies and farmer surveys across Nigerian states consistently highlight disease, poor handling, inadequate vaccination and delayed treatment as leading causes of mortality and low productivity in cattle, sheep, goats and poultry.
Farmers frequently report that veterinary advice often arrives late or is unavailable—directly fuelling higher mortality and lower yields.
It is in that context that the Federal Government, under the World Bank-supported Livestock Productivity and Resilience Project (L-PRES), has begun delivering a network of modern veterinary facilities.
Between November and December, the ministry commissioned a model veterinary hospital in Yola (Adamawa) and another in Akwuke, Enugu.
Officials say seven model hospitals have now been completed and 14 more are underway, a pipeline totalling 21 new, equipped veterinary hospitals across participating states so far.
The installations are paired with ambulatory (mobile) clinics targeted at pastoral and cluster communities.
Each hospital features state-of-the-art diagnostics, dedicated treatment wards, space for outreach and training and governance arrangements that blend public veterinarians with private practitioners and paraprofessionals to widen coverage and improve sustainability.
The hospitals are expected to strengthen early detection, vaccination campaigns, disease surveillance and preventive care.
Together, the hospitals and mobile clinics reduce travel time for treatment, allow faster disease confirmation and response, expand vaccination coverage and create hubs for training veterinary paraprofessionals and students.
The ministry and L-PRES emphasise linkages with state universities and private vets so that hospitals also become centres for extension, clinical practice and capacity building.
Cost remains a major barrier to veterinary access. Private clinics, although widespread in urban Nigeria, are far from cheap. Basic consultations range from about ₦3,000 to ₦15,000. Procedures, diagnostics or surgeries can run much higher.
For many smallholders and pastoralists, even a single trip can be prohibitive. By contrast, the new model hospitals and clinics are framed as a way to expand subsidised or lower-cost access, though detailed fee schedules have not been published.
Two cautions accompany this rollout. First, infrastructure alone will not guarantee impact; success depends on staffing, steady supply chains, vaccines and diagnostic reagents and predictable financing for outreach.
Second, independent monitoring and evaluation will be critical. Many of the positive claims in ministry and project materials are credible and consistent with international experience, but independent, published impact assessments will be essential to show how much mortality falls, how vaccine coverage rises and how household incomes change where hospitals operate.
Nigeria cannot improve livestock productivity or reduce preventable losses without closing the gap between farmers and skilled veterinary care.
If scaled, these new facilities could link farmers to timely treatment, reduce avoidable mortality, strengthen disease surveillance and build the professional pipeline required to sustain long-term reform.
By repositioning veterinary care as an essential service, the initiative offers an actionable pathway out of decades of preventable losses, low productivity and fragmented livestock health systems.
Summary not available at this time.
