Minister confirms bird flu outbreak in Kano

The Federal Government yesterday confirmed the outbreak of a new strain of Bird Flu in Kano State.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh confirmed the outbreak at the ministry in Abuja.


Ogbeh said the migration of birds from Europe is responsible for the outbreak, “as they stop to rest and feed at Adaeja basin before moving to South Africa”.

Ogbeh said the virus has only affected Kano State and advised farmers to take preventive measures to avoid further spread to other states.
On why there has not been a permanent cure for the virus, he said the constant change in the strain of the virus is responsible for this.

“There is bird flu in Cameroon and in Europe now, they move from Europe to South Africa in the winter, they stop in the Adaeja river basin for days to rest before they move on.

“We don’t have the vaccine yet, we are calling a meeting of all the commissioners of Agriculture to take measures to control it because there is no vaccine yet.

“We are telling farmers to try and take measures to avoid the spread of the disease.
“The strain keeps changes which is why vet doctors have not been able to find a solution to it.

“For now only Kano has an outbreak and we are controlling it, we are making sure there is no movement of chicken from state to state.

“Unfortunately those who lost chickens last year, we have not been able to compensate because we didn’t have money. We are putting some funds together to help them out.”