Residents of neighboring communities to Otta Farms in Ogun state have raised the alarm over the threat posed to their health by the outbreak of Bird Flu on the farm, which hosts a poultry unit in addition to other ventures. The scourge which is rapidly growing is believed to have emanated from the farm owned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Residents of neighboring communities to Otta Farms in Ogun state have already raised the alarm over the threat posed to their health by the outbreak of Bird Flu on the farm, which hosts a poultry unit in addition to other ventures.The outbreak of bird flu disease has been authoritatively confirmed to have hit the poultry unit of the farm owned by the former President.
The deadly virus, which the communities said poses threat to them because of proximity, is raising serious cause for alarm as they revealed that every effort made to draw the attention of the Federal Ministry of Health to the issued have fallen on deaf ears.A resident of one of the communities, who does not want to be identified because he fears a reprisal from the owner of the farm said “We are worried.
We do not even allow our children to play outside anymore because no one knows what can happen.”“Unfortunately, the Ministry of Health has not bothered to come here to verify, neither has the Agric Ministry. This is why Otta Farms has not bothered to act by doing what is required, which is to destroy the sick birds.” The source said.Already farm owners in the vicinity and environs of Otta have begun to record casualties in their poultry. The poultry farmers who have called on the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to look into and take decisive steps to quarantine the source farm have also appealed for financial assistance from the Federal government to help rescue their farms.” We are not surprised that this is happening; our only problem is that we know the origin of this disease, which is the Obasanjo farm whose birds have been known to have contracted the disease long ago. What we only wish is that the Federal government will quarantines the farm to save our small farms. We also wish to use this medium to appeal to the government to assist us with funds to save our farms”. A local poultry farmer lamented.The strain on virus currently on the loose in Nigeria has not been proven to cross to human but residents said it is a risk they are not willing to take.
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