Hot Source Hammed Shittu in Ilorin Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN) has inducted 32 graduates of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) into the council.
The inductees on Monday this week graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of UNILORIN In the 2024/2025 academic session.
Speaking at the event, the national president of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria, Prof. Matthew Adamu said that, “Your training equips you to translate science into prevention and to coordinate the multi-sectoral actions our world desperately needs”.
Prof. Adamu who was represented at the event by the Vice President of the VCN, Professor Halima Gambo added that, “Veterinarians are not only animal doctors; they are disease sentinels, leading surveillance and outbreak responses; food system guardians, ensuring safety from farm to table; community advocates, educating on zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance; environmental stewards, monitoring hazards and protecting biodiversity”.
He also said that, “Veterinarians are policy influencers shaping local, national, and international health strategies.
“Your training equips you to translate science into prevention and to coordinate the multi-sectoral actions our world desperately needs.
“To truly protect One World, we must invest in veterinary infrastructure and laboratories, foster collaboration among doctors, veterinarians, ecologists, and policymakers to strengthen education, funding, and data systems which empower community-centered prevention strategies”.
He noted further that, “Veterinarians must be recognized not only as responders but as guardians of planetary health”.
Adamu pointed out that, “Despite successes, veterinary services remain underfunded, under-recognized, and under-integrated into national health frameworks.
“Many countries, including ours, face surveillance blind spots, weak laboratory capacity, and governance silos.
“These gaps allow diseases to simmer unnoticed until they explode into public crises, with devastating health and economic consequences”.
Adamu therefore urged the newly inducted veterinary doctors to heal animals with skill, protect people with foresight, safeguard ecosystems with respect.
Also speaking, the Dean, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Professor Saliu Ameen said that the induction marks the formal licensing of these young doctors of veterinary professionals.
Prof Ameen added that “without this ceremony and the oath that accompanies it, their academic degree alone would not authorise them to practice.
“It is therefore, both a celebration of academic achievement and a legal rite of passage into the profession”.
