UI don urges FG to invest more in veterinary medicine 

The Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Professor Olufunke Ola-Davis, on Saturday, advocated more investment in veterinary medicine to address various challenges the sector is facing nationwide.

She made this appeal at the official launch of a book titled: “Rudiments of Veterinary Anaesthesia For Undergraduates,” edited by Dr Foluso Bolaji-Alabi, held at the Faculty of Veterinary, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, the state capital.

Ola-Davis, who is also the Chairperson of the Committee of Deans and Directors of Veterinary Schools in Nigeria, further urged the government to pump more money into the profession in 2025 and beyond.

“She said, “The government needs to invest more in education. There is no greatness in any nation without education. So, we are appealing to the government to come in and invest more in education in the coming years.

“The government should invest more in the education sector, especially in veterinary medicine. We will be glad to have the government coming because veterinary medicine is an expensive profession. So, we need our government to come in to help us out”, he said.

Speaking on the book, the don said, “The book is going to be of great impact to our students because generally our people feel veterinary surgery is a difficult area but with this, things have been made simpler in it.

“And it’s not for students alone, even for veterinarians, we can read and then attend to our patients, it makes the work easier and better for us.”

Earlier, the author of the book, who is also a Senior lecturer at the Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology in the faculty, Bolaji-Alabi, said the goal of the book is to make practice in veterinary, surgery and anaesthesia very easy for both undergraduates and veterinarians.

“This book was inspired by my students because I want them to be more confident about whatever they know about veterinary and anaesthesia. I tried to put this together by reaching out to other veterinary anaesthesia scholars, especially my mentor, Professor Adeniran Adetunji to be able to put this together appropriately so that nothing will be lacking.

“I believe if the basic foundation is solid, then they can be able to build upon it in the near future, maybe through Postgraduate Degrees and the like.

“But the goal of this book is to make practice in veterinary, surgery and anaesthesia very easy. I believe it can also serve as a very useful reference even after graduation because once you are able to get a glance at most of the topics in this book, you will be able to know what you are supposed to do.

“And I deliberately put a particular Chapter there known as Anaesthetic Selection Protocol where they can easily pick anaesthetic drugs in a balanced way to give save outcome, especially in various animal species.”

In their separate remarks, Professors Olayide Adejinmi and Idowu Cadmus charged the author not to relent on her oars.

They encouraged her to do more and prayed to God to grant her wisdom, knowledge and understanding to write more books.