National Veterinary Research Institute
NVRI
About
The National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) is a research institute in Nigeria with the mandate to research how to identify, treat and control animal diseases. It also develops vaccines, provides surveillance and diagnosis of animal diseases, and offers support services to livestock and poultry farmers. Its priority areas include avian influenza, rabies, brucellosis, salmonellosis and transboundary animal diseases. The institute operates a central diagnostic laboratory in Vom, a network of laboratories in outstations across Nigeria, and a biotechnology laboratory complex. It is supervised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and also runs a college that trains animal health and production technicians.
History
The institute was established in 1924 to eradicate rinderpest, which had been rampant among cattle in Nigeria and West Africa. A veterinary department was first set up in Zaria in 1913 to conduct livestock censuses and control disease through isolation and quarantine. In 1924 the department moved to Vom in present-day Plateau State, where it became a veterinary laboratory that produced anti-rinderpest serum. In 1975, under the Agricultural Research Institute Decree 35, the name was changed to National Veterinary Research Institute. Its training school, begun in 1945, later became the College of Animal Health and Husbandry in 1980 and was renamed the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology in 1991.
Key Facts
Established
1924
Headquarters
Vom, Plateau State
Chairman
Maryam Muhammad
Jurisdiction
Federal Government of Nigeria
Abbreviation
NVRI
Website
nvri.gov.ng