. ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE VETERIANRY COUNCIL OF NIGERIA   The Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN) is a body corporate of government established through the Veterinary Surgeons Act of 1989.  The Council is charged with the general duties of:   1.  determining the standard of knowledge and skill to be attained by persons seeking to be registered under the Act as Veterinary Surgeons and of raising those standards from time to time as the circumstances may permit 2.  securing in accordance with the provisions of the Act, the establishment and maintenance of Register of persons registered under the Act as Veterinary Surgeons and the publication from time to time of the lists of those persons; and 3.       performing the other functions conferred on the Council by the Act.   Achievement   When the present management of the Council took off in 2003,, it met myriads of problems, foremost among which was the poor funding to Council.   In consequence therefore, Council was unable to carryout most of its core functions which include:  

• Council meetings (meeting of the Governing Board of the Council)
• University Visitation for Accreditation/Re-accreditation purposes
• University Examination Observation
• Council Registration Examination
• Council Committee Meetings;
• Council Continuing Education programme; and
• Ensure the take-off of the Postgraduate College of Veterinary Surgeons Nigeria (in furtherance of the later) inspite of the fact that the decision for the establishment of the College had been taken as far back as April, 1992.

  Most of these core functions of Council were therefore observed in the breach.  In some cases, some Universities had not been visited by Council for upward of twenty (20) years, although Visitation is supposed to be undertaken at least once every five (5) years.   ·        When we took-off therefore, the first thing we did was to lobby for more funding from Government.  We also successfully sought the approval of the Board of the Council in order to improve on our internal sources of revenue generation ·        Today therefore, while we may not yet have fully achieved what we want in this direction, things have improved tremendously.  As a result, Council is undertaking the following activities:   a)       Council sought for and obtained the approval of the Head of Services of the Federation for the establishment of Council’s Pension Scheme, whose Board and Scheme was inaugurated on the 24th January, 2003 by a representative of the office of the Head of Service of the Federation; b)       Council published the first (1s) Edition of it’s Minimum Standard for Accreditation which included a section on Guidelines of Council’s Examination Observation Teams to Council Accredited faculties.  This has been reviewed and will soon be published; c)       From 2003 Council’s Examination Observation Visits to Universities had been undertaken as and when due.   Council Visitation to Universities for the purposes of Accreditation/Re-accreditation are now being undertaken very regularly.  Most recently, Visitations have been carried out at the Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto. University of Maiduguri, University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.             Council succeeded in getting the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine at the three (3) Universities of Agriculture (Abeokuta, Makurdi and Umodike) to submit themselves to Council scrutiny as a result of which the College at Makurdi has been accredited while the one at Abeokuta is in the final stages of approval d)       Council for the first in many years, organized two (2) Continuing Education Workshops for members of the profession in 2004 (on the 18th and 25th August, 2004 at Abuja and Port-Harcourt, respectively).  Since then to date the Professional Continuing Education has been held twice every year e)       In furtherance of Council’s Professional Continuing Education, work has commenced on the curriculum and syllabi of the Postgraduate College of Veterinary Surgeons Nigeria (CVSN).  Also the second (2nd) Investiture Ceremony of the College was held at the NICON Hilton Hotel, Abuja on the 16th of February, 2004 with the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR in attendance as the Grand Patron of the College.  Furthermore, Council successfully lobbied for and obtained funding for the establishment of Centres of Excellence in the six geo-political zones of the country and the construction of a six storey VCN Secretariat and Co-ordianting Centre of the CVSN in Abuja for the take-off of the academic programme of the College. The academic Programme of the CVSN formally took-off in July, 2007 at the Centres of Excellence located at ABU, Zaria, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the University of Ibadan f)       The procurement of equipment for the already identified Centres of Excellence has been going on steadily since the 2004 financial year.  To date the sum of over N160.0 million has been expended on this.  The building of the VCN Secretariat/College Co-ordinating Centre which was estimated to cost the Council N306,691,970.30 is  nearing completion. g)       An Amendment to the Veterinary surgeons Act (to cover certain observed lapses) which was started in the life of this management has passed the third reading in the House of Representatives.  Similarly a draft Bill to establish the CVSN has been sent to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources for further necessary action. h)       In view of the increasing number of Veterinary Surgeons going into the Private Practice, Council has formed a Veterinary Practice Committee to advise it on the matter.  Consequently, Council approved a guideline for the registration of Veterinary Practising Premises recommended by the Committee, the implementation of which has already commenced i)        Most recently, Council collaborated with PACE Nigeria and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to produce a guideline on the implementation of Community Animal Health Workers Scheme (CAWS) in the country.   Other achievements recorded by the Council during the period include the following:  

• Implementation of the issuance of an Annual Practising Licence to members of the profession to enforce compliance and improve revenue generation;
• Approval of an organogram and scheme of service for staff of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria;
• Publication of the first ever Nigeria Veterinary Formulary; and
• Development of a Website (www.vcng.org) for the Veterinary Council of Nigeria

  As a consequence of these landmark achievements Vanguard Media Limited for three (3) consecutive years (2003; 2004 and 2005) recognized the Council amongst the best regulatory agencies in the country in a group that includes the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), National Agency for Food and Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), National Issurance Commission of Nigeria (NICON), Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),  Petroleum Product Regulatory Agency (PPRA), Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), and Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA)   In the year 2005 the VCN was the third best regulatory Agency in Nigeria after NICON, and NCC.