Cow Milk Can Cause Tuberculosis, AIG Aishatu Baju
Queen Aishatu Abubakar Baju, DVM (ABU), PhD (PLYMOUTH), NPOM, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Force Gender Advisor to the Inspector General of Police, President of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria and Monitor General SEC 4 NIPSS, has trodden where even angels dread in her career. As a very hard-working and experienced Officer, she possesses vast technical know-how and versatile experience in her areas of expertise. She is the first female to head the Force Animal Branch (FAB) of NPF, and her creativity has improved and repositioned the Nigeria Police Force for global best practice measures to engage and deploy police dogs and horses in crime and criminality management.
AIGP Abubakar Baju’s meritorious rise in her career can best measured against her world-class performances. Passion for excellence in her chosen career propelled her interest in pursuing a PhD from the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom, where she worked on the Molecular Epidemiology of Bovine and Human Tuberculosis. Her PhD thesis in Molecular Epidemiology of Bovine and Human Tuberculosis was selected alongside 14 other women awarded a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) scholarship award for Global Young Women in Science 2005. She successfully spearheaded the establishment of the first-ever state-of-the-art State House Veterinary Clinic in Aso Villa-Abuja and an ultra-modern Police Dog breeding centre in Abuja, the first of its kind in the entire West African region. She promotes advocacy for women police postings to responsibilities hitherto considered “impossible” for women in the NPF and coaching programs for junior female and male police officers towards achieving excellence in their careers.
AIGP Abubakar Baju, the Queen of PEACE (Sarauniyar Salam) is a thinker outside the box, a reputable team player, an advocate of gender parity.
In this interview with the team of PEACE Magazine, bares her mind on issues bothering on the activities of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria and animal-to-human disease transmission.
Excerpt
How far is the Veterinary Oath being put into practice by your members?
The Veterinary Oath is the oath graduates from veterinary schools take to admit them to veterinary practice with a promise to maintain and abide by the standards in the profession as set by the World Veterinary Council and the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) to guide their practices, especially on animal welfare issues. The animal welfare issue is a global concern, and the concerns are the fundamental rights of the animals. And this is what the oath guides practitioners to conform to as standards. A part of the guiding principles of practice is that animals are treated well, and humanely transported, have rights to have food and water, have rights to medical attention, and have freedom of roaming in their natural habitats or under artificial enclosures. It might be of interest to know that these are part of Allah’s commandments on us as Muslims. He made it mandatory that we should treat animals with care and love, even if they are to be slaughtered for food. Having said these and going by the rules of practice, I do not want to say there is total compliance by veterinary practitioners in Nigeria. There is a need for improvements. To us at the Veterinary Council of Nigeria, total compliance with ethics is the expectation and standards to follow. The Council is a government regulatory agency responsible for regulating the training and practice of the veterinary professions in Nigeria. The Council enforces the laws to ensure Veterinary doctors abide by the rules and the Oath.
Madam, can you explain more about the rights of the animals?
Let me use two examples. The right to exhibit their instinct for example means that animals are to live to a large extent in their natural habitats and courses, as they are created to live by God. For instance, if it’s a flying bird or flying animal, it is not expected such animals are put inside small cages, if you do that you are now allowing it to fly as part of its natural instinct. If you are keeping such a bird at home as a pet, then the right thing to do is to provide roomy enclosures where the bird can fly effectively. And if it is a climbing animal like the monkey, you must be able to provide enclosures where it can climb trees and possibly swings to be able to exhibit its natural instinct. The second example is the right to be transported in the best conditions to keep them from injury or death. Their transportation must be in line with their rights. One should be able to transport cattle, goats and rams from one place to another in such a way that they do not suffer any discomfort ,especially for long distances journeys.
How much effort is the Veterinary Council of Nigeria putting in to enlighten the public on animal-human disease transmission?
The effort should not be from the Veterinary Council alone it should be collective. The enlightenment on animal-human disease transmission is inadequate in the country. People are not enlightened enough to know the dangers and consequences of Zootomic diseases like tuberculosis, rabies, and so on and so forth. These diseases are transmitted from animals to human beings and vice versa. As a Veterinary practitioner, part of the responsibility is to protect human health through the protection of animal health. Because when you control the diseases in animals, then the possibility of such diseases being transmitted to human beings, through consumption or contact is reduced. Furthermore, before an animal is slaughtered for human consumption it’s expected for a Veterinary Doctor, to do an automotive inspection and be satisfied if it’s healthy enough to be slaughtered. Even after the slaughtering major organs are to be examined to make sure that the lungs have no lesions which showsthat there is a tuberculosis virus infested in the animal. He examines the liver’s healthy status and ensures the muscles and meats are not worms-infested. These functions are done by us on a daily basis across Nigeria. But, how many Nigerians who own a dog or cat know that annually they must vaccinate the dog or cat against rabies? How many who travel with their dogs to other areas of the world or other cities in Nigeria know they need to quarantine such, for a while on return to their homes to monitor it for disease? In the COVID-19 era, we have evidence to show that the coronavirus emanated from animals to man. Long before the pandemic, in the veterinary profession, it has been documented in research works that cats, dogs, lions, tigers, birds and other animals have COVID-19 viruses and can transmit such to human beings. So we actively participated in curtailing the spread, developed protocols on COVID-19 in animals, and made it available to other health authorities to guide against the spread of the COVID-19 viruses. This is where the enlightenment you mentioned matters. It has to be a collective responsibility of the necessary government organs to support the Veterinary practitioners to do more in this regard.
You once researched cow milk contents. Has that research helped contain cow-to-human transmitted diseases?
Yes, very helpful. The thesis is there. It’s in the public domain. I did molecular epidemiology research on bovine and human tuberculosis to find out if there is a link between cow milk consumption and tuberculosis because, at that point in our history, a lot of people were testing positive for the disease. We went to many Fulani settler areas and took samples from their animals for test. Through the research, we got some results that link tuberculosis disease in human beings to the consumption of milk and meat from cows. I would not like to discourage you not to taking your Fura (natural milk from animals), but Of course, humans are getting infected through the consumption of raw cow milk. So, the thesis recommended that unpasteurized milk must be pasteurized before consumption in whatever form. You do not just start drinking raw milk directly from the expressed milk of animals just like that without pasteurizing it.
Is the council considering a review of the teaching curriculum for veterinary students in Nigeria?
Absolutely! We already commenced the process of the reviews by putting in place different committees to talk to renowned professionals and teaching professors from the universities to do appraisals and review the veterinary book content and the teaching methodology. The idea is to develop a roadmap for the Veterinary Council of Nigeria under my watch to make desirable changes. The revisions of the entire veterinary curriculum and restructuring of the methodology of teaching both the practical and theory to students at higher institutions are necessary at this point of modern development so that graduates meet international standards. In addition, we are working towards a unified curriculum for the entire West African sub-region, where Veterinary institutions in the region run the same curriculum so that veterinary graduates from Nigeria can go to any of the West African countries and practice freely. The council is also working on international collaborations to ensure after the revision, our graduates, from day one, leave their campuses with competencies and professionalism according to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), formally known as the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) requirements and standards. The committees on the reviews shall be guided, by WOAH standardized guidelines on teaching veterinary subjects so that the outcome shall have global acceptability.
Do you not think six years is a long time for the course duration in the universities?
How do you want it? The veterinary practice has standards as entrenched in the World Organization for Animal Health /Office International des Epizooties (OIE) requirements and standards. Graduates of veterinary studies must achieve a certain level of skills, both practical and theoretical for them to qualify and become doctors of veterinary medicine. Let me tell you, if our counterparts who study human medicine spend equally long years for their studies and training, those in veterinary medicine should not spend less considering the dictates of the profession. In human medicine, their specimen is only one, which is the human beings, and all human beings, regardless of colour, race, location, religion, exposure, and orientation in life, have the same Anatomy and internal and external features. The vital signs of human beings are the same anywhere such a human being lives. The human being in Nigeria is the same as in America with one heart, with the same expected body temperature, pulse rates, and position for the internal organs, except in abnormal situations and for gender classification. In veterinary medicine, the specimens are many and of different vital signs and positioning of the internal organs. For example, the body temperatures of dogs, horses, rabbits, lions, and other animals are in different ranges. Furthermore, each of the classifications has different body temperatures that are to be studied. The amphibians and non-amphibians have different ones, so for you to study these vital signs naturally, it will take a long time. Animals have different sizes of organs and positions. Their medications are also different in administration and contents. For instance, if you administer a penicillin injection to a rabbit, it will kill the rabbit before you remove the needle because it does not have the penicillin enzyme to digest it. Similarly, the digestive system of a ruminant-grass-eating animal is different from that of a non-ruminant-meat-eating animal. In surgery, when you open up a dog, its system is different from that of a cow. Therefore, how long do you think is enough to understand each of these animals’ peculiar creations? Surely, it will be for a long time. The study of veterinary medicine is broad and diverse in composition. Therefore, the years of study should remain as it is in line with international practice and the circumstances of today’s reality.
What are the potentials for young veterinarians in modern times?
The 21st-century veterinarian has opportunities in Nigeria. There istoo much potential, especially with so many interventions that the Government of Nigeria is introducing in agriculture, husbandry, livestock farming, fisheries, and general global phenomena that centeron public health practice. In today’s world, Medicine is becoming more preventive than curative, and there is increased awareness of nipping in the bud animals to human disease transmission. There is a lot for them to do. I can only tell them to equip themselves with the knowledge of ICT and entrepreneurial skills and leave out the idea of wanting someone to employ them. They should be ready to drive the entire health sector of the country, particularly the veterinary and public health corridors. They should not be part of Nigeria’s crowd but stand out of the crowd.
How do you want to encourage a Girl-child to enroll in the Nigeria Police?
I will tell her 21st 21st-century policing is not about strength but intellectuality, smartness, and brain work. It is no longer a mere physicality like in the past years when people believed the Police job was not a woman’s job. I want to encourage our girls to come out and join the Nigeria Police. In fact, not only the Nigeria Police, should join other forces as long as they can get recruited into them. They should believe the sky is just the beginning for them if, despite the olden days, beliefs about girls’ enrollments in the Police, I can attain my current rank by Allah’s grace, then their future are also guaranteed.
What is the price you paid to be where you are in your career?
Hard work, Educational advancement, and dedication to duties. These are the essential tools in any chosen career, not necessarily in the Nigeria Police. The traits make you stand different from others, and when you are no longer available, people will quickly notice your absence. I did a lot of personal educational development and put in extra effort. But above all, Allah is my Helper. I give Him the glory. Al hamdullilah.
What was growing up like for you as a girl child?
I grew up virtually in a school environment amongst students. Although my parents were not lettered in Western education, my grandmother played a very significant role in my humble start in life because she took good care of me, and that gave me a lot of advantages over my age group and my own siblings. Let me say this to encourage parents to give support to their girl-child. I came from a very humble background, but I got a lot of support and inspiration from my grandmother, who was a school matron in a secondary school, and that was helpful. I am actually the first graduate in my father’s home, although he wanted me to marry early in life, as was customary then. But I braced the odds and went all out for my education. Alhamdullilah.
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