Jalingo — The immediate past administration of Taraba State under Reverend Jolly Nyame frustrated efforts to adequately investigate and report the true position of the outbreak of the dreaded Avian Influenzal bird flu] in the state in 2006, the Director, Veterinary Services in the State's Ministry of Agriculture, has alleged.

Dr. Agbu Abe Hiko, who made this revelation in Jalingo at the weekend on the occasion of the World Veterinary Day celebration organized by the Taraba state chapter of the Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association, said there was deliberate cover up on the outbreak of the disease in the state, hence it was under reported.

Contrary to the official diagnosis and confirmation of the outbreak of the Avian Influenza in Taraba which was restricted to Wukari and Ibi local government areas alone, Dr. Hiko said similar symptoms of the disease were found in three other local government areas of the state namely Donga, Gassol and Kurmi. According to the Director of Veterinary Services, efforts of the state's Ministry of Agriculture under the Nyame administration to collect samples from the affected areas for labouratory analysis at the NVRI, Jos, Plateau state, were frustrated.

"I personally wrote memos requesting approval of funds for logistics to enable us undertake the investigation of the suspected cases of bird flu in these local governments, but to my greatest surprise the memos were thrown back at me", Hiko said, pointing out that as a result of this frustration of their efforts, the outbreak of the disease in Taraba state in 2006 was grossly under investigated and under reported.

The Project Desk Officer of Taraba State Avian Influenza Control Project, Dr. Bunsheya Ba'alde Dauda, who corrobo-rated this position, said lack of logistics support hampered the proper investigation and confirmation of the outbreak of bird flu in other local govern-ment areas of Taraba state where strong symptoms were reported.

The Desk Officer who presented an overview of the Avian Influenza in Nigeria in general and Taraba state in particular, said a total of 74 poultry farmers whose birds were culled during the outbreak were paid compensation courtesy of the federal government.