A group, Good Development and Accountability Advocacy, has advised dog and cat owners in the country to vaccinate the animals against rabies, saying that the disease is a big threat to humanity.
This is even as the group has warned Nigerians that consumption of dog meat infected with rabies can end their lives.
The President of the group, Chukwunazom Cyra Obi gave the warning in Umuahia, Abia State, during the World Rabies Day celebration in the state.
He expressed concern over the nuisance constituted by stray dogs in urban streets and within rural communities across the country but noted that his organization has been arresting stray dogs on the streets of Umuahia as well as carrying out sensitization campaigns about the dangers of rabies.
Obi said that rabies remains a formidable challenge to to the society which must be eradicated.
According to him, vaccination of dogs remains the most cost-effective strategy for preventing rabies in people.
He noted that rabies is a vaccine-preventable, zoonotic disease which affects the central nervous system in an infected human.
Obi further called on government at all levels to work towards eradicating rabies by 2030.