The Council's Registrar, Dr Marcus Avong, said that the disease had not been properly contained, according to the Leadership newspaper.

The advice comes after many outbreaks of avian flu in the country.

Dr Avong said that active surveillance of the disease, restrictions on poultry products and preventing incursions of wild birds and other pests all needed to be implemented.

Meanwhile, The Nation newspaper in the country has questioned whether the Customs Service's operation against illegal smuggled frozen poultry has actually worked.

The operation, dubbed Operation Hawk Descend, has been seizing packets of illegal poultry for weeks to stop it getting into Nigeria's markets. The aim is to help Nigeria's local poultry industry, which has been undercut by the cheaper foreign imports, and to protect public health, which can be put at risk by breaks in the cold chain of smuggled products.

However, The Nation has said that the Operation's momentum has slowed, reporting that investigation by Consumer Watch has revealed the smugglers are no longer encountering resistance from government officials.