The Federal Government has been urged to intervene in the illegal killing and exportation of donkeys from the country by some unscrupulous Chinese.
An ecosystem advocacy group; the National Ecosystem Advocates of Nigeria (NEAN), who raised this alarm in a statement in Abuja on Friday expressed concerns that if this ugly trend is not quickly checked, the country runs the risk of allowing its donkeys go extinct in no time.
The group alleged that some Chinese enter the country on the guise of being construction workers only to turn around operating as marauders, poaching and exporting our donkeys illegally o China with the active connivance of some unpatriotic Nigerians.
In a statement jointly signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Comrade Ben Iguabor and the National Secretary, Silas Modaccai, the conservationists also expressed worry that forest guards from the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) are being attacked, harassed and maimed by these Chinese and their unpatriotic Nigerian collaborators.
According to the group, “Our observations reveal that some Chinese who enter the country on the guise of construction workers fraudulently turn some of our nation’s forests and bushes into safe heaven for the destruction of our flora and fona for their selfish material and economic gains.
“Unfortunately, these illegal Chinese find easy collaborators among some unpatriotic Nigerians who aid them in perpetrating the violation of animals and timbers in our forests and bushes.”
It further claimed that, “In particular, illegal buying and slaughtering of donkeys in parts of the Southeast and Northwest for export has continued to thrive among these unscrupulous Chinese and their local collaborators. We understand that donkey meat, as well as their hides and skins are very highly sought after in China, which is unable to meet its local needs, hence the pressure and resort to illegal importation from countries like Nigeria.”
The group regretted that as if the illegal killing and export of donkeys from Nigeria by these Chinese are not enough, the Chinese have recently resorted to assaulting and harming guards of the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) who attempt to check their nefarious activities and their collaborators.
It claimed that on two occasions in January this year and only last Tuesday, agents of the Chinese were reported to have organized heinous attacks on NAQS guards as well as some police personnel attached to them in Ebony State, carted away weapons of the police and inflicted serious injuries on those guards.
It is consequent upon this ugly development, that the group is imploring on the the Inspector General of Police to immediately order the arrest and prosecution of those behind these dastardly acts.
In addition, the group has urged the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to live up to its statutory responsibilities by monitoring and ensuring that foreigners, in this case, Chinese, who come into our country are permitted purely on need-base, even as they also enjoined the immigration service to carry out routine renewal of expatriates work permits to ensure compliance with the nation’s extant laws.
