By Emma Okereh
As the federal government intensifies war against the slaughter of donkeys and trading on its hides, the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Wednesday, disclosed that some Chinese citizens have been arrested by the authorities for flouting the law on donkey business. It however, did not elaborate on the details of the arrest but said, it was a demonstration of government position and the seriousness it attached to the ban on donkey trading.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, NAQS Comptroller General, Dr Vincent Isegbe lamented the way some Nigerians and their foreign allies break the law on donkey by slaughtering and engaging in the illicit trade despite government position. He reiterated the need to preserve the animal in accordance with international conventions on endangered species.
He declared that the animal has become endangered specie and is going into extinction. He submitted that government has the responsibility to protect and preserve it. He further stated that the donkey economy is not only peculiar to Nigeria stressing that trading on its hides amounts to economic sabotage warning that “if we disrupt the donkey population, it will affect the ecosystem”.
He advised those in the donkey business to go into ranching as the federal government through the ministry of Agriculture has made plans to harmonize the donkey herders with a view to giving directions and providing the leeway on how to encourage the population of the animal. He stated that the ban on donkey meat, slaughter and trading derives from government’s responsibility to protect its citizens, animals and the ecosystem. He disclosed that donkey slaughter camps exist in Nigeria even as NAQS have descended on them.
Dr Isegbe also stated that the ban flows from the fact that certain economic system especially in the rural areas have been destroyed and disrupted by the absence of donkeys, hence, the need to preserve it, adding, “anything that affects the economy and health issues of the country, must be of huge concern to the government”.
While imploring the media to help in the dissemination and enlightenment of the endangered specie, Dr Isegbe also revealed that international convention necessitates it in order to safeguard the endangered specie. ”The donkey specie must be protected and given the opportunity to grow. It has to be mapped, ”, he concluded.
