By Henry Umoru

ABUJA- THE  Donkey Dealers’  Association, DDA has told the Senate that the proposed ban on donkey slaughtering in Nigeria would lead to loss of businesses and investments for three million Nigerians.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at a one day Public hearing on eight bills for the agriculture sector organised by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development chaired by Sen. Bima Enagi, All Progressives Congress, APC, Niger South, National Chairman of the association, Ifeanyi Dike explained that the outright ban on slaughtering of donkey was not a solution to  the envisaged extinction of donkeys in Nigeria.

Dike who  urged the Senate to consider the plight of over three million Nigerians that would be out of jobs and businesses if  the bill was  allowed to pass, said, “We should know that outright blanket ban as proposed by this bill will create some powerful smuggling syndicates who are bent on getting the donkey derivatives for export to China thereby sabotaging the economy.

 “The blanket ban on donkey killing and export of its derivatives as a result of morbid fear of its extinction has failed to realise that regulation, ranching and breeding is the solution. 

“Cows which we slaughter more than 50,000 on daily basis as meat has not gone into extinction, so how can a donkey with the same gestation period as cow go into extinction. We should encourage breeding and ranching.”

According to him,  the dealers had invested heavily over the  years and have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) for the breeding and production of five million donkeys within a space of 10 years.

Duke said,  “We took this action to increase the local population of donkeys in Nigeria to avoid its extinction. “

The  Chairman of DDA  who noted  that donkey regulation, breeding and ranching policy would create millions of job opportunities starting  from donkey farmers, traders, slaughter house, logistics and export, said, “Each of these segments is very important in revenue generation into our economy by way of taxation and levy collections right from the Local Governments to the states and to the Federal Government. 

” It is projected that donkey businesses if properly regulated, is capable of injecting N10 bllion annually to our economy. “

Recall  that the bill is entitled: “Donkey Slaughter Regulation and Export Certification Bill, 2020 was sponsored by Sen. Yahaya  Abdullahi.

It had passed second reading on July 6, 2021 aimed at mitigating the extinction of donkeys given their aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the Nigerian nation.

It also sought to declare donkeys as an endangered specie which as a result of indiscriminate slaughtering for the purpose of harvesting its skin, has greatly depleted the national herd of the animal.

On his part,  Maxwell Okpara, a legal practitioner and a human rights activist who noted that   the bill was a calculated attempt to put some Nigerians out of business and  from earning a living adding that the business of donkey slaughtering had been in existence for 70  years, said that the dealers  were more worried about the extinction of donkey, hence  had resorted to breeding more donkeys through establishment of ranching systems  to keep them in  business.

Okpara stressed that  he was not against having a legal framework to regulate the business of donkey, but advised that the act should be framed to protect Nigerians in the business of donkey value chain .

In his remarks, a member of the House of Representatives, Muhammad Datti  said that the bill sought to prohibit entirely, the killing and export of donkeys to China saying that China was using the donkey skin for their traditional medicine.

He said, “This animal is facing extinction and it is  an animal you cannot breed in large number because of the very low rate of fertility. 

“The major beneficiary in this trade is the donkey breeding merchants in China with a profit of 293 million dollars in 2016 to the detriment of the rural people of Africa and Caribbean.”

Earlier in his remarks,  Chairman of the Committee, Enagi explained that the  public  hearing was designed to  receive  inputs from stakeholders and the general public with a bid to coming up with relevant legislations that would promote agriculture in Nigeria. 

Enagi said, “You will recall that these important bills were read first and second time in the Chamber of the Senate as per the practice. 

“Cursory look at the bills would reveal to us that, they are out to serve similar goals and purpose: ensure food security and healthy diet for our citizens, create jobs, development of the sector through various value chains and to reposition the agricultural sector in the nation’s economy. 

He said that  the committee through the Senate  leadership would  reposition the agricultural sector  to increase its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and achieve the objective of the global food organizational policies. 

Other bills considered at the  the public hearing were the  Nigerian Research Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture Bakassi (Establishment) Bill, 2022.

“National Food Safety and Quality Bill, 2020 and National Verterianry Research Institute, Gombe (Establishment) Bill, 2021”