By Fatima Saka
The Senate has declared donkeys an endangered species and warned against its indiscriminate slaughtering and consumption.
The declaration was made on Monday in Abuja at the National Assembly complex by the Senate chairman Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development chaired by Sen. Bima Enagi.
The bill is entitled: “Donkey Slaughter Regulation and Export Certification Bill, 2020 was sponsored by Sen. Yahaya Abdullahi.
The Bill which has passed second reading on July 6, 2021, is aimed at mitigating the extinction of donkeys following their aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the Nigerian nation.
The Donkey Dealers Association (DDA) also said that the proposed ban on donkey slaughtering in Nigeria will result in loss of businesses and investments for three million Nigerians.
Chairman CEO ETS EMMALEX Global ltd, Chidebe Sunday Nnabuike and National Chairman of the Association, Mr Ifeanyi Dike, made the remark at a one day Public hearing on eight bills for the agriculture sector.
In his submission, Nnabuike said that the outright ban on slaughtering of donkeys was not a solution to the envisaged extinction of donkeys in Nigeria.
“We should know that the 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 have not gone into extinction, so how can a donkey with the same gestation period as a cow go into extinction? We should encourage breeding and ranching,”he said.
Nnabuike further said that 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.
“We took this action to increase the local population of donkeys in Nigeria to avoid its extinction. “
He said that donkey regulation, breeding and ranching policy would create millions of job opportunities starting from donkey farmers, traders, slaughter houses, logistics and export.
Nnabuike 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.
A member of the House of Representatives, Muhammad Datti in his remarks said 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.
“This animal is facing extinction and it’s an animal you cannot breed in large numbers 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,” Hon. Datti added.
Earlier, Chairman of the Committee, Enagi said the public hearing was designed to receive inputs from stakeholders and the general public with a bid to come up with relevant legislations that would promote agriculture in Nigeria.
He said the committee through the Senate leadership repositioned 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 public hearing included Nigerian Research Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture Bakassi (Establishment) Bill, 2022.