By Fatima Saka
Nigeria Customs Service has seized 16 thousand sacks of donkey male genitals penises about to be exported to Hong Kong.
This was revealed on Thursday in Lagos by Sambo Dangaladima, the Nigeria Customs Service area commander, who revealed it to the Newsmen at the international airport in Lagos.
“The consignment was falsely declared as cow male genitals after due examination, my export officers discovered they were donkey male genitals.
“An investigation has been launched to find out more information about the seized items, the customs service said.
“The major beneficiary in this trade is the donkey (skin) merchants in China,” Muhammad Datti, one of the federal lawmakers supporting the proposed ban, has said. “This animal is facing extinction (in Nigeria) and it is an animal you cannot breed in large numbers because of the very low rate of fertility,”said Dangaladima.
It has also been reported that Nigeria has tried to place restrictions on the export of donkey skins which has drastically diminished the country’s population of work animals, particularly in the north. Nigerian senators in 2021 proposed to ban the killing of donkeys and the export of their skins.
The lawmakers said such a ban on killing donkeys would further curb the export of donkey skins and genitals which Nigeria prohibits to countries like China where the skins are used in popular traditional medicines. That proposed legislation has not yet been passed into law.
However, it has also been reported that consumption of donkey meat is harmful to human health.
