Agriculture

Association demand prosecution of donkey products smugglers

The Donkey Dealers Association of Nigeria has asked the Federal government to prosecute both Nigerians and Chinese who engage in indiscriminate killing of donkeys and smuggling of its products outside the country.

While protesting recently at the office of the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), the Association said they had invested millions of Naira and ranching and breeding of donkeys but the smugglers have been sabotaging their efforts.

The National Chairman of Donkey Dealers Association of Nigeria, Dike Ifeanyi while calling on the government to protect their business, called for a robust regulatory framework that will ensure the ranching and breeding of donkeys.

“We are calling on the federal government to support us by protecting our business, these Chinese that engage in smuggling donkeys should be arrested and prosecuted.

“We are calling on the federal government and the Ministry of Agriculture to assist us in protecting our business, this is our only means of livelihood. These Chinese are raiders, they are not investors. We are looking for investors, those that will go into ranching, breeding and pasture to create jobs and generate forex.

“We were told to go into ranching and breeding, we have done that and millions of naira has been invested, but as a result of the sabotage by these Chinese and some unpatriotic Nigerians working with them, the efforts of regulation is not yielding the desired result.

“We are calling on the federal government to come up with a very robust regulatory framework that is going to stamp out Chinese smugglers aware from these businesses.

“We want the government to also write to the Nigerian Customs Service to allow our people to do their business because they are not exporters, they are just local traders”, he said.

The Deputy National President of the Association, Bishir Bello while disagreeing on the total ban of donkey business, said a lot of families depend on donkey trading to earn their living.

He called for regulation of the business and prosecution of those behind the indiscriminate killing of donkeys and smuggling of its products.

“We want this business regulated; many Nigerians are part of this business because it is a value chain. Banning donkey trading is not the way out because thousands of Nigerians are living from this business.

“The major problem of this business is the Chinese people. The government should prosecute any person smuggling the hides of these donkeys. The Chinese are using Nigerians as agents to smuggle these donkey products and the government is not benefiting anything because they are not paying tax”, he said.

Also, another stakeholder in the Association, Mr Sunday Ifediora, said “We are here to register our protest because Chinese people came to destroy the donkey business. We the dealers are into legitimate donkey business, but the Chinese engage in smuggling.

“Many families are surviving on donkey business, we don’t smuggle donkeys, we do legitimate business. We want the government to protect our business, assist us because that is where we feed our families”

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