DONKEY Dealers Association (DDA) has asked for the support of the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture and Production Services, Honourable Bello Ka’oje, on the regulation of donkey business in the country, which they said would create thousands of jobs for the youth.
DDA raised the concern over calls for outright ban of donkey business, citing that this move will be counter-productive as it will create more hardship for families that depend on donkey value chain business to earn living.
Speaking with journalists after their meeting with Ka’oje, the national public relations officer of DDA, Yusuf Tafiya’u said the association informed the committee chairman of the business opportunities in donkey business.
“We held a meeting with the committee on agriculture, we discussed plenty issues, a lot bills have been passed by the Senate to ban the donkey business, but the association is saying that there is a need to regulate the business, because there are a lot of youths engaged in the donkey business and they are earning livelihood from the business. That is why we encourage the Senate and the House of Representatives to support us to regulate and not to ban the business.
“The business will help the country employ more youths. The donkey value chain will create thousands of job opportunities, as the donkey business is very important, especially in the northern Nigeria,” he said.
He said the association is encouraging the government to stop the Chinese who are involved in the illegal slaughtering of donkeys and smuggling the skin for drugs and cosmetic production.
“If you visit the market and the slaughtering camps within the northern Nigeria, you will see a lot of youth engaged in the business, that is why we encourage the government to support the association to establish a donkey ranching and breeding system, so that we can buy the animal and distribute to the farmers so that they can multiply,” he said.
“We also encourage the government to stop the Chinese from illegal exportation of donkey skin and bones. The Chinese go to northern Nigeria, buy these donkeys including the pregnant ones and slaughter them because they are interested in the skin, and the animal is going into extinction, that is why the association want the government to support them in ranching and stop the Chinese from exporting donkey derivatives illegally.
“What the Chinese are interested is the skin because it contains a chemical which they extract to produce anti-aging tablets, cosmetics and manpower as well, that is why we want government to support us in regulation of the business so that we can multiply these animals”, Tafiya’u added.
The National President of DDA, Dike Obinna told journalists that they notified the Committee Chairman that they have been working in collaboration with Nigeria Agriculture Quarantine Service (NAQS), Nigerian Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and all they are asking for is the regulation of donkey business.
“We visited house Committee Chairman on Agriculture, we told him that we have been working in collaboration with NAQS, Nigerian police and the Civil Defence Corps, and all we are asking for is the regulation of donkey business which we have succeeded in the National Assembly and the bill was passed in our favour, and we are asking him that if there is anything the federal government should do, it should be ranching and breeding so that these animals do not go into extinction”, he stated.
In his response Hon. Ka’oje affirmed his support for the Association in their quest to revitalise the donkey value chain through ranching, breeding and regulation of the business.
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