Stakeholders, including lawmakers, donkey dealers and government agencies are divided over a proposed legislation to regulate donkey business in Nigeria.
While some propose an outright ban on slaughtering of donkeys over fear of extinction, others said the regulation of donkey business is to curb smuggling and that ranching and breeding could address the depletion of the animal population.
The Donkey Slaughter, Regulation and Export Certification Bill, currently under consideration in the National Assembly, seeks to regulate the slaughter of donkey in Nigeria and ensure the classification of the animal as an endangered species – which as a result of indiscriminate slaughtering for its skin, has greatly depleted the national herd.
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The proposed legislation, sponsored by Senator Abdullahi Yahaya (PDP, Kebbi), also aims at mitigating the extinction of donkeys given their aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the Nigerian nation.
Yahaya has said the bill is to make Nigeria derive the utmost benefit from the donkey hides export market which is worth millions of dollars by regulation instead of an outright ban of the business.
The bill, in clause 1, states that the slaughter of donkey species, the breeding and ranching of donkeys shall be a regulated business under the export Certification Value Chain of the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service.
It prohibits the slaughter of donkey, transportation and export of its hides and meat without the express, written authorisation by the Service
It also seeks to mandate any person(s) desirous of breeding, ranching or the export of donkey or donkey products to provide evidence of the establishment of a breeder or ranch for its operations and secure the approval of the National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI).
Clause 9(1)(3) says anyone “who slaughters, trades in or otherwise deals with donkey and donkey products shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for 10 years.
“In addition to the penalty, the donkey and donkey products, the slaughter and export of which is regulated under this bill, as well as any vehicle, carriage, vessel, aircraft, building, structure, tools or devices or other thing whatsoever used in connection with the slaughtering or killing of donkey shall be forfeited to the federal government.”
Recently at a public hearing on the bill, organised by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, donkey dealers had said outright ban on slaughtering of donkeys was not a solution to the envisaged extinction of the animal in Nigeria but rather the move would render about three million Nigerians jobless.
The national president of the Donkey Dealers Association, Ifeanyi Dike, said the solution to the morbid fear of donkey’s extinction was “ranching and breeding” of the animal and “regulation” of its business.
“We should know that the 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,” he said.
Dike said the dealers have invested heavily over the years and had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the 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.
“It is projected that donkey businesses, if properly regulated, are capable of injecting N10 billion annually to our economy.
“We state categorically that anyone or group of people who support the blanket ban on donkey killing is deemed enemy of our businesses, enemy to Nigeria’s economy as well as indirectly supporting the Chinese,” he said.
A human rights activist, Mr Marcel Okpara, who also spoke at the public hearing, said a ban on donkey slaughtering would put some Nigerians out of business and from earning a living. He advised that instead of outright ban, the proposed law should be framed to protect Nigerians in the business of donkey across its value chain.
There will be no job losses – Othman
However, Alhaji Mahmoud Othman, a former Kano State Commissioner for Rural Development under the administration of Abubakar Rimi, countered the submission of the donkey dealers, saying their argument that the ban would render millions jobless, was nothing short of defending criminality.
“As far as I am concerned, there should not be any donkey business. Donkey should be left alone, there should be no trading in donkey as commercial trading, for people to buy donkey from one part of Nigeria to another part of it, to slaughter it,” he said.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, the elder statesman said institutionalising the slaughtering of donkeys for business purposes would not augur well for the common man.
He said his position is that of outright banning of commercial trading of donkey and its slaughtering,
“The fear that some people will be out of business is not fair, let them look for another business. Donkey business is not business, they did not come to this life to sell donkeys,” he said.
Alhaji Othman further said donkey is a valued animal in all societies, not only in northern Nigeria. “Donkey has been used as a beast of burden, carrying loads and it is very simple to maintain.
“Not only in Africa, go to Mongolia, Bangladesh, India, especially northern India; you will see how donkeys are used not only in carrying load, but also used for agriculture as they draw ploughs on farm.
“In northern Portugal, you will find donkeys there, used for carrying egg, grass and agricultural products from the farms; they are part and parcel of the society.
“Go to Texas, Arizona, Mexico and in southwestern part of the United States, you will find donkeys despite being number one economies in the world there are donkeys there.”
He said it was only in Nigeria that people have developed the idea of slaughtering donkeys, “which is very inhumane and very brutal. And then some lazy Chinese will abandon northwest China where they have donkeys, they leave Mongolia where they have donkeys and come all the way to Nigeria where we have very corrupt elements and who are their guiding angel to lead them on how to go and pauperise the poorest of our local people.
“The local people have been corrupted to think they can sell their donkeys for mere thousands of naira. That is the end of the story. After that what happened? They are left with nothing again, they are struggling and everybody is complaining that the government is not helping in agriculture because there are no tractors. But the donkeys that are the alternatives have all been sold,” he said.
On why donkeys should not be compared with cattle, Alhaji Othman said that is because those breeding donkeys are ordinary people, who consider donkeys as part and parcel of their existence.
He said: “Nigeria does not need a donkey to grow its GDP, any person arguing that is viewing it for selfish interest. Nigeria has many resources, which we have abandoned.
“I consider it as economic sabotage, I consider it as an insult, and consider it as laziness. Let them (donkey dealers) go and look for another job.”
Hon. Mohammed Datti, a member of the House of Representatives, said the donkey “is facing extinction” and must be protected at all costs.
He said the legislation mainly seeks to prohibit entirely the killing and export of donkeys to China where, he said, donkey skin is used for their traditional medicine.
“This animal is facing extinction and it’s an animal you cannot breed in large numbers because of their very low rate of fertility.
“The major beneficiary in this trade is the donkey breeding merchants in China with a profit of $293 million in 2016 to the detriment of the rural people of Africa and the Caribbean.”
The chairman of the committee, Senator Bima Enagi, clarified that the bill only seeks to regulate the slaughter of donkeys but not outright ban on the business.
The bill has already been passed by the House of Representatives.
By Abdullateef Salau & Clement A. Oloyede (Kano)
