Reps move to ban killing and export of donkeys

House of Representatives, Tuesday, move to outlaw the killing and export of donkeys or its derivatives for fear of extinction.
At a public hearing on a bill for an Act to prohibit the killing of donkeys in Nigeria, the lawmakers stressed that failure to restrict the consumption and export of the animal meant that Nigerians would be denied of the derivable commercial, research and recreational benefits.
Declaring the hearing open, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture and Services, Mohammed Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno) said the essence was borne purely as a result of ugly scenario of depopulation of donkey species in Nigeria where people are killing the animal indiscriminately.

Hon. Datti Garba Muhammed, APC Kaduna

Giving a synopsis of the bill at the hearing, the sponsor, Hon. Datti Mohammed (APC, Kaduna), said his decision to author the bill was borne out of his observation of what’s going on in north where donkey owners began to liquidate them by selling them off to foreigners who export them for industrial uses.
According to Muhammed, the main thrust of the bill was to preserve the endangered donkey species from extinction.
He said, “this bill seeks, among others, to prohibit the killing of donkeys in Nigeria and the exportation of its derivatives, especially the skin, out of Nigeria, given the depletion in their population and the threat of extinction.
“Donkey has aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to Nigerians, and thus need to be preserved exclusively for use in rural transportation”.
Muhammed warned of severe depopulation of donkeys in the country as a result of the recent invasion of West African markets by Chinese traders in search of donkey skins.
According to the lawmaker, the demand for donkey skin is extremely high because a ‘gelatin’ derived from it is prized for its nutritional tonic, blood-boosting and immune system enhancement.
He further stated that by enacting a law in that regard, Nigeria would have followed the examples of Mali, Senegal, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, which have taken measures to protect the animal.
Muhammed decried that in Kano, for instance, a donkey that was normally sold for between N15,000 and N18,000 now goes for between N70,000 and N75,000, while Chinese dealers posted profits of about U$295 million in 2016.
The bill, which proposes two clauses against the intentional killing and/or exportation of donkeys in Nigeria, also recommends a penalty of 10 years imprisonment for offenders.
“Study has shown that in China, over four million donkeys are imported for industrial purposes other than agriculture and it’s our duty as a Parliament to come up with laws that would discourage this practice”, Datti said.

Rt Hon. Haliru Dauda Jika, APC Bauchi

Rt Hon. Haliru Dauda Jika, (APC Bauchi), member rerepresenting Darazo/Ganjuwa Federal Constituency, who was at the hearing said that he was in full support of the bill.
Jika observed that if something drastic is not done to save the donkey population, the animal would go into extinction.

Vice Chairman, Ifeanyi Dike, Donkey Skin Processor Marketers Exporters Association.

But the move by the government to discourage the practice is not going down well with the Donkey Skin Processor Marketers Exporters Association, whose Vice Chairman, Ifeanyi Dike, kicked against the legislation, saying that sale of the animals has served as means of livelihood to as many as 10,000 people on the value chain.
Dike said instead of prohibiting the sale of donkeys, the government should help scale up the conservation to multiply the population, arguing that if the sale is outrightly stopped donkeys would begin to constitute hazards to road users due to overpopulation leading to inadequate control by their owners.