By Saminu Ibrahim
Donkeys in Nigeria may go into extinction soon if alleged illegal killing and exportation of the animals continue in Nigeria, an ecosystem advocacy group, the National Ecosystem Advocates of Nigeria (NEAN) has said.
Indeed, the group raised this alarm on Friday, expressed concerns that if this ugly trend is not quickly checked, the country runs the risk of allowing its donkeys to go extinct in no time.
n a statement jointly signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Comrade Ben Iguabor and the National Secretary, Silas Modaccai, and made available to SINL Nigeria Online, the conservationists lamented that forest guards from the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) are being attacked, harassed, and maimed by these Chinese and their unpatriotic Nigerian collaborators.
The group alleged that some Chinese enter the country on the guise of being construction workers only to turn around operating as marauders, poaching and exporting our donkeys illegally to China with the active connivance of some unpatriotic Nigerians.
“Our observations reveal that some Chinese who enter the country on the guise of construction workers fraudulently turn some of our nation’s forests and bushes into a haven for the destruction of our flora and fauna for their selfish material and economic gains.
“Unfortunately, these illegal Chinese find easy collaborators among some unpatriotic Nigerians who aid them in perpetuating the violation of animals and timbers in our forests and bushes.”
It further claimed that “in particular, illegal buying and slaughtering of donkeys in parts of the Southeast and Northwest for export has continued to thrive among these unscrupulous Chinese and their local collaborators.
“We understand that donkey meat, as well as their hides and skins are very highly sought after in China, which is unable to meet its local needs, hence the pressure and resort to illegal importation from countries like Nigeria”.
“As if the illegal killing and export of donkeys from Nigeria by these Chinese are not enough, the Chinese have recently resorted to assaulting and harming guards of the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) who attempt to check their nefarious activities and their collaborators.
The group maintained that on two occasions in January this year and only last Tuesday, agents of the Chinese were reported to have organized heinous attacks on NAQS guards as well as some police personnel attached to them in Ebony State, carted away weapons of the police, and inflicted serious injuries on those guards.
It is consequent upon this ugly development, that the group is imploring on the Inspector General of Police to immediately order the arrest and prosecution of those behind these dastardly acts.
Also, the group has urged the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to live up to its statutory responsibilities by monitoring and ensuring that foreigners, in this case, Chinese, who come into our country are permitted purely on need-base, even as they also enjoined the immigration service to carry out routine renewal of expatriates work permits.
