From Okwe Obi, Abuja

Donkey Dealers Association (DDA), has reiterated its willingness to shore up revenue generation in donkey business as it target 10 million animal production in the next 5 years.

DDA President, Ifeanyi Dike Obinna, stated this yesterday in Abuja after the inauguration of its executive members and its new secretariat with the aim of sustaining the donkey value chain through regulated breeding and ranching to ensure that the animal does not go into extinction.

Obinna expressed excitement that the donkey value chain will witness improved performance and contribute to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“I am excited because all my efforts have yielded fruit, it is a journey that started years back, there have been ups and downs, but we were not deterred, we kept on moving, we kept on telling Nigerians that there are better things to do than blanket banning of donkey trading.

“If we ban the business, we are creating rooms for smugglers, but if we regulate and control the business, go into breeding and ranching, we are creating employment, we are increasing GDP.

“We are the dealers, we are the core business people in donkey, and there is nothing about it that is new to us. We have every platform to inform the government on certain challenges that we are having, like the smugglers.

“If we are able to come together, go into regulation, I think the smuggling activities will stop because these smuggling activities are happening from our camps, so by our inauguration today, we have promised the government that 80 per cent of the challenges of the donkey value chain will be controlled,” he said.

He said that the association signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) to train the Association members and produce 10 million donkeys in about 5 to 6 years.

“We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI), Zaria, Kaduna State, they have promised to give us 10 million within a space of 5 to 6 year, so we are very confident because #the reproduction system of donkey have gone beyond the formal, it is now scientific.

“During the time we signed MoU with NAPRI, part of our agreement is that our members have to be trained, we have acquired 4 hectares of land at Nasarawa State, we have gone into pasture production and breeding and we are hoping to expand our employment scope within a short time,”Obinna added.

A stakeholder, Sunday Ifediora, in the donkey value chain said the association was capable of tackling some of the challenges donkey is facing because it is a business they have started, they have invested a lot in the business and there is no way they can quit.

In addition, Ikechukwu Adiude, Chairman Dried Meat Preservers Trading Association said: “I want to beg the government to grant us agriculture loan so that we can go far because if they assist us, we will go far and it will reduce insecurity because if you have something doing, you will not join bad gang.”

The Association has Ifeanyi Duke Obinna as President, Ede Chinedu as Secretary, Uche Sunday, as Treasurer, Nwaka Obiorah as Financial Secretary, Ibrahim Buhari as Provost, Orji ThankGod as PRO and Chidubem Nnaji as National Taskforce Chairman.