…urges IGP to order culprits’ arrest, indicts Customs
A group, National Ecosystem Advocates of Nigeria has raised the alarm about the systematic destruction of the Nigerian ecosystems through the illegal activities of some Chinese in the country.
NEAN, whose primary goal is to monitor and ensure the preservation and maintenance of the nation’s ecosystem, cried out that over the dangers posed by the “menacing and criminal activities of some unscrupulous Chinese in our nation’s forests, bushes and water areas.
According to the association, it has discovered that some Chinese who enter the country under the guise of coming to work as construction workers “fraudulently turn some of our nation’s forests and bushes into safe havens 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 perpetrating the violation of animals and timbers in our forests and bushes.”
NEAN in a statement jointly signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Ben Iguabor and National Secretary, Silas Mordechai, noted 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, they 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.
“On two occasions in January this year and only last Tuesday, agents of the Chinese were reported to have organised heinous attacks on NAQS guards as well as some police personnel attached to them in Ebonyi State, carting away weapons of the police and inflicting serious injuries on those guards. Following this ugly development, we are imploring the Inspector General of Police to immediately order the arrest and prosecution of those behind these dastardly acts.
“We are concerned that if the relevant agencies of our Governments do not act fast, donkeys may soon go into extinction considering the frequency they are being poached by these Chinese.”
The group, however, expressed regret that efforts by the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services being spare-headed by the Director General and Commandant of the agency Dr. Vincent Isegbe, through the construction of monitoring outposts across the country, had failed to produce the desired outcome because of the collaborative support of some unpatriotic Nigerians as well as some personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service,” who compromise their office and turn blind eyes to the illegal export of the donkey meats and products.
“In some other instances, these criminal Chinese also poach some species of birds, crocodiles and other animals, again for illegal export into their countries.
NEAN further accused the Chinese nationals of extending their alleged criminal acts in the illegal plundering of timbers in the nation’s forests and bushes, “again with the active connivance of some of our unpatriotic citizens.”
The group, therefore, called on the Nigeria Immigration Service to live up to its statutory responsibilities by monitoring and ensuring that foreigners, in this case, Chinese, who enter Nigeria “are permitted purely on need-base, even as they are also joined to carry out routine renewal of expatriates work permits to ensure compliance the nation’s extant laws.
“We in addition, appeal to members of the National Assembly to strengthen the powers of the NAQS, through the review of the act setting up the agency.
“Moreover, there is the necessity of all the sister agencies of the NAQS for proper collaboration if the menace posed by these foreign criminal elements must be tackled.”