Illegal Wildlife Trade - Tackling Illegal Donkey Skin Trade Trafficking in West Africa

Dole Kaina is a border town between; Benin Republic, Nigeria and Niger Republic with River Niger running through the town.

The border town between Benin Republic, Nigeria and Niger Republic runs through Dole Kaina in Kebbi State, North West, Nigeria, while the other falls into Lolo and Ilo in Dosso State of Niger Republic.

In July 2022, Nigerian Customs Service [NCS] seized €114,000 worth of donkey skins that was been smuggled into Nigeria from Niger Republic through Dole Kaina in Kebbi State.

The strategic placement of Dole Kaina with River Niger running through the town makes it easier for smugglers and traffickers to transport illicit donkey skins from Niger Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso into Nigeria enroute; China, Singapore and Hong Kong

Most of the skins and other donkey remains nevertheless travel across the sea to end up in an otherwise unprepossessing eastern Chinese county called Dong’e, situated on the left bank of the Yellow River, 100 kilometers upstream from Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province.

Dong’e is where nearly all of the world’s ejiao — a gelatin boiled down from donkeys — is now made from 4.8 million skins a year

Traffickers in West and Central Africa are known to exploit the services of major maritime shipping and air transport companies to move their illicit cargo. These companies include Maersk, Pacific International Lines, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Emirates Airlines.

EIA’s data shows that wildlife criminals are exploiting corruption, the lack of scanning equipment and the reduction in staff availability during the pandemic in order to smuggle wildlife across borders.

Smuggling routes involve many countries, including Togo, Cameroon, Gabon, DR Congo, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Benin.

Products are sourced from suppliers in Cameroon before being sold to customers in Nigeria and abroad – to predominantly Vietnamese and Chinese buyers.

Lagos-based traders are known to work closely with clearing agents, who in turn exploit corrupt connections with Government officials, particularly in the Customs departments of specific sea and airports in staggering quantities.

These highly organized and sophisticated operations span multiple jurisdictions and violate Customs laws, as well as laws related to wildlife/environmental protection, organized crime, conspiracy, money laundering and corruption.

Traders in Nigeria work closely with shipping agents at major hubs, including Apapa seaport and Lagos airport, to export illegal goods.

Although there are direct route options from Nigeria to seaports in Vietnam such as Hai Phong, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, most syndicates opt for transhipment and/or transit locations such as Malaysia and Singapore so as to circumvent detection.

?Repacking of goods and bill switching may take place through clearing agents during transit, before onward transportation to Vietnam and China via air, sea or land routes.

Up to 70 per cent of the fees charged by corrupt clearing agents are for bribes to government officials and private transport company staff involved in the inspection process.

Research indicates that illegal traders in Nigeria will commonly build up a network of corrupt individuals, including shipping line staff, Customs officials and the port security staff involved in scanning shipments.

A. Overview:

"In September 2016, the heads of veterinary services of all member states of the Economic Community of West States [ECOWAS] met in the Nigerian capital, Abuja to discuss ways of dealing with the donkeys skin trade and it's impacts on agriculture and community livelihoods."

"Among other resolutions, the participating countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] which restricted the donkeys skin trade. It specifically prohibited all veterinary officers in West Africa from issuing permits for donkeys movement, slaughter and prevent export."

Donkeys are one of the ancient domesticated livestock valued in particular for their ability to survive under harsh conditions and also important for rural transportation and farming particularly in the northern part of the country. They also support the livelihoods of the rural population in many domestic chores.

Nigeria is one of the countries with a relatively large population of donkeys estimated at about 974,499, which can be attributed to the cross border movements by the pastoral herdsmen from Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Cameroon.

As emergence of a large-scale global demand and trading continues to grow for 'ejiao' in China, Hong Kong and Singapore [the Traditional Chinese Medicine [TCM] that donkey skin is make into] an estimated 4.9 million donkey skins are being traded annually, especially in Africa and globally.

Between 2012 and 2018, Nigeria has cumulatively lost in revenue over $2bn annually totalling over $7bn in six years to the smuggling of donkey parts to other countries, especially China.

The Kebbi State Nigerian Customs Service [NCS] handed over 2,820 donkey skins it intercepted by Rapid Response Team of the command from smugglers at Bahindi - Dogon Rimi Waterside, Bagudo Local Government Area of Kebbi State to the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service [NAQS] which were en-route to Nigeria's south east via Onne Seaport in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, South South, Nigeria.

The value of the 2,820 donkey skins is valued at ?48 million naira [USD $70,000], the donkey skin fall under Schedule 6 of Common Terms [2022 - 2026] exportation of which is prohibited in Nigeria.

Nigeria is a signatory to a multilateral convention on International trade on endangered species flora and fauna which makes trading of donkey skin illegal.

No doubt, donkey as an animal has suffered negligence from the government in the past, which resulted in indiscriminate killing of the animal because of the high demand for its skin.

The Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service [NAQS] has engaged in a sensitization campaign, to discourage people from colluding with foreign nationals to kill these livestock without breeding.

Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service [NAQS] has also destroyed some donkey skins which were collected illegally and were meant to be smuggled out of the country.

Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service [NAQS] also impounded the cache of donkey skin during several rounds of raids on hideouts used to store donkey skin ready to be trafficked out of Nigeria. In Nigeria the population of working donkeys are estimated to be at over one million and they classified according to the Eco-climatic conditions and most of them are distributed in the extreme northern region of Nigeria.

Hundreds of millions of donkeys are slaughtered for their skins and exported estimated to be at over 4.9 million annually, mostly from West and East Africa causing donkey numbers across the continent to decimate.

"There are growing body of evidences demonstrating the donkey skins trade to be inhumane, unsustainable and potentially unsafe. The slaughter of donkeys and export of their skins should be stopped."

As emergence of a large-scale global demand and trading continues to grow for 'ejiao' in China, Hong Kong and Singapore [the Traditional Chinese Medicine [TCM] that donkey skin is make into] an estimated 4.9 million donkey skins are being traded annually, especially in Africa and globally.

Between 2012 and 2018, Nigeria has cumulatively lost in revenue over $2bn annually totaling over $7bn in six years to the smuggling of donkey parts to other countries, especially China.

Nigerian Customs Service [NCS] impounded 7,000 pieces of donkey male genitals at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja in September 2022, the donkeys genitals were concealed in a container en-route Hong Kong.

Nigeria is a signatory to a multilateral convention on International trade on endangered species flora and fauna which makes trading of donkey skin illegal.

No doubt, donkey as an animal has suffered negligence from the government in the past, which resulted in indiscriminate killing of the animal because of the high demand for its skin.

The Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service [NAQS] has engaged in a sensitization campaign, to discourage people from colluding with foreign nationals to kill these livestock without breeding.

Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service [NAQS] has also destroyed some donkey skins which were collected illegally and were meant to be smuggled out of the country.

Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service [NAQS] also impounded the cache of donkey skin during several rounds of raids on hideouts used to store donkey skin ready to be trafficked out of Nigeria.

Nigeria House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Agriculture, Honourable Mohammed Datti said the bill seeks to entirely prohibit killing and export of donkeys to China, Singapore and Hong Kong, saying Asian countries was using donkey skins for its traditional medicine called, 'ejiao'.

According to Honourable Datti, "Donkey is facing extinction and it's an animal you cannot breed in large number because of the low rate of fertility."

The bill, Donkey Slaughter, Regulation Export Certification Bill 2020 and sponsored by Senator Yahaya Abdullahi is seeking to regulate killing of donkeys in Nigeria.

The bill also seeks to establish the breeding and ranching of donkeys through export certification value chain with a view to mitigating donkey extinction.

Illegal trade in endangered species such as donkeys is a contravention of Section 63 [b] of CEMA, CAP C.45, LFN, 2004

Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Niger and Chad are some West African countries said to be neck deep in the business of slaughtering of donkeys and the illicit 'booming' donkey skins trafficking market!

B. The Questions:

1. Where do Illicit donkey skin trafficking in the West African region originate from?

2. Destination countries [China, Hong Kong & Singapore] for Illicit donkey skin trafficking transiting borders?

3. The actors involved in illicit donkey skin trafficking and why they are involved?

4. The impacts and implications of the illicit donkey skin trafficking economy on the West African region borders in general?

5. The value of the illicit donkey skin trafficking market and how lucrative is it?

6. The intricate web of traffickers?

7. Is there any enabling law?

8. Tracking & Tracing the illicit donkey skin trafficking shipping routes, buyers and destination countries?

C. The Borders Phenomenon:

1. The movements of illicit donkey skin trafficking shipping routes [from where to where]?

2. The actors involved in the illicit donkey skin trafficking in the West African region?

3. The modus operandi of illicit donkey skin trafficking [means of transportation and funding]?

4. The local networks and identified locations of illicit donkey skin trafficking?

5. The group's involved in the illicit donkey skin trafficking as beneficiaries or buyers?

D. Tools:

?Available to prevent/fight/tracking against illicit donkey skin trafficking along West African region borders and shipping routes?

E. Identification:

1. Identified stakeholders that will help to identify vulnerabilities that makes; G-5 Sahel, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon countries borders susceptible to illicit donkey skin trafficking.

2. Identified stakeholders that will increase knowledge on the latest developments, tactics, trends and strategies of criminal networks that could be using; G-5 Sahel, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon countries borders as a conduit for illicit donkey skin trafficking market.

3. Identified stakeholders on related threats and vulnerabilities as well as possible interventions to resolve weaknesses exploited by criminal networks and lessen the; G-5 Sahel, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon countries border's vulnerability to Illicit donkey skin trafficking.