Chinese agents scramble for donkey skin in Ebonyi

From Emmanuel Uzor, Abakaliki

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The peculiar nature of Ebonyi State in the South East geo-political zone has placed it on a different map with others.
In Ebonyi State, the issue of eating donkey meat which they call Jeki is as old as the state.
Story has it that the attempt of former Military Administrator of the state, Capt. Walter Feghabor allegedly to ban the importation of donkeys from the far North into the state earned him serous attacks.
It was reported that Capt. Feghabor had allegedly tried to ban the importation of the animals into the state, citing some health related hazards, but he was rebuffed by the people of the state who saw the meat as the only credible alternative to high cost of cow meat and other edibles.
Oriental News gathered that among the people that consume Jeki meat in their numbers are the kinsmen of the former governor, Senator Sam Egwu.
In fact, the major Jeki market in the entire state is located at Nkwo Jakki in Ezzamgbo, the headquarters of Ohaukwu Local Government Area and few metres away from the former governor’s house.
Meanwhile, before the boom in the importation of Jeki into the state by prominent men, the consumption rate of the meat had dropped.
The resurgence of the business among the elite of Ohaukwu council, which is considered the headquarters of Jeki business, was as a result of the interest of some Chinese companies in the skin of the slaughtered animal.
Today, only a few prominent and well-to-do persons in the area are still into the business of Jaki which was hitherto regarded as a ‘forbidding’ meat in many places in the state, leading then to low consumption of the meat by consumers and poor patronage by the dealers.
Shortly after the Chinese company’s interests in buying the skin of the donkey rose up, these individuals mainly politicians immediately found safe havens in the business of importing the animals and slaughtering them and exporting the skin to China.
The negative perception of the meat and dwindling business of dealing in Jaki quickly changed with the mass interests by those in government who now import directly from Kastina, Kano and Borno states in the North.
Lamenting, Mr John Onwe, one of the former dealers in Jaki, noted that since the news of the usefulness of the skin of donkeys got to the rich, they have hijacked the business and it is no longer within the reach of the poor.
Onwe said though the new dealers seem to be more interested in the skin of the Jaki, the low income earners have now resorted to selling the meat at give away prices to the consumers to enable them make ends meet.
“Before now, nobody was interested in buying and selling of Jaki, only few of us remained. We have had problems in the past with the leadership of Ohaukwu Local Government Area in the past concerning our permanent market until we reached agreement to build Nkwo Jeki along the Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway. Now, we hardly buy the Jaki because the big men in the government have hijacked the business.
“They now buy in trailers while few of us were buying from 10 to 20 and the cause was because they saw that Chinese companies have interests in the skin of the Jaki which many people say they use to produce many things. As I’m talking to you now, you can see those trailers offloading Jaki, they were brought by a powerful man in the government. What they now do is to dispose the animals and collect their skins through their agents in this market. Some of them no longer care about the money realized in the sale of the meat. All they are interested in are is their skin,” he said.
Oriental News observed that Chinese businessmen now throng the Nkwo Jaki market, Ezzamgbo, to load the donkey skins in large quantity to their place where they convert them to raw materials for production of different goods.
It was gathered that a special part of the meat known as Gelatin is obtained from the skin of the donkey by soaking and stewing, as well as used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine called Ejiao.
More than 20 trailer load of donkeys at the minimum are brought into the Ohaukwu depot on a daily basis from Maiduguri, Kastina and Kano states as this business apparently proves to be the highest source of revenue to the people of the state.
Apart from the Nkwo Jaki in Ezzamgbo, other communities within the council area like Ngbo and Effium have been made centres for the thriving business as both political appointees and other well-to-do individuals from the area now open their own private Jaki depots.
Chairman of the donkey sellers, Abdullahi Oladipo Yinusa, said the donkey business has provided job opportunities to numerous people in the area, including selling of water and grasses, even as he boasted that it stands as the highest job aprovider in the local government and the state in general.
According to him, the Chinese agents are scattered around Ohaukwu Local Government Area to buy the skin of a donkey which is sold at the rate of N24, 000 per unit.
He disclosed that people throng the market from Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Owerri, Imo State to buy donkeys, describing the patronage as vibrant and appealed to the state government to provide them with residential area where they can call their own.
He added that elsewhere where such depot exits, the operators of the market are provided with befitting residence since their business is a blessing to their host communities.
“The market came to be on the 28th of June, 1997. When we came down here, there was nothing like these houses, it was all thatch houses and these donkeys you see come from Maiduguri, Kastina, Kano and other border towns in the North. This market has been the greatest revenue earner for the state and
local government. It is the greatest job creator for the state and local government.
“The challenge we have is that they have refused to provide for us a place that we can call our own as the case is in other places where they have Hausa community. The market here is our residence. Apart from that, we have been living peacefully with our host.
“You can find out that we are a blessing to them. You can see the people selling grasses and others water. It is a source of revenue to them. This is because we do not have the means and access to these facilities. It is a money spinner. The skin not only the meat generates revenue for the state and local government. It is on a higher demand now. I do not know what the Chinese use it for.
“It is a daily market. The sales we make depend on the demand for it. We have two major market days here which is Orie and Eke. Those days we sell highest because people come as far as from Port Harcourt, and Imo. If you look at these vehicles they come from far,” Yinusa said.
Also speaking, one of the dealers, Mathew Ebenyi said the business has assisted him in big measures, adding that “I have used this business to get married. Also, I was able to build my house with the proceeds from the business and it is still moving on fine. We have high demand of the meat now than before. Even in the consumption which was very low, people prefer it now to other meat because it is not costly. If you have like N200 or N300 you will buy enough meat that can serve you. But in other meats like cow and goat, you cannot. You must have at least N500 before you can buy goat or cow meat that can serve you.”
On the skin, Ebenyi said “the skin is where we make our gains because some Chinese always come here to buy them off and even stay by the side waiting for buyers to buy the meat to enable them buy the skin. Even the skin is costlier than the meat proper. The skin is sold between N30,000 and N35,000 while the meat is sold between N20,000 and N25,000,’’ he disclosed.