The Federal Government says it has commenced investigation to uncover the importers of three consignments containing 140 species of snakes and 660 other animals imported into Nigeria from Cameroon.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the
Nigeria Customs Service on July 26 intercepted three consignments containing
140 species of snakes and 660 other animals in Calabar, Cross River State.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Audu Ogbeh, told journalists in Abuja on Friday that the Nigerian
Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) had been directed to commence the
investigation immediately.
Mr. Ogbeh reiterated the need for officials of
the NAQS to be stationed at the country’s ports to enable them to address such
issues before they escalated.
The minister who expressed the fear that if the
quality of agricultural produce imported into Nigeria was not checked, a sort
of biological warfare could also be launched against the country’s agricultural
sector.
“It is very important to know the tendencies of
saying that the quarantine service should not be kept away from the ports.
“It is a threat and a danger because the other
day, somebody attempted to smuggle kolanuts to Saudi Arabia.
“The Saudis have told us not to bring kolanuts
into their country.
“The
Quarantine Service had to go into the aircraft and stop the plane from leaving;
it then brought the kolanuts down and now, it is snakes.
“Our ambition is to become a major agricultural
nation, if the quality of what we take out and that of the materials coming in
are not known to us, anything can happen.
“The dangers include biological warfare, which
can be launched against our agriculture industry.
“These are reasons why the quarantine service
must be allowed to play its roles without necessarily disrupting the ports’
routine functions,” Mr. Ogbeh said.
NAN reports the containers were brought in
aboard a Cameroonian vessel, ‘MV Flesh’, through the Calabar waterway.
The containers reportedly contained snakes and
other animals such as geckos, millipedes, hairy frogs and spiders.
- Premium Times / NAN
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