Prof. Ayobami Aina, the 35th Inaugural Lecturer, making salient points
A Professor of Ruminant Production, Ayobami Bukola Joseph Aina, has called on man to stop giving and calling goat bad names in the interest of justice and equity.
He pointed out that having carried out successful studies on Goat Production in the last 24 years; he had found out that man had been eternally ungrateful to goats despite the latter’s usefulness.
Professor Aina said human beings should rather be thankful to goat for contributing immensely to the world’s socio-economic development.
Professor Aina canvassed better life and treatment for goat while delivering the 35th Inaugural Lecture of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) titled, “Goat: A Misunderstood Animal”, held at the Julius Amioba Okojie(JAO) Lecture Theatre Complex.
According to him, “Goat does not in any way deserve being called bad name for the reasons of its great contributions to food security, human health, promotion of social values and economic development, especially, that of rural communities”.
In the Lecture, the Professor dwelt extensively on the economic and health importance of goat to man when he noted that “Goat owners in rural areas do not usually have access to banking facilities, especially, the women. They have, therefore, come to rely on investment in their stocks, with goat serving as the current account while cattle and camel serve as the savings account”.
“If the final destiny of the goat is meat production in Asia and Africa, then the goat is essentially a banking system. If you ask Indonesian and Vietnamese small farmers when they will sell their goats, it is never when the goat is at a certain age or weight, but it is always when they need money to buy medicines or school uniforms for children”, he stated.
On the health values of goat to man, Professor Aina said, “Goat serum extract has been reported to prevent the HIV virus from entering human cell. Goat milk is used in the treatment of gastro-intestinal disorders, liver dieases as well as infantile pylorie stenosis”.
“Goat milk has been recommended for the relief of ulcers since goat milk is alkaline in nature. Goat milk is valued for the elderly, the sick, babies, children with new milk allergies”, he added.
Besides, Professor Aina also described as erroneous and superstitious, the belief that goat is demonic because of the common medieval depiction of the Devil as that of a goat-like face and small beard.
Correcting the impression, the erudite scholar stated that “A goat is considered a “clean” animal by Jewish dietary laws and was slaughtered for an honoured guest. One such animal that was created on the same day with man and that has contributed enormously to both the acquisition of knowledge is the goat”.
“Since goat was created the same day with human beings, it may be reasonable to suggest that goat acquired a bit of intellect of man to excel over other animals. In the Acts of Apostles (10:9-15), Apostle Peter called goat, among other animals a common, or unclean animal, but a voice came from heaven telling him: “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common”.
He declared, “From this moment on, I recommend that goat should be seen with appreciation and compassion and should not be called any bad name. Therefore, goat is now a cleansed animal by God. As such, as from today, this moment in particular, nobody should give goat any bad name again”.
Professor Aina said the much popular prejudice against goats arose from the special difficulty involved in keeping the animal under control and that if the value of goats is to be fully exploited, then, there must be need for adequate fencing, tethering and other measures of grazing control, which are not presently applied to all countries.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun, who was represented by the Deputy-Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Professor Toyin Arowolo, had earlier in his address extolled the virtues of the Inaugural Lecturer.