The federal government will continue to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to support any initiative towards the conservation of wildlife and biodiversity in the country.
The Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, was represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary, Mr Charles Ikeah, made this known during the 2023 World Wildlife Day and the celebration of 50 years of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the official launch of the Rapid Reference Guild to combat wildlife and forest crime held in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Abdullahi said that “Nigeria remains focused on tackling illegal wildlife and forest lands at the national, regional and international levels.”
He said; “It is my pleasure to be here on this auspicious occasion of the celebration of 2023 World wildlife the CITES 50th Anniversary and also the launching of the Rapid Reference Guide for prosecutors and investigators in combating illegal wildlife trade. This event is coming at such a time when efforts need to resolve to restore, conserve, and sustainably manage our wildlife and biological resources. Nigeria has continued to fulfil its obligations as a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.”
The Minister said that the aims of the Launching are “to assist wildlife crime, prosecutors and investigators in determining what is minimally required in terms of evidence to build a case against those accused of wildlife and forest lands and also tackling climate change problems.”
The Director of Forestry Ministry of Environment, represented by Mr Razak Adekola said wildlife Crime in Nigeria has become a challenge, limiting the conservation efforts of the government and other partners in the achievement of sustainable forest management.
He said; “The recognition of this feat is critical and timely, as human cannot exist in isolation from nature, the ecosystem, economies and societies share a strong boundary of interconnectivity, the gradual loss of important systems and their services, which are super difficult to replace, as detrimental effects on the budgets and can result in massive environmental crisis, if not properly contained. The importance of this celebration as a member state is to raise sufficient awareness in all the nooks and crannies of the country, or the need to conserve our critically endangered species and also to encourage sustainable management protein system Biodiversity for a more balanced ecosystem.”
Also speaking, the Assistant Conservator General of the National Parks Service, Dr Mohammed Kabir said that the National Park Service was at the forefront of protecting and conserving the wildlife and their habitats in the national parks.
“Today, we have about 20,000 land kilometres of an area which is about 3% of the total land area of this country that is managed as a protected area in the national parks, we are also happy to inform this gathering that apart from the seven National Parks we have in this country ten more have been established, bringing the number to seventeen, with this number, we believe that a lot of effort will be put into managing the biodiversity in these areas,” Kabir said.
Representative of the German government, Mr Matthias Dold, said that combating wildlife and forest crime is extremely important, and deserves more attention than it usually receives.
He noted that the German government is committed to continuing its support for UNODC and the Nigerian Ministry of Environment so that the proud Nigerian elephant can once again roam the land in tranquillity.
