Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, has said it’s time to say no to illegal wildlife trade, this is as he called for stakeholders to double efforts in restoring, conserving and sustainably managing the nation’s cherished wildlife and biological resources.
Abdullahi made this call on Friday in Abuja at the commemoration ceremony of 2023 World Wildlife Day and CITES 50TH Anniversary and also the Launching of the Rapid Reference Guide for Prosecutors and Investigators in combating illegal wildlife trade.
With the theme: “Partnership for Wildlife Conservation, Pharmacy for Wildlife Conservation.”
The minister who was represented by the acting permanent secretary, Mr. Chart Ikeah, reiterated that Nigeria would continue to serve its leadership as a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
He added that the Federal Government is committed to implementation and adherence to the CITES laws and regulations as well as to other global agreements, conventions, and treaties focused on achieving living in harmony with nature.
Abdullahi further stated that the importance of this celebration as a member state to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is to raise awareness in all corners of the country on the need to conserve the endangered species such as pangolins, ostrich, elephant, hippopotamus, vultures, chimpanzee, gorilla, rhinoceros, giraffe, giant eland, and others, also to encourage sustainable management of the existing biodiversity for a more balanced ecosystem.
“Biodiversity plays vital and diverse roles in our economy, ecology, and social lives. We use it as food, domestic and commercial products, and industrial processes.
” Agree with me that our survival and overall well-being depend on how sustainably the environment and biodiversity are managed. However, there are serious environmental challenges that have led to the loss of biodiversity and threatened our existence. Their drivers include all forms of habitat change, over-exploitation, pollution, invasive alien species, and climate change.
“The alarming rate of over-exploitation of these natural resources calls for urgent and proactive actions to reverse the trend. Nigeria is actively in the spotlight of wildlife crime which includes poaching, hunting, trading (supply or selling), consumption, and trafficking. We are on the brink of losing some endemic and iconic plant and animal species. Unless drastic action is taken as a country, trans-border trafficking is assuming a dangerous position as Nigeria has been tagged ‘’Transit Hub’’ for this illegality.
“The phenomenon constitutes a high-security risk, socio-economic impoverishment of local communities, and public health risk with the spread of zoonotic diseases such as Lassa fever, Ebola Virus, and the recent COVID-19.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria has taken several groundbreaking strides to tackle illegal wildlife trade within the country. This includes the launching and implementation of the national strategy to combat illegal wildlife trade, coordination of wildlife enforcement task force, launching of the national forest policy and timber legality standard and we also gather here today to launch the Rapid Reference Guide for Judges and Prosecutors to facilitate the prosecution of wildlife and forest criminals
“The Rapid Reference Guide (RRG) is a collection of relevant and extant laws pertaining to wildlife crime in Nigeria and also includes an excerpt from the National Guidelines for prosecutors in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It aims 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 crime and tacking all environmental and climate change problems using nature-based solutions through sustainable management of forests, protection, and conservation of biodiversity, improved agroforestry practices as well as other climate-smart agriculture,” the minister.
However, Its objectives include;
“Strengthen National cooperation and coordination among law enforcement agencies, Increase knowledge of prosecutors and investigators on the handling of wildlife and forest crime-related issues, Sensitization on the seriousness of wildlife and forest crime and
Increase in the number of successful prosecutions of cases.
“This guide provides a handy compendium of laws pertaining to wildlife crime in the country. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the National Park Service (NPS), prosecutors from the Federal Directorate of Public Prosecutions in the Federal Ministry of Justice, INTERPol, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Nigeria amongst.
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“Others play key roles as enforcement and regulatory agencies in our national efforts of combating wildlife and forest crime as well as enforcing the law, and effectively sanction offenders.
The minister further commended the UNODC for the development of the guide with the support from the German Government and all other Development Partners for their relentless support towards a better and biodiversity-enriched Nigeria.
In his welcome address, the Director of Forestry said that the ministry was ensuring measuring efforts to achieve protection of conservation, adding that ecology and social lives apart from its fundamental significance.
“It is also critical in the provision of food, domestic and commercial products,” he said.
Also, Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, said the manner in which biodiversity and environment is managed is determined by collective survival and overall well being sustained over the years.
“The unsustainable human practices and cross border human activities have formed a global coalition to engage in all of the most incentive use of the global coalition.
“Enforcement and prosecution of wildlife cases as well as complements the Nigeria National Strategy National Strategy to Combat wildlife from 2020 to 2026 which is already at implementation level, ” he added.
In his goodwill messages, Dr. Oliver Stople, country representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) said that the National Strategy has since been operationalized through the development of annual work plans, guiding implementing agencies and allowing policymakers to track progress.
He added that the endangered species and conservation protection bill, which is identified as a priority under the National Strategy, has access reading in the House of Representatives.
“The adoption of this bill will be paramount for the effectiveness of a criminal justice response to wildlife crime, provided that it will elevate wildlife crime offenses to become a serious crime as defined by the United Nations transnational organized crime convention,” he stated.
Also, in his keynote speech, Dr. Garba Abari, National Orientation Agency, said wildlife and its uses, and wildlife diversity issue has become an issue of not only an issue of concern in Nigeria, in West Africa sub-region, and Africa, but indeed globally is actually a very reliable Hall of wildlife.
He added that the nation is witnessing disintegration of wildlife in the continent, saying that it will result in unpleasant consequences, however call for more partnerships to combat the illegal use of wildlife.
Furthermore, Prof. Aliyu Jauro, DG NESREA, represented by Ayuba Jacob, department of quality control stated that business of the environment is paramount to the nations economic and security.
He added “We must also charge for our habitants and demand for wildlife is to minimize some successes by agencies as noted from consistent collaboration between agencies and all government agencies.”
Speaking, Dr Ibrahim Goni Conservator General of the National Park Service, who was represented by Assistant CG, Dr. Mohammed Kabir said that as of today the agency has about 20,000 square kilometres of an area that is protected, 3% of the total land area of this country that is managed as a protected area by the national parks.
He added that besides dissemination of facts in Nigeria, more has been established in the area of climate change, adding that to that effect more efforts will be put into managing the biodiversity in its areas.
