By Abbas Nazil
As Nigeria marks 66 years of nationhood on October 1, it is fitting to celebrate not only its people and culture, but also the wild heritage — the forests, savanna, wetlands and mountains — that define its landscape. At the heart of protecting that heritage stands the National Park Service, which under the visionary leadership of the Conservator General, Dr. Ibrahim Musa Goni, has undergone its most ambitious and remarkable transformation since 1999.
Appointed in April 2017 and reappointed in May 2022 for a second five-year term, Dr. Goni brought a clear philosophy to NPS: parks must protect nature, empower people, and pay for themselves. That philosophy is now measurable in data.
From seven to 17 Parks: The Largest Conservation Estate Expansion in Africa
Nigeria’s greatest conservation leap in six decades came under Dr. Goni. In 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the creation of 10 additional national parks — a historic presidential assent that tripled Nigeria’s protected estate.
The 10 new parks — among them Allawa Game Reserve, Apoi, Edumenum, Galgore, Hadejia-Nguru-Bade, Kogo, Kampe, Marhai, Oba Hills, and Pandam — took the Service from seven to 17 parks, extending its presence across five of the nation’s six geopolitical zones.
In 2024, the Service made a bold move towards actualising the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by formally taking over three forest reserves as fully operational national parks: Hadejia Wetlands National Park in Jigawa, Oba-Hills National Park in Osun, and Marhai National Park in Nasarawa. Nigeria today has one of the largest national park networks in West African sub-region, a direct shield for biodiversity corridors from Lake Chad to the Niger Delta.
Technology, Not Just Boots: Modernising Park Protection
Under Dr. Goni, anti-poaching moved from cutlasses to cloud. The Service deployed an integrated technology suite: conservation drones for aerial surveillance, SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) for patrol data analytics, power-chutes for rapid response, and GSM-based real-time tracking in frontline parks like Cross River, Gashaka-Gumti and Kainji Lake.
The results are record-setting. In 2024 alone, the Service recorded 621 arrests for wildlife offences, 466 successful prosecutions and 94 formal warnings — the highest enforcement figures in its history. This is not brute force; it is intelligence-led protection that has disrupted major bushmeat and illegal logging syndicates while earning international support from partners like the UNODC and the US Consulate.
To sustain it, the Service prioritised human capital. In 2024, 100 park rangers received tactical operations and counter-terrorism training in collaboration with the Nigerian Army, and 30 FCT Forest Guards were trained in forest conservation. Assistant Conservator of Park Mohammed Dikko Bala’s election as Africa’s Regional Representative on the International Rangers Federation Executive underscores the new global respect for the Nigerian ranger.
People-Centred Conservation: Parks That Give Back
Dr. Goni was quick to realise that conservation fails without communities. The Service under him institutionalised Support Zone Community programmes in all park enclaves, providing alternative livelihoods, conflict mitigation, and benefit-sharing.
More strategically, NPS established conservation education clubs in over 238 schools across park-support communities. Children in Yankari, Okomu and Cross River now grow up seeing parks not as government land, but as their laboratory and future.
Ecological restoration was also re-energised through the Federal Government’s Green Bond initiative. 161 hectares of degraded land were replanted and are being actively maintained across the parks, creating green jobs and carbon sinks simultaneously. Twenty-five endangered African Grey Parrots rescued from traffickers were rehabilitated and released back into the wild in Cross River — a symbolic victory for Nigeria’s CITES commitments.
The Elephant Plan: A 10-Year National Strategy
Perhaps the most defining legacy is the unveiling of Nigeria’s first-ever National Elephant Action Plan (2024-2034), developed with the Elephant Protection Initiative. For a country that has lost over 95% of its elephants in the last 30 years, this 10-year blueprint provides a scientific framework for population recovery, corridor security and human-elephant conflict management. It places Nigeria alongside Botswana as a nation with a deliberate elephant policy.
This is complemented by a research revolution. PhD, MSc and BSc researches are now ongoing in all parks. A landmark PhD study in Cross River National Park — revealing how even low-intensity foraging reshapes tree species composition in the Nigeria-Cameroon forest — is informing sustainable use policies across the Gulf of Guinea hotspot.
*Infrastructure and Institutional Renewal*
From a dilapidated headquarters in Abuja, Dr. Goni delivered a total renovation of the Service Headquarters, renovation and construction of new rangers’ barracks, eco-chalets for tourists, demarcation of all park boundaries with beacons to secure ecosystem integrity, and opening of hundreds of kilometres of jeep tracks to improve tourist access and patrol coverage.
Revenue, though modest, from ecotourism visitation alone in 2023, is growing appreciably as chalets and parks become habitable again based on Dr. Goni’s strategic leadership and unwavering dedication to what he termed Nature Economy.
At 66, Nigeria is very much aware that sovereignty is incomplete without ecological sovereignty. Under Dr. Ibrahim Goni, the National Park Service is no longer a forest guards department. It is a national security asset against banditry that hides in forests, a climate asset against desertification, a diplomatic asset for global conservation leadership, and an economic asset for rural communities.
The strides being recorded by NPS are empirical, data-driven, and sustainable — they are a fitting gift to Nigeria at 66.
