Nigeria Commits to Fight Against Wildlife Crimes

The Nigerian government says it is committed in the fight against wildlife crime and will continue to honour all international obligations to protect its biodiversity.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment Dr Iziaq Salako stated this in Abuja the nation’s capital during public disposal of accumulated confiscated wildlife stockpile in Nigeria.

Dr Iziaq said Nigeria is zero tolerant to illegal wildlife trade at any level to serve as a deterrent to the illicit wildlife traffickers who use Nigeria as their transit route.

“Today, a total of about 2.5 tonnes of ivories and elephant tusks specimen will be destroyed under the watch of the Federal Ministry of Environment and with the support of the Elephant Protection Initiative, EPI, African Fund, the US Embassy, United Nation Office on Drugs and Crimes, UNODC, Wildlife Conservation Society, WCS, and Wild African Fund.” He said.

According to him, Nigeria has opted for the outright destruction of these stockpiles through pulverisation of elephant tusks and ivories, while pangolin scales and other skin products were earlier incinerated on 16th October 2023.

“Further to the method of destruction being adopted today, Nigeria is a party to many international environmental agreements to reduce the impact of Climate change on man’s health and environment, the Country has domesticated most of these agreements through enactment and promulgation of environmental laws and regulations, therefore, NESREA as an environmental Agency, has opted for pulverization method to dispose of the elephant tusk.” He stated.

The Minister said NESREA has continued in its collaborative efforts with other relevant stakeholders in combating illegal wildlife trade, IWT in Nigeria, which he said has continued to yield positive results through the seizures, confiscations and prosecution of wildlife offenders in the country.

“Over the years, a large quantity of seized and confiscated ivory and non-ivory products of wildlife have been achieved through collaboration with government and non-governmental bodies, this accumulated confiscated wildlife specimen has been safely stored and documented by NESREA in its Temporary Holding Facilities (THF) for some time now.

While there is the need to create more space in the Holding Facilities for safe keep of future seizures, many of these specimens have long been in the storerooms and their viability can no longer be ascertained, thus the need to also avoid contracting and spreading of zoonotic diseases by the managers of the storerooms. It is also imperative that as a country, we continue to send out strong and unambiguous signals of non-tolerance to illegal wildlife trade.” The Minister explained.

Shakirat Sadiq