Ending Wildlife Poaching, Smuggling In Nigeria

In Nigeria, the conservation of wildlife has been a herculean task because they are seen as bush meat while foreigners, especially the Asians, see them as cash cow and recipe for traditional medicines that cure certain ailments.

Also, the increased demand for trophies and traditional medicines have made poachers slaughter some of Africa’s most endangered species at unprecedented rates. The wildlife include Pangolins, Elephants, Rhinos among others.

Experts have, however, warned that these animals could go the way of Asia’s wild tiger population, which has dwindled from around 100,000 to a few thousand over the past century.

For instance, in February, 2022, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), seized 839.40 kilograms of pangolin scales and 145 kilograms of elephant ivory leading to arrests and seizure of the contraband.

Also, in same week, acting on local intelligence, the Vietnamese Customs seized 6.2 tonnes of pangolin scales and 456 kilograms of elephant ivory, a shipment from Lagos, in Da Nang.  

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However, to end continued poaching of wildlife and smuggling of endangered species through Nigeria, a foundation, Wild Africa Fund, called for sufficient enforcement, saying Nigeria need to intensify effort towards ensuring that the other West African countries stop using the country as the transit route for ivory and pangolin scales.

Speaking, the the founder and President of Wild Africa Fund, Peter Knights, said the target was to overcome the challenges and make the Nigerian environment conducive for wildlife, saying Nigeria has become the epicentre of illegal wildlife trafficking in Africa.

He said, “Specifically, we are very interested in Nigeria because it has become, as you know, the epicentre of illegal wildlife trafficking in Africa with the ivory and pangolins. The seizures that Customs have made have been some of the biggest seizures ever in Africa.  

“At the same time, we see that there is a lot of concern from the government and people of Nigeria and we think it’s going to be possible to turn things around here. So that in two or three years, Nigeria will be at the cutting edge of fighting this problem as opposed to being the bad guys of the moment.

“And so we’ve started last year with wild day and the biggest awareness programme ever on the African continent about wildlife trafficking and many of your publications have been part of this. We’ve had religious leaders support us. We’ve had the minister as an ambassador and so really trying to bring people together to solve this problem.

“We will later this year be doing a survey. If you remember we did a survey on the bushmeat trade, to begin with. We’re going to do a follow-up survey to see how it’s going. But all I can say is that the response from the media and the ambassadors has been incredible. You know, we have so many different television channels, newspapers, and print that’s gone out there.

“The campaign has been everywhere. And we’ve got a fantastic range of ambassadors we just mentioned. So we’ve been delighted and impressed by the takeoff and the enthusiasm. At the same time, we’ve had a very positive reaction from the government agencies. So Customs were engaged in a sniffer dog programme now.

“And obviously Customs has been very active in making seizures. And we’ve seen new legislation pending from the Ministry of Environment. So I think it’s been a really positive response. And we’re hoping that within the next 18 months or so this is going to be a massive transformation, not just in what happens here in Nigeria, but also in the international perception of Nigeria. Seeing that the country is taking all these steps to combat this problem is tremendously good for the reputation of Nigeria internationally.”

Challenges With Wildlife

“Well, there are huge challenges because firstly, Nigerian wildlife is highly endangered. Less than 50 Lions left, and less than 500 elephants. So the big challenge is, can we move that back up again, to sustainable populations? And I think for me, the dream is to actually have national parks in Nigeria, where you can go and see a lion you can go and see an elephant. That can be a tourism industry. And that has been doing a lot of work in Rwanda.

“They have rebuilt their national park. They’ve put back rhinos, giraffes, and other animals and now they have a good tourism industry so it’ll take time and it takes money and resources. But at the end of it, it can create a lot of jobs through tourism, hotel jobs, taxi driver jobs, and restaurant jobs and I think that would be a huge boon for tourism here in Nigeria because there’s amazing music in Nigeria.

“There’s an amazing art. There’s amazing dance, but right now there’s no wildlife element. And many tourists coming to Africa like to see a wildlife element. So if Nigeria can rebuild that piece, I think it can really help the tourism industry take off.”

Little Or No Prosecution

Knights maintained that their interest in the country is because Nigeria is the economic superpower on the continent of Africa. He noted that Nigeria is by far the largest economy and a lot of the trades come through Lagos. He regretted that the country has not been able to prosecute any trafficker despite the level of seizure being made by Customs.

“So Lagos is like a transportation hub. But historically, there haven’t been any prosecutions. People have done it and Customs have made seizures, which are all credit to Customs, but no one has been prosecuted. No one has gone to jail. They’ve just had this stuff taken away. And so hopefully, there’s new legislation which should be introduced soon, we’ll combat that where people are actually being prosecuted, and what we’ve seen in other parts of the world and once people are actually going to jail and there’s a real risk of doing this crime, it goes down dramatically, and also once the public is more aware.

“People are on the lookout and people are reporting wildlife crime. And so, I think it’s because of the size of the economy, but also because it has been historically weak on the laws.  But that can all change very quickly.”

New Legislation On Wildlife

Knights maintained that in the coming weeks, the ministry of environment will submit new legislation to the National Assembly that would help in strengthening wildlife conversation and preservation in the country. He said, “The news coming up probably next week and we’ll let you know as soon as this happens, but in all likelihood, there is going to be new legislation introduced to parliament to combat wildlife trafficking, and to address this issue of Nigeria being the hub for illegal activity.

“The challenge is that the extant laws have been somewhat problematic, and it’s quite hard to prosecute because the law has some issues. That’s why this new law is needed. I think Customs have done an amazing job with their seizures. You’ve seen all those seizures and it means Customs are doing their job.

“They haven’t been able to prosecute in many cases. And that’s why the new law is needed. So I think with the new law, they can do even better, but they haven’t done a good job on that prosecutions, hardly any prosecutions historically in Nigeria on wildlife crime. With this new law, we believe they will be able to do prosecutions, and this will help reduce the illegal bushmeat trade. It will help stop Nigeria from being the centre for smuggling and we hope it will actually make Nigeria a regional leader in this. There’s definitely the capacity there within those agencies, but they need the right laws.

“We are trying to get sniffer dogs for the Customs. The sniffer dogs have been very effective. They can detect ivory and pangolin scales even inside containers without opening the container and this will make it a lot riskier to send things through Nigeria, and we think that it will have a big impact. So there’s a lot going on with those agencies in terms of training, in terms of better laws, in terms of equipment like sniffer dogs that are going to make them, hopefully, the best in the region on these issues.”

Way Forward 

Knights said the Wild Africa Fund is determined to ensure that reduces the consumption of bushmeat among the people. He said, “Although the animals are been taken in the villages, the consumption is in the cities. The illegal bushmeat consumption, a lot of it is in the cities and that’s what we’re really targeting those in the cities. In Asia, we try to educate the buyers not to buy the ivory because the demand is what drives it, but people are hunting for it in the villages just to supply the people here.

“For people in the villages, there may not be many alternatives, but for the people in the city, there are many alternatives. Buying illegal bushmeat is more expensive than buying chicken or beef. So, those people have a choice and those are the people we are really targeting with the education at the end.

“We are trying to use the outreach through radio more than television to reach those in the villages to understand the realities of the situation. So, for example, pangolins only have one baby every 18 months, so they can’t if you hunt them all the time they’ll disappear, simply disappeared, and they can’t sustain ongoing hunting. So that kind of education, I think can help people in the village to understand there are some animals that you shouldn’t be hunting because they just won’t sustain it. There are other things that breed very quickly, like grass cutters but there are some animals which if you hunt them, will disappear.”