Conservator-General (CG) of the National Park Service, Dr Ibrahim Musa Goni, has urged support for the recycling of plastic wastes in Nigeria’s coastal areas to create wealth and save sea turtles from pollution, loss of habitat, hunting and extinction.
He spoke at a programme organised by the Green Fingers Wildlife Conservation Initiative at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, to create awareness on the importance of sea turtles, their ordeal and protection challenges in Nigeria.
As a special guest, Goni lauded the group for organisng the programme and choosing studets as critical stakeholders to champion the campaign for effective protection and conservation of sea turtles in Nigeria, affirming that the strategy has the capacity to address the issues of hope, trust and sustainability in the campaign.
The CG said he was inspired by the students’ exhibitions, which illustrated the importance of sea turtles to the ecosystem and the need to stop ocean pollution to restore their integrity and save sea turtles and other aquatic animals from extinction.
He urged the students to ensure that the campaign is sustained to its fruition.
While educating the students on the difference between national parks, forests and game reserves, Goni stated that national parks are managed by the federal government, while forests and game reserves are managed by state governments globally.
Goni said Nigeria is blessed with naturally rich national parks spread across all geopolitical zones of the country except for Southeast, which he said has yet to have a national park.
The CG added that for a forest or game reserve to become a park, the governor of the affected state must initiate the process by writing the federal government to seek for an area to be upgraded to a national park.
The process continues from there till such a game or forest reserve is handed over to the National Park Service as a national park.
Earlier, the director of Green Fingers Wildlife Conservation Initiative, Mr. Chinedu Mogbo, expressed gratitude to the National Park boss and other guests. He said the programme would create the desired impact on the students and other participants to spread the campaign of saving the oceans, the sea turtles and their habitats in Nigeria.
