By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The National Park Service (NPS) says a total of 646 arrests were made across various national parks for different offences in the past one year.
Conservator-General(C-G), NPS, Dr. Ibrahim Goni stated this at the presentation of the 2023 scorecard of the service on Friday in Abuja.
He said the Service is committed to wildlife conservation in the country in order to ensure environmental sustainability.
“The National Park Service remains committed to the protection of Nigeria’s national parks, wildlife conservation, and environmental sustainability.
“The policy thrust of the service is to provide security, manage, regulate the use of the diverse and unique natural resources within the national parks in the country.
“Globally, National Parks are managed by the highest legally competent authority of a country for national and regional security and well-being just as in Nigeria.’’
He lauded the collaboration with relevant stakeholders, saying it has helped to combat wildlife trafficking in Nigeria and that seizures had been.
According to him, efforts are being made to release live animals back into the wild.
“The Nigerian Customs Service recently confiscated 81 parrots among other bird species, galagos (bush babies) which were handed over to the National Park Service for rehabilitation and reintroduction to the wild.
“Additionally, the National Park Service has developed a policy document on combating wildlife and forest crime in Nigeria in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime.
“In addition, they play immense roles in medicine, research, education, agriculture, tourism, spiritualism and are critical components in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals seven (affordable and clean energy) and 13 (climate action).’’
Goni said the service currently manages seven national parks spread across the different ecological and geopolitical zones in the country.
“These parks include Chad Basin National Park (Borno and Yobe States), Cross River National Park (Cross River State), Gashaka Gumti National Park (Taraba and Adamawa States) Kainji Lake National Park (Niger and Kwara States).
“Others are Kamuku National Park (Kaduna State), Okomu National Park (Edo State) and Old Oyo National Park (Oyo State).
“Additionally, in November, 2020, the former President, Muhammadu Buhari, approved the establishment of 10 additional National Parks.
“These Parks includes Allawa National Park in Niger State, Apoi and Edumenum National Parks in Bayelsa State, Falgore National Park in Kano State and Hadejia Wetlands National Park in Jigawa State.
“Others are, Kampe National Park in Kwara State, Kogo National Park in Katsina State, Marhai National Park in Nasarawa, Oba Hills National Park in Osun State and Pandam National Park in Plateau State.’’
He said that the National Assembly had concurred with the Presidential Proclamation Order establishing the 10 new National Parks and they had been recently gazetted by the Federal Ministry of Justice .
Goni said that the parks would take over soon in batches.
The conservator-general said that within the period under review, a total of 646 arrests were made across various national parks.
“The breakdown of the arrests is as follows: 44 hunters, 222 grazers, 131 loggers, and 249 others.
“These arrests were made in all the national parks, with Gashaka-Gumti recording the highest number of arrests.
“In relation to banditry incidents, 37 suspects were apprehended in connection with mining/banditry in Old Oyo National Park, while in Kainji Lake National Park, three suspected bandits were arrested while five others were neutralised.’’
He said that four victims were rescued during the operations while various items such as motorcycles, phones, and machetes were recovered.
“The breakdown of the prosecution cases is as follows: 161 convictions, 215 fines, 119 warnings and discharges, and 151 cases pending.
“Cross River and Gashaka-Gumti National Parks recorded the highest number of convictions.’’
Goni said that the total revenue generated for the service from January till date is N83.2 million only.
“Several capital projects have been implemented in various national parks, leading to positive impacts on park infrastructure, equipment, and facilities.’’
He said that the projects included the construction and furnishing of Rangers Barracks, renovation and furnishing of Head Offices, procurement of patrol equipment, and provision of solar power plants.
“The National Park Service has prioritised training, conferences, and workshops for its personnel.
“A total of 260 training events were conducted during the specified period, with 80 trainings, 55 conferences and 128 workshops,” he said.
