CONSERVATION initiatives in Nigeria, according to studies, have been underway for more than a century, beginning with forestry conservation and the establishment of game reserves by colonial authorities. Nigeria signed the London Convention in 1933, promising to protect its natural resources and environment. However, new surveys by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) show that Nigeria’s wildlife is growing endangered due to poaching, overhunting, and habitat destruction.
A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report confirmed that in the last 10 years, Nigeria has seen a marked rise in illegal wildlife trade. The report, “Organised Crime in Nigeria: A Threat Assessment,” found the involvement of Nigeria being a country of origin or transit for the trafficking of several wildlife specimens, such as pangolin scales, elephant ivory and rosewood.
The Nigeria Customs Service has made seizures recently and over the past couple of years, that support these findings. The UNODC says that illegal wildlife trade poses a severe threat to Nigeria’s already vulnerable species and its rich biodiversity and ecosystem.
Animals under attack
The total number of species that are at risk in Nigeria is not known. However there are certain species that are known to be endangered. The big five species – lions, elephants, leopards, rhinos, and buffaloes are the worst hit. According to Wild Aid Africa, rhinos and buffaloes are locally extinct in Nigeria, which means they can’t be found anywhere in Nigeria because they have been hunted, poached, and killed in Nigeria.
In the past, hundreds of lions roamed the savannah region of northern Nigeria. However, there are less than 50 lions in the region, and they are hiding deep inside Yankari Games Reserves and Kainji Lake National Park due attacks from poachers and hunters.
Lions are an apex species and are the star wild animal for tourism. Hundreds of people visit Africa yearly to see wild animals such as lions – which can only be found in Africa. But Nigeria’s lion is on the verge of extinction, and if nothing is done to protect them, we risk losing them forever.
Why wildlife in Nigeria is depleted
Country representative for Nigeria for Wild Africa Fund, Festus Iyorah said there are three reasons why wildlife in Nigeria is being depleted.
“Habitat loss is one of the biggest factors that have caused the depletion of wildlife. In the last 60 years, Nigeria’s population has increased from 44 million in 1960 to over 200 million. Places where wild animals used to live have been converted to where humans inhabit. As a result, these wild animals have lost their homes and have been killed, hunted, or exposed to poachers in that process. We have lost about 80 percent of our rainforest to deforestation. Nigeria has one of the fastest deforestation rates in the world,” he said.
“Secondly, excessive poaching and hunting of these wild animals as bush meat affects their depletion. In the past three decades, Nigeria’s wildlife has massively declined as a result of poaching and hunting. Species like lions, elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, drill monkeys, and even some bat species have been driven to the verge of extinction. Poachers have gone after animals such as elephants for their tusks and exported them to the Asian continent as part of the illegal ivory trade criminal network,” Iyorah added.
“Thirdly is the growing appetite for bush meat among urban residents who have disposable cash to buy wild animals such as crocodiles, pangolins, and monkeys and consume them as bush meat,” he noted.
More reasons for wildlife extinction
Speaking to the issue, award winning biodiversity conservation expert, Professor Edem Eniang, said “Conservation in Nigeria requires urgent action because it has reached a crisis level. It is an emergency and requires urgent positive action and everyone must be involved.”
According to him, current efforts by government, non-governmental organisations and professionals were “grossly inadequate.”
He said, “There is a crisis bedevilling biodiversity across the length and breadth of Nigeria. “I travel everywhere in Nigeria. Last week, I took a trip from the Northeast to the South-South part of Nigeria by road. The essence was to observe. I have gone from South-South to Southwest; and from Northeast to Northwest.
“When I stopped at Ode Remo, between Ikenne and Sagamu, the number of bush meat I saw on the roadside sickened me for days. When I went from Keffi to Abuja by road, the number of trucks carrying wood, charcoal upset me for days because they were all from trees that are supposed to be standing and protecting the environment.”
He said he had a similar experience on journeys to other parts of the country as he saw the level of decimation of forests in those places. “The only trees of significant size are fruit trees, oil palm or those left for traditional purposes. Many indigenous tree species are gone. The era of rhetoric and talking politics when it comes to conservation should be put to rest,” he added.
‘Nigerians had a culture of conservation’
Professor Enang said that Nigeria is a country that historically cared about wildlife conservation. He said the country’s undoing in that era was that “Nigerians did not document and celebrate the diversity of species we had. But they had their traditional means and methods of conserving the species. The efficacy of their methods is what makes us to still have some species that are ranking well globally in the country.”
Professor Eniang stated that there were traditional festivals observable in today’s society that pointed to historical conservation practices. “If you go to Akwa Ibom State, there is the Ekpe festival celebrating the lion, leopard and other big cats, till date. People come and perform, dancing and acting like the real lion.
“In Igbo land, there is the Mawu festival that celebrates the elephant and other animals in their land. In other parts of Nigeria, they do similar things in different names.
“In Ikot Ekpene, there is a craft market where you find carvings of tortoises and all kinds of reptiles. These carvings were done from ancient times and handed over generations after. This is promoting conservation.”
He added that even idiomatic expression in local Nigerian dialects contained references to animals and animal behaviours. “These are all conservation strategies that popularised the species; that attached importance and value to these species.
“We had sacred forests where these species were protected and people were not allowed to hunt them or destroy their habitat. Among the Ibibio tribe which I belong to, we have closed season and open season for hunting,” the professor of biodiversity conservation noted.
He went on to say that a peculiar monkey species known as Sclater’s monkey is still surviving in his native community in Akwa Ibom State “because my people do not eat monkeys.”
“Many species of animals cannot be killed because it is a taboo to do so. This is why such species are still surviving till today. These are traditional conservation strategies handed down to us by our forefathers.”
Any intervention so far?
Wild Africa Fund said it is conducting a public awareness campaign to save wildlife. According to Iyorah, “Wild Africa Fund believes that Nigeria can become a regional leader in countering wildlife trafficking and helping prevent the outbreak of further new disease pandemics. With its large population and pan-African reach through music, media, and the film industry, Nigeria has the potential to be a regional leader in raising awareness of these issues.”
Wild Africa Fund is also working with the government to update its wildlife laws and enforcement. It is pushing a bill alongside the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and African Nature Investors (ANI) at the House of Representatives. The Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill, just passed its second reading on Monday.
Iyorah said that results were coming after three years of campaigning in Nigeria. He said, “Market Surveys International Limited (MSI), a Lagos-based research agency, surveyed 1,000 respondents across Nigeria and found that 88 percent of the respondents have seen our public awareness campaign featuring influential celebrities. Furthermore, 86 percent said they considered not to kill or consuming wildlife because of what they learned from the campaign, which strongly discouraged bush meat consumption using calls to action like ‘please tell your family and friends not to eat or buy illegal bush meat.’ Specifically, 39 percent said they stopped consuming bushmeat due to the campaign.”
New approach to conservation needed?
Professor Eniang told Nigerian Tribune that a different approach to conservation from what is presently being practised is needed.
He said forest reserves were set up without the consent of the owners of the land. Professor Eniang said conservation “must be a participatory process whereby the local people who live with the resources, who depend on the resources are carried along in any decision targeted at conserving both land resources and the inherent biodiversity.”
