By Joycelyn Ellakeche Adah
Nigeria is losing close to 300 hectares of forest reserve every day, raising concerns over the country’s worsening environmental degradation, desertification and the growing pressure on its protected areas.
The Conservator-General of the National Park Service, Ibrahim Goni, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, warning that illegal logging, hunting, mining and insecurity were undermining efforts to conserve the country’s forests and wildlife.
Goni spoke when members of the Environmental Media Correspondents Association of Nigeria (EMCAN), led by its Chairman, Joycelyn Ellakeche Adah, visited the service’s headquarters to discuss collaboration on environmental reporting and conservation advocacy.
He called for stronger media engagement to expose illegal activities in forests and national parks, noting that many of the challenges confronting protected areas remained underreported.
“We are comfortable to have you as partners. We are also comfortable to collaborate with you so that our issues can be given widespread visibility”.
He identified illegal mining, illegal hunting, timber exploitation, banditry and kidnapping as major threats to the management of national parks and forest reserves.
According to him, the interconnected nature of Nigeria’s forests makes it difficult to secure national parks in isolation, as criminal elements can move into adjoining forest reserves when security operations restrict their activities within protected areas.
The Conservator-General said the destruction of forests could accelerate desertification and worsen environmental problems, stressing the need for sustained conservation efforts and stronger public awareness.
He explained that the expansion of Nigeria’s national park system was partly intended to restore degraded vegetation and strengthen the country’s response to climate change.
Goni said Nigeria now has 17 national parks, 13 of which were operational, compared with seven before 10 additional parks were established during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said the expansion was intended to support the regeneration of vegetation in areas previously designated as forest or game reserves and contribute to Nigeria’s climate commitments.
Beyond forest destruction, Goni raised concerns over Nigeria’s role in international illegal wildlife trafficking, explaining that smugglers frequently use the country as a transit route to seaports.
He said wildlife specimens were moved from neighbouring countries, including Chad, Niger and Cameroon, through Nigeria for onward transportation.
To address the problem, he disclosed that the Nigeria Customs Service, National Park Service, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and Nigeria Police Force had established an inter-agency committee to combat wildlife trafficking.
According to him, the committee had conducted raids that resulted in the seizure of live animals, carcasses and other wildlife specimens.
Goni also said the service was working with the Nigerian Army to tackle illegal mining in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, which spans parts of Taraba and Adamawa states.
The operation led to the closure of two illegal mining sites and the dislodgement of more than 4,000 miners.
He warned, however, that removing illegal miners from protected areas could provoke resistance, making alternative livelihood opportunities for affected communities an important part of the response.
The service was also working with the Ministry of Solid Minerals to address mining activities in Oyo State, while about 17 miners had been arrested in Rivers State as part of efforts to curb illegal exploitation.
Goni urged environmental journalists to use their platforms to highlight conservation challenges, pollution, flooding, erosion and other ecological threats, adding that greater public awareness could encourage stronger institutional responses.
He also said the Federal Ministry of Environment had introduced flood warning equipment in several parts of the country to alert communities to impending floods and help residents move to safer locations.
Responding, EMCAN Chairman Adah said the association was committed to bridging the communication gap between environmental agencies and the media.
She said the association’s new leadership, elected about two months earlier, had identified inadequate engagement between environmental agencies and journalists as a major obstacle to effective reporting of the sector.
“As journalists, our job is to report on this sector. In every parastatal, there is an environment correspondent, and the job of that correspondent is to report on the sector,” Adah said.
She noted that although EMCAN had more than 35 members, only three or four media organisations regularly covered the activities of the National Park Service, limiting the visibility of its work.
Adah said the association was ready to partner with the service to publicise conservation initiatives, improve access to information and educate Nigerians about the agency’s responsibility for managing national parks and protecting wildlife.
The meeting ended with a commitment by both organisations to strengthen cooperation and improve public awareness of environmental protection and conservation.
Author
Leave a comment