The National Park Service (NPS) has presented its scorecard for the year 2023, detailing its activities for the year.
The Conservator-General (CG) of the Service, Dr Ibrahim Musa Goni, presented during a Friday media briefing at the National Headquarters of the Service in Abuja.
The Nigerian Tribune reports that the National Park Service is a paramilitary agency under the Federal Ministry of Environment, established through Decree 46 of 1999, now Act 46 (Cap 65 LFN 2010). The policy thrust of the service is to provide security and manage and regulate the use of the diverse and unique natural resources within the national parks in the country.
NPS currently manages seven national parks spread across the country’s different ecological and geopolitical zones.
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), and 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).
According to CG Musa Goni, the major challenges the organization has been facing have been that of loggers, grazers, and hunters who always find their way into these parks to carry out illegal wildlife trafficking and cutting down trees that serve as natural habitats for animals in the parks.
He, however, stated that the service has enjoyed tremendous support from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to checkmate cases such as kidnapping and banditry through collaboration with the Nigerian Army.
He added that the service is doing everything within its power to bring the challenges to the barest minimum through arrests, fines, and convictions of trespassers in the parks.
He said for the year under review, the Service has 646 cases.
“During the period, 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.
With banditry incidents, 37 suspects were apprehended in connection with mining/banditry in Old Oyo National Park, while Kainji Lake National Park arrested three suspected bandits and neutralised 5 others.
Four victims were rescued during these operations, and various items such as motorcycles, phones, and machetes were recovered.
“A total of 646 cases were prosecuted in the National Parks during the period. 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. However, with the effort of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the support he is giving the military and paramilitary services, I believe we will overcome these challenges of banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and the likes,” he said.
Goni said the service prioritises the welfare of its personnel and has therefore organised a total of 260 training programs in the form of training, conferences, and workshops as part of its commitment to continuous learning and capacity development of its personnel across the country.
While restating the commitment of the service to protecting Nigeria’s national parks, wildlife conservation, and environmental sustainability.
He added that the service also embarked on some capital projects in various national parks, positively impacting park infrastructure, equipment, and facilities and generating a total revenue of N83 million through various sources, including ecotourism, compounding, compensation and others.
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