In recognition of the fight against wildlife trafficking in Nigeria, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) has made donations to Nigeria Environmental Standard Regulation and Enforcement Agency (NESREA)
as part of a measure to boost the capacity of the Agency.
The Nigeria Environmental Standard Regulation and Enforcement Agency (NESREA) had recently destroyed stockpiles of various wilds intercepted and seized from traffickers announcing its determination to rid the Nigerian space of wildlife trafficking.
The United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) which was represented by The Programme Officer, Folusho Adeleke said the effort by NESREA to combat wildlife crime in Nigeria was commendable.
He said such a feat was recognised by the UNODC and attracted support to boost the agency’s capacity to be able to carry out this fight against wildlife crime.
Adeleke said; “NESREA as the CITES enforcement authority would continue to receive the support it needs to achieve its mandate.”
Among the support materials given to NESREA include: GPS trackers, digital binoculars, digital video cameras, laptops, and desktops.
Others include “weighing scales, walkie –talkies, foot wears, magnifying lens, digital camera binoculars, calipers, etc.”
Excited over the support from the UNODC, Director General of NESREA, Prof. Aliyu Jauro while receiving the equipment noted the sophisticated methods being adopted by traffickers would be greatly tackled with the provision of real-time equipment.
Jauro said this equipment would greatly enhance wildlife monitoring, investigation, intelligence gathering and enforcement, evidence collection.
Professor Jauro said it would enhance data generation, data management, and transmission in the process.
Prof Jauro assured that the country was taking all the necessary steps to rid the country of wildlife crimes, saying the recent “destruction of seized wildlife stockpiles was intended to discourage perpetrators of the crime and also send out the signal that the country would not tolerate any form of wildlife crime on its soil.
He also added that Nigeria had put in place the necessary checks at the border posts in the bid to frustrate the activities of those who seek to use the country as a transit hub for illegal shipment of controlled wildlife and their products.
The NESREA boss expressed appreciation to the UNODC while adding that the gadgets would be deployed to the Zonal and State Field Offices of the Agency, particularly those that have been identified as hotspots for traffickers.
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