U.S spends $1.25m on wildlife conservation

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• Nigeria hub for wildlife traffickers, poachers

The United States (U.S.) government has in the past five years provided $1.25 million (N249.1million) to promote conservation of the rare primate species in Cross River State, its Deputy Chief of Mission Maria E. Brewer, has said.

She spoke on the sideline of an event to mark the  World Wildlife Day in Lagos.

The money was channelled through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) West Africa Regional Mission’s  West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change Programme.

Apart from Nigeria, she said, the body also supports other countries in the sub-region to combat wildlife trafficking through training and technical assistance.

She said the efforts form part the global commitment to cooperate with other nations on wildlife conservation and environmental protection, adding that the U.S. Mission hopes to expand its cooperation by joint training, technical exchanges, information sharing, and public education to promote conservation, while combating poaching and wildlife trafficking with local partners.

The envoy noted that Nigeria is home to a lot of wildlife, including some endangered species, such as pangolins, elephants, the Cross River gorilla, and grey parrots.

She, however, lamented that though these species come from various parts of Nigeria, they are in danger of losing the habitats.

“Despite the fact that poaching, trading and selling these animals is prohibited, limited enforcement has allowed profiting from ivory, pangolin scales, bush meat, and the live animal trade,” she said.

Brewer said in Eastern and Southern Africa, where poaching has almost eliminated some of the continent’s largest, most beautiful animals, to the brink of extinction, the U.S government has seen greater international attention to this threat.

“The senseless slaughter in other regions of Africa has resulted in West Africa and Nigeria in particular, becomes a growing hub for traffickers and poachers. Trafficking networks source and pass wildlife products—ivory, animal parts, exotic pets—through Nigeria to other destinations around the globe,” she lamented.

Describing the situation as “a continental disaster in the making,” she said Nigeria, by virtue of its size, location, and market position, can play a critical role in saving the continent’s most precious natural resources’’.

She said: “I would like to take this opportunity to call on the Nigerian government to enact and implement more strident penalties for wildlife trafficking, penalties that will help dissuade potential traffickers from using Nigeria as a transit point.”