- The UNODC warns Nigeria is becoming a major transit hub for trafficking wildlife products, including pangolin scales and ivory
- The ICCWC Toolkit provides recommendations to strengthen Nigeria’s wildlife crime prevention strategies, emphasizing the need for urgent reforms in enforcement
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has raised concerns over Nigeria’s emerging role as a major transit hub for trafficking illicit wildlife products. Danilo Campisi, UNODC officer-in-charge, made this known during the launch of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit in Abuja.
Campisi explained that wildlife and forest crime in Nigeria is escalating, with the country becoming a key route for smuggling protected species such as pangolin scales and ivory from Eastern and Central Africa. These illegal products enter Nigeria through porous land borders and exploit its advanced sea and airport infrastructure.
The ICCWC Toolkit provides an in-depth assessment of a country’s responses to wildlife and forest crime, identifying areas of strength and weakness. It offers short-term and long-term recommendations, which serve as an evidence base for Nigerian authorities to enhance their wildlife crime prevention strategies.
The report presented 33 key recommendations to strengthen Nigeria’s wildlife criminal justice system. These include supporting the 2024 Endangered Species Protection and Conservation Bill, enhancing wildlife forensics, and creating a specialized wildlife crime unit within the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
Campisi stressed the urgency of implementing these recommendations, highlighting the severe depletion of rosewood and other species, as noted in the 2023 Organised Crime Threat Assessment for Nigeria and the 2024 World Wildlife Crime Report.
Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abass Lawal, also expressed deep concern over the rising incidence of wildlife crime. He said it not only threatens the environment but also fuels corruption and undermines public health, national security, and livelihoods. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to tackling this issue through cooperation with international and local stakeholders.