The House of Representatives member for Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency of Benue State, Terseer Ugbor, has said Nigeria does not earn from tourism and wildlife tourism.
Terseer Ugbor said Nigeria needs strong legislation to protect wildlife if she must earn from the wildlife sector.
In an interview with Arise TV on Thursday, Ugbor noted elephant tusks cost $100,000 in the international market, but the law only recommended ₦10,000 fine for poachers.
He stated that law enforcement officers also aid and abet poachers to carry out their trafficking of wildlife.
“Legislation is everything. Conservation efforts have to depend on stronger penalties and stronger laws to deter poachers, to deter traffickers from engaging in this business. Several years ago in Nigeria, there was a case where an elephant was killed in Nigeria. And the people who committed this illegal activity were arrested, but they were never persecuted.
“Recently, there was an elephant that was killed in Burunu by soldiers and a local government chairman. And that issue currently is undergoing some judicial inquiry under the office of the NSA. And then there was a case of a baby elephant that was captured by a poacher recently. And he was trying to smuggle the baby elephant out of the country illegally, because it’s illegal to smuggle elephants and things like that out of the country.
“They got to the border post. By the next day in the morning, somehow, the elephant and the smuggler escaped from detention. A baby elephant is big. It’s not a small animal. And this person was able to escape with a baby elephant out of Nigeria. So there’s been no laws. There are no penalties. And then we’re talking about illegal trafficking of endangered species, of elephant ivory, of tusks, things like that, pangolin scales,” Ugbor said.
The Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Environment explained that there has to be strong legislation and enforcement will to arrest wildlife trafficking.
He added that the country would not maximize its economic potential from wildlife tourism without taking drastic action against poachers.
“The international cost, the cost of an ivory, for example, would cost you something like $100,000. And if you are caught with ivory, that means you’ve killed several elephants. You get a penalty of ₦10,000, and you go scot-free.
“So usually, when the penalty is so weak, the people who are involved in this illegal activity will continue to perpetrate it, because they know that when they are caught, they can pay the fine very cheaply from their back pocket. And they can go right back into doing this international trafficking, this illegal crime.
“So it is important that wildlife is protected, the laws are strengthened, so that the country can benefit more holistically from tourism, from our wildlife. It is so important that we do this. Kenya passed a law in 2014 that made the penalties for illegal wildlife crime stiffer. And they saw a 90% reduction in wildlife crime in Kenya. And that is how the wildlife tourism has boomed and has gone off the roof. Now they’re earning over $2 billion annually.
“Nigeria earns almost nothing from tourism, from wildlife tourism, from conservation tourism, biodiversity, and things like that. So we need to move the needle. And one of the ways that we can do this is to strengthen the laws, is to delineate the responsibility and the roles to the several agencies, environmental agencies, that have a jurisdiction to protect our forest, protect our wildlife, keep the forest safe from banditry and insecurity issues, so that tourists can go in and of course keep our biodiversity healthy for the future generation and the future safety of our planet and of course our environment in Nigeria as a whole,” Ugbor added.
