UNODC Supports Nigeria’s War Against Wildlife Trafficking With Equipment

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has boosted the Nigerian government’s ongoing war on wildlife trafficking by donating wildlife monitoring and enforcement equipment to the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).

Prof. Aliyu Jauro, Director General of NESREA, stated while receiving the equipment on Wednesday in Abuja that the sophisticated methods used by traffickers necessitate modern tools for tracking and apprehending wildlife criminals.

He stated that the provision of real-time equipment by the UNODC would significantly improve wildlife monitoring, investigation, intelligence gathering, enforcement, evidence collection, data generation, data management, and transmission.

Jauro assured that the country was taking all necessary steps to eliminate wildlife crimes, and that the recent destruction of seized wildlife stockpiles was intended to discourage perpetrators of the crime while also sending a message that the country would not tolerate any form of wildlife crime on its soil.

The DG also revealed that Nigeria had implemented necessary border checks in order to frustrate the activities of those attempting to use the country as a transit hub for the 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.

Folusho Adeleke, Programme Officer for the UNODC, praised the Nigerian government’s efforts to reduce wildlife crime in Nigeria, and stated that NESREA, the CITES enforcement authority, would continue to receive the necessary support to carry out its mandate.

The items donated to the Agency include GPS trackers, digital binoculars, digital video cameras, laptops and desktop computers, weighing scales, walkie-talkies, footwear, magnifying lenses, digital camera binoculars, and callipers.