The Federal Ministry of Environment has embarked on a programme of multiplication of viable species such as snails and cane rats, the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, has said.
She made the disclosure at the official launching of a massive public awareness campaign against wildlife crime in Nigeria organised by WildAid in Lagos.
According to her, the multiplication programme was being piloted at the ministry’s outstations in Gwagwalada, FCT, and Akure, Ondo State, to provide alternatives to wild animals and consequently pave the way to keep them in the wild.
She also noted that the programme entailed capacity building of local communities in raising and multiplying wildlife species.
WildAid President, Peter Knight, disclosed that Nigeria had no surviving cheetahs, rhinos and giraffes and had fewer than 50 lions, 100 gorillas, 500 elephants and 2,300 chimpanzees in the wild.
He lamented that despite conservative effort, poaching for body parts and meat along with habitat loss from deforestation, infrastructure development and agricultural expansion were threatening wildlife in Nigeria.
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