Wildlife: Nigeria better off than most African countries

Nigeria has more wildlife than most countries on the continent but proper coordination is needed to conserve and protect them, a conservation specialist has said.
Dr Okeyoyin Agboola, Assistant Conservator General, National Park Service told Daily Trust that: “If you investigate a specific portion of land in Nigeria and compare it with the same size in a country like Kenya, you will discover that Nigeria is more endowed with the variety of biodiversity that you will find.”
He said that wildlife does not only mean big games or animals but any animal or plant species that is not tamed. “In this regard, yes Kenya has a lot of games that you can drive around and see but here in Nigeria we have more wildlife insects and smaller animals than them.”
He warned that urgent steps need to be taken especially in forming synergy between various government agencies to tackling poaching and unnecessary parade of wildlife in the city by unauthorised persons.
“Most of the wildlife we can boast of today as a country are either endangered, vulnerable or facing the threats of extinction yet you find people parading such animals around the town. This is dangerous because it may lead to disease outbreak. Government agencies including the police need to work together to arrest this ugly trend,” he added.
He listed some animals endangered in the country to include chimpanzees, wild dog, gorilla, dama gazelle, preuss monkey while African pigmy squirrel, pigmy hippo, manatee and spotted neck otter are vulnerable due to human activities or climate change.