The Nigerian Parliament not too long ago handed sweeping laws to guard endangered wildlife from unlawful trafficking. As soon as the president indicators it into legislation, offenders may face fines of as much as 12 million naira ($8,300) and as much as 10 years in jail for trafficking elephant ivory, pangolin scales, and different merchandise from threatened species.
The invoice, hailed as one of many hardest authorized deterrents to wildlife crime in West Africa, is an enormous step ahead for conservation insurance policies, however consultants warn that with out sturdy enforcement capability, it dangers turning into little greater than a paper victory.
Lately handed by the Nigerian Senate on Oct. 28, the Endangered Species Conservation and Safety Invoice 2024 aligns Nigeria extra carefully with worldwide conservation agreements, together with CITES.
“This new invoice addresses long-existing gaps in our authorized framework,” Terseer Ugbor, the invoice’s sponsor and deputy chairman of the Home Committee on Atmosphere, stated in a name with Mongabay. “The previous legislation was riddled with ambiguities. It did not specify whether or not its provisions utilized solely to worldwide wildlife commerce or additionally to home transactions.”
The brand new laws expands the checklist of protected species, toughens deterrent penalties and empowers the courts to freeze property tied to wildlife crimes. It additionally grants authorities businesses the facility to shut interagency enforcement and prosecution gaps that traffickers have abused for many years.
Nigeria is a longtime international hub for wildlife trafficking; in April 2025, greater than 3.7 metric tons of pangolin scales, representing greater than 1,900 animals, had been seized in Lagos. Estimates counsel that between 2010 and 2021, upward of 1,000,000 pangolins, almost 90,000 animals per yr, had been trafficked by Nigerian networks. And in 2024 alone, almost 1.6 metric tons of ivory had been seized in Vietnam and traced again Nigeria.
Regardless of Nigeria’s well-known place as a transit level for wildlife smuggled from Central and West Africa to consumers in Europe, the Center East and Asia, profitable prosecutions for wildlife crimes are uncommon. The federal government has secured simply 12 convictions within the final three years.
Given the dimensions and historical past of wildlife crime in Nigeria, Tunde Morakinyo, govt director of the African Nature Buyers Basis stays skeptical of the brand new laws. “A legislation is ineffective with out enforcement. Coaching, tools, company coordination and public training are required for efficient implementation,” he advised Mongabay in a name.
Nonetheless, regional observers see Nigeria’s transfer as a part of a broader development in West Africa. International locations together with Togo, Benin and Côte d’Ivoire have additionally not too long ago stiffened penalties for wildlife crime amid worldwide strain to fight trafficking. Given Nigeria’s central position within the wildlife trafficking community, efficient enforcement there may have ripple results throughout the area.
“With stricter legal guidelines, improved enforcement and widespread campaigns, Nigeria may transfer from being a hub for wildlife trafficking to a pacesetter in conservation,” Mark Ofua, West Africa consultant for Wild Africa, advised Mongabay in a name.
Banner picture of a pangolin by Frendi Apen Irawan through Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
