National News
UNODC, EU, FG Promote Strategic Plan for Wildlife, Forestry
UNODC, EU, FG Promote Strategic Plan for Wildlife, Forestry
By: Michael Mike
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the European Union (EU), and the Federal Government have insisted that there is urgent need to put in place strategic approach to effectively curtain the rising crime against wildlife and forestry in the country.
Speaking on Tuesday during the presentation of International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC): Analytical Toolkit Nigeria, Country Representative of UNODC, Oliver Stolpe
decried the high level of environmental degradation, saying Nigeria had one of the highest rates of deforestation globally.
He lamented that the country from 2002 to 2020 lost 141kha of humid primary forest equivalent to 14 per cent of its total tree cover.
He said: “Excessive, unsustainable, and most illegal extraction threatens the livelihood of local communities and species, who called these woods their home.
“Wildlife is not only threatened by the continuous shrinking of their habitat but also by professional poachers and local hunters.
“Organised criminal trade of wildlife and forest products through Nigerian ports has created a threat to biodiversity across the entire region.”
He added that: “Not one of these developments has gone unobserved, neither by the government of Nigeria nor by the international community.”
Stolpe however commended the adoption of the first national strategy to combat crime, the recent establishment of the wildlife enforcement task force, and efforts to review the legislative framework and boost the criminal justice system to be strategic steps taken.
He also revealed that such efforts started to bear fruits with regard to the ability of Nigerian law enforcement to seize illegally traded wildlife and forest products.
Stolpe said: “These efforts have not yet reversed the trend to put an end to the role of Nigeria, as a regional hub for the illegal trade in wildlife and forest products.
“The legal framework continues to evidence gaps as concerns the penalties foreseen by law.
“Recent cases suggest that investigators, prosecutors and judges appear to require further capacities and resources to mount an effective and credible justice response when organised crime is involved.”
Also speaking at the event, Ambassador of the EU to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi,, described the event as an urgent step for the survival of not just the animals to be protected, but humans.
Isopi, represented by Dr Sobri Mekaoui, Programme Officer, EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, urged stakeholders to work closely together at the country level for the benefit of Nigeria and humanity.
She said: “Basically, this effort when fully analysed is about the preservation of the human species as much as it is about the preservation of wild animals.
“That explains why this event is funded by the European Union, through the general grant for the implementation of the ICCWC, which includes Nigeria as a target country.
“The EU will continue to play a leading role and support actions that contribute to the preservation, conservation, protection of wildlife, biodiversity and the environment in general as our commitment to climate action.”
Isopi noted that to achieve holistic climate action, every nation must be prepared to push forward the green agenda not just in the area of hardware, but also efficient administration of justice in this regard.
She disclosed that the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS supported Nigeria with a 2 million euros conservation project being implemented by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Cross River State of Nigeria.
She however said the project would protect the environment and biodiversity against the effects of climate change and strengthen the system through the design and implementation of ecological, socio-economic, and law enforcement, to measure progress towards conservation objectives.
During the official inauguration of the toolkit, the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi,, said the toolkit would further boost sustainable management of forest and biological resources.
Abdullahi, represented by Malam Stanley Jonah, Director of Planning Research and Statistics, explained that the toolkit would ensure a world free of wildlife crime, a safer planet and a global vision of living in harmony with nature.
He said: “We hope to continue to welcome and work closely with our Development Partners to sustain and heighten the tempo as necessary as we can.
“We have resolved to leave no stone unturned in protecting and conserving our valued natural endowments for national development and for the sake of our planet.
“The responsibility is not for one entity to shoulder, it calls for strategic involvement of a broad range of stakeholders and partners, to build a sense of ownership and responsibility for quantitative and qualitative results.”
UNODC, EU, FG Promote Strategic Plan for Wildlife, Forestry
NAN, AWALCO Partners to Promote ECOWAS Parliament
By: Michael Mike
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has pledged to partner the Association of West African Legislative Correspondents (AWALCO) to publicise the activities of the ECOWAS Parliament, particularly its 25th anniversary celebrations.
The Managing Director of the agency, Malam Ali Muhammad Ali,, made the pledge when the leadership of the association paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja on Thursday.
Ali while expressing appreciation to the association’s officials for deeming it worthy to pay him a courtesy visit, said as Africa’s biggest news content provider, NAN was home to all.
He said: “For deeming it worthy to come and pay us this courtesy call, the agency is appreciative.
“We hope that it will help the Parliament achieve its goals, and raise awareness, like you said, about its activities.
“On our part, the News Agency of Nigeria, like you know, is Africa’s biggest news content provider.”
He noted that the agency is the most authentic and biggest news hub in Africa, with a domineering influence and reach within the West African subregion.
Ali said: “So, with an association like this, certainly in the News Agency of Nigeria, you find a soulmate, a fellow traveler. You are welcome. We look forward to partnering and doing more, and the News Agency of Nigeria is your home.”
Speaking earlier, AWALCO President, Mr Innocent Odoh, explained that the purpose of the visit was to seek the collaboration and support of NAN, as the indisputable leader in terms of news credibility reportage, and viability.
He said that ECOWAS Parliament would be marking its 25th anniversary on November 16 and a series of activities had been lined up for it.
Odoh said that AWALCO, being the association of the parliament’s press corps, was fully involved in it by way of planning to give the occasion a media and publicity glitz.
He said this would help to propagate the ideals of ECOWAS in general, and ECOWAS Parliament in particular, and make the objectives of ECOWAS Commission and Parliament known globally, starting from the subregion.
He said: “In terms of viability, if we talk about the repository of news in all ramifications, in all dimensions, I think the News Agency of Nigeria comes first before any other one.
“So, what we are doing is in line with the media advocacy that we are projecting for the ECOWAS Parliament at 25.
“We can see that if the collaboration with NAN takes off as we planned it, I think it will go a long way in expanding the vision of the association.”
The AWALCO president further said that the partnership would determine how the regional bloc is run, especially at a time that so many things about ECOWAS needed to be interrogated.
“That is why we’re here, to seek that collaboration, to seek that support, how we can deepen that collaboration to ensure that the citizens of the Parliament understand what is happening around them.
“ECOWAS has a vision of 2050 but many people may not be aware of it, but collaborations like this can open up an opportunity for people to understand the vision of ECOWAS,” he added
on her part, Chief Communication Officer, ECOWAS Parliament, Mrs Uche Duru,, who was part of the delegation, in a remark, extended greetings from ECOWAS Parliament Speaker and Secretary-General to Ali and NAN’s management.
The spokesperson for the parliament said the association was beyond Nigeria, as its membership encompassed the entire West Africa, including even from member states that were threatening to exit or had already exited.
NAN, AWALCO Partners to Promote ECOWAS Parliament
National News
Nigeria, China May Head for Diplomatic Row Over Shooting of Immigration Officer at Chinese Firm
Nigeria, China May Head for Diplomatic Row Over Shooting of Immigration Officer at Chinese Firm
By: Michael Mike
Nigeria is not taking lightly the shooting of an immigration officer at a Chinese firm in Jos, Plateau State.
The Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo who narrated the story,
The federal government has threatened a serious diplomatic row with the Republic of China over maltreatment of a Nigerian Immigration Service officer shot by a Chinese company in Nigeria for asking for the company’s expatriate list.
Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who narrated the story on Thursday in Abuja at a stakeholders sensitisation workshop on the implementation of the Nigeria Visa policy 2025, said Nigeria is not handling the matter with kid gloves as it would be taken up as a diplomatic issue.
Tunji-Ojo lamented that the development alone is an attack on Nigeria. It will never be condoned.
He said the Immigration officer, who was on official duty, had visited the Chinese company in Jos, Plateau state, to check the list of the company’s expatriates, but the owner of the company ordered a security officer in the premises to shoot the government official.
Tunji-Ojo said: “I won’t go to China as a Nigerian, open a company and tell my security to shoot a government official in uniform. It’s never done anywhere in the world.
“These officers put their lives on the line. These officers serve this country with their all. And you will not come from anywhere and ask them to shoot them in their fatherland.
“It will no longer happen. We will take it up with you. Because that company, we (Nigerian government) have the power to withdraw their business permit Nigeria and declare them illegal.”
He wondered how it had become an offence for an Immigration officer to visit a foreign company and demand to see their expatriate list.
He said: “It will not happen again. So we’re going to be very hard. We will not stop your business. We will not overburden your business. But don’t make us inferior in our own land. No, please.
“And we’re going to be very tough on this. Because talking to you, I’m not just talking with passion on this topic, I’m talking with a lot of anger, because that guy that was shot is a Nigeria that we all swore to protect by virtue of the laws of Nigeria, by the constitution. That Immigration guy was not shot by a terrorist, is a father, he is a son to somebody. He is a husband to somebody. That cannot happen anywhere in the world.
“We will not tolerate it. Please, no agent, no company is above the law,” the Minister declared
Nigeria, China May Head for Diplomatic Row Over Shooting of Immigration Officer at Chinese Firm
Nigeria Explores CNG Technology to Power Defence, Industrial Vehicle Fleets
By: Michael Mike
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar has led a high-level delegation on a tour of UROVESA—a renowned Spanish manufacturer of military and industrial vehicles.
The visit focused on exploring potential collaboration in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) technology for powering Nigeria’s defence and industrial vehicle fleets.
The minister was accompanied on the visit by key figures including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ekperikpe Ekpo; Presidential CNG Initiative representative, Engr. Michael Oluwagbemi; Engr. Henry Oki; and the Special Assistant for Gas Business and Investment to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), where they all engaged in detailed discussions with UROVESA executives.
During the visit, Tuggar emphasized the longstanding trade ties between Nigeria and Spain, noting that Spain remains one of Nigeria’s top trading partners, with Nigerian crude oil exports reaching $3.64 billion in 2023.
He lauded UROVESA’s innovative approach to producing all-terrain, armoured, tactical, and logistical vehicles, and expressed Nigeria’s growing interest in and implementation of CNG-powered solutions.
Tuggar also highlighted Nigeria’s business-friendly economic reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, which have positioned the country as a prime destination for investment in clean energy technologies. The discussions provided a valuable platform for further exploration of future collaborations between UROVESA and Nigeria’s Ministry of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas) in CNG-powered vehicle production and supply.
According to a statement by the foreign affairs minister spokesman, Alkasim AbdulKadir, the engagement not only reinforced Nigeria’s commitment to a green energy future but also laid the groundwork for modernizing the nation’s defence and industrial fleets with environmentally friendly and cost-effective energy solutions.
He said the promising outcome of the discussions sets the stage for a strategic partnership that is expected to foster sustainable innovation and drive economic growth for both Nigeria and UROVESA.
Nigeria Explores CNG Technology to Power Defence, Industrial Vehicle Fleets
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