The recent huge shipments of pangolin scales intercepted by the Singaporean authorities within a space of a week and linked to Nigeria have raised concern from some conservationists in the country.
The two containers which were Vietnam-bound contained 12.9 and 12.7 tons of pangolin scales worth about $52.3 million and $51.6million, respectively.
The single shipment of 12.9 tonnes is said to be the largest so far in the history of pangolin scales trafficking, and now followed by the second discovered haul.
But Nigerian conservationists say the country currently does not have the population of pangolins to produce this quantity of scales.
“The scale of this trade is escalating and mounting enormous pressure on the population of pangolins that may be left in Africa, a figure that no one at present has any idea of,” Olajumoke Morenikeji, chair, PCWGN also known as Pangolin Conservation Guild Nigeria, said in a statement made available to BusinessDay.
“What remains unclear about this present illegal trade discovery and in fact the more recent ones that have been claimed to originate from Nigeria is, if the country has such population left of pangolins to make that volume of scales,” Morenikeji said.
She stated that the pangolin scales seized from both shipments linked to the country were derived from two species- the white bellied and the giant ground pangolins.
According to her, the giant ground pangolin was last cited in the country seven years ago, quoting a former Nigerian head of wildlife trade division and CITES as saying so.
She called on all Nigerians to collaborate in the quest to tame the illegal pangolin trade in the country.
“Given that if this current rate of exploitation goes on unchecked, in no short time the death knell will be sounded on the pangolin and they may be gone forever. This is a fate we can prevent by working cohesively.”
Morenikeji urged the Federal Government to investigate these large seizures linked to the country and provide tighter border surveillance while equipping, training and empowering enforcement agents to arrest and prosecute poachers.
“The Pangolin Conservation Working Group Nigeria (PCWGN) is using this opportunity to appeal to the Nigerian Presidency in particular and every other stakeholder in order to save pangolins,” she said.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has categorized all four African species as vulnerable, while in 2016, the Convention on International Trade Endanger Species (CITES) listed all 8 species in the world to Appendix 1 to prohibit trade and afford some form of protection.
The CITES’s decision in effect has resulted in many shipments being discovered, but it has often not nabbed the suspects involved in this trade network.
PCWGN has created a lot of awareness on pangolins in Nigeria. The guild have rescued, rehabilitated and released some pangolins into protected forest areas.
The group is now planning a rescue and rehabilitation centre for the pangolins in Nigeria in order to help address this kind of trading and exploitation in the country.
Josephine Okojie
