The Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill 2024 has passed its final and third reading in the House of Representatives and is now set to be sent to the Senate for concurrence.
The Bill enhances Nigeria’s response to serious and organised wildlife trafficking, and introduces stricter penalties for wildlife crime. It provides investigators with greater authority to probe financial transactions and conduct intelligence-led operations.
It also seeks to empower judges to expedite wildlife cases and recover assets while also promoting international collaboration by aligning with global treaties.
The sponsor of the Bill, the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Hon. Terseer Ugbor, said: “This Bill sends an unambiguously clear message that Nigeria will not tolerate the use of its borders for trafficking of illegal wildlife products, such as pangolin scales and ivory, to foreign markets.
“By modernising our laws, we want to ensure that future generations will continue to benefit from the ecological and economic value of our biodiversity.”
Nigeria has emerged as a major hub for the trafficking of ivory and pangolin sales to Asian markets. The country has been linked to the smuggling of more than 30 tonnes of ivory since 2015 and over half of the pangolin scales seized globally between 2016 and 2019.
