FG unveils 10-year plan to combat elephant poaching, wildlife crime

The Minister of State for Environment, Dr Iziaq Salako, said Nigeria’s elephant population is severely threatened. This as government said Nigeria’s elephant population has crashed from 1,500 to an estimated 300 to 400.

Salako, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the launch of a 10-year National Elephant Action Plan, noted that elephants are critical ecosystem engineers, forest gardeners and fostering biodiversity.

“In many cultures, they are a source of livelihood sustenance, especially through eco-tourism. Sadly, in our country, they have suffered an 86 per cent population decline over the last 30 years with the population of Elephants in Nigeria estimated to be about 400 as of 2021.

“Nigeria’s elephant population is under severe threat, particularly the small, isolated populations of forest elephants who are believed to reproduce much more slowly than savanna elephants and are even more vulnerable to poaching than previously thought.

“There can be no more appropriate time for this occasion than now considering the above worrisome revelation and the recent incidences of elephant captures and killings in some parts of the country last year. These are in addition to other numerous threats including habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and poaching.”