The Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill, 2024 has been successfully approved by the Nigerian Senate and will now be forwarded to the President for his assent.
Passed by the House of Representatives in late May 2025, the Bill updates existing wildlife laws, increases penalties for wildlife crimes, and provides greater authority to investigators to probe financial transactions and conduct intelligence-led operations.
It also empowers judges to expedite wildlife cases and recover offender assets while promoting international collaboration by aligning with global treaties and allowing extradition of offenders. “This is a huge win for Nigeria and shows, without any doubt, that we remain committed to stamping out wildlife trafficking and protecting our unique fauna and flora.
“This is a huge win for Nigeria, and it shows, without any doubt, that we remain committed to stamping out wildlife trafficking and protecting our unique fauna and flora,” said Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, the bill’s sponsor, Hon. Terseer Ugbor.
“Stronger laws mean Nigeria’s forests and wildlife will now be protected from exploitation and criminal activities. We are proud to see this bill move forward because protecting wildlife is tantamount to safeguarding our environment and our future.”
In the last decade, Nigeria emerged as a major hub for the trafficking of ivory and pangolin sales to Asian markets. The West African country was linked to the smuggling of more than 30 tonnes of ivory since 2015, and over half of the pangolin scales trafficked globally between 2016 and 2019.
But environmental organisations have praised this latest development, saying that the Bill demonstrates Nigeria’s response to tackle serious and organised wildlife trafficking.
Speaking on the development, the Executive Director, Africa Nature Investors Foundation (ANI), Tunde Morakinyo, said, “This momentous day has been several years in the making. For too long, traffickers have used Nigeria as a transit country for the illegal wildlife trade, bringing endangered wildlife from all over Africa through our porous borders, ports and airports to export them illegally to Europe and Asia.
“The Bill aims to halt this shameful trade, which is destroying our environment and ruining Nigeria’s global reputation. We salute the Nigerian Senate for taking this bold step, which will make Nigeria a global leader with one of the most progressive wildlife laws for the African continent.”
According to the Executive Director of London-based Environmental Investigation Agency UK (EIA UK), Mary Rice, “The passing of this key piece of legislation is a significant milestone for Nigeria and a demonstration of the country’s commitment to transitioning from a hub for wildlife crime to a leader in the fight against it. Congratulations to all those who have worked tirelessly on this journey. EIA has been proud to support these efforts and will continue to support Nigeria and other countries in the region.
“EIA believes firmly that long-term, sustainable change is the key to tackling environmental crime, and it is imperative that this law is now implemented and used by investigators, prosecutors and the judiciary to bring wildlife traffickers and other environmental offenders to justice.”
The CEO of Wild Africa (WA), Peter Knights, said, “We hope the President will move quickly to sign this bill. The UN CITES meeting on trade in endangered species meets at the end of November in Uzbekistan and to have this bill enacted before then would be a tremendous feather in the President’s and country’s caps. It would show the administration’s commitment to playing a leading role in fighting wildlife crime.”
ANI, EIA UK and WA have been actively supporting the Nigerian Government’s efforts to fight illegal wildlife trafficking with the generous support of the Pangolin Conservation Fund, the UK Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. EIA will ensure implementation of the legislation with the support of the project GUARD Wildlife, funded by the European Union.
