Wildlife management: National Parks Service partners Ghanaian institute

Nigeria National Parks Service (NPS) says it will collaborate with the Chartered Institute of Public Resources, Management and Politics of Ghana on wildlife management and domestic tourism in Nigeria.

Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, the Conservator-General of the service, said this in Abuja on Friday when he received a fellowship award of the institute.

The award was conferred on the conservator-general for his “uncommon leadership initiatives in promoting sustainable wildlife, tourism and citizenship development in Nigeria’’.

Goni said: “We are building serious linkages and collaborations between educational and research institutions, both within and outside the country, to improve our parks.

“Just recently, we entered into agreements with the Kunming Institute of Zoology, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) on biodiversity research to help develop and preserve the nation’s natural heritage’’.

Goni said that the agreements would facilitate the efforts of NPS “to critically look into our environment and instigate development-induced findings.

“We want to make sure that the research component of the National Parks Service is well-organised and linked to different educational and research institutions.

“This will boost tourism; in the first half of 2017, more than 5,356 tourists visited national parks across the country and about 1,986 students, on industrial attachment, were also trained,’’ he said.

The conservator-general said that the parks service had developed a network of national parks that could compete favourably with other national parks across the world.

“To this end, the parks service is making efforts to put in place operational management plans for each park and a systems plan for the entire country.

“We want a national park system that meets the hopes and aspirations of Nigerians and, indeed, the whole world, in preserving and protecting our natural heritage and the cultural relics that enliven them for generations to come.

“The service is making frantic efforts to improve and maintain excellent standards and services; we want to give our parks a facelift to attract more tourists, both local and international,” he said.

In his remarks, Dr Richard Okpada, the Director of Operations in the Institute, said that the award was given to Goni in recognition of the uncommon expertise and statesmanship which he displayed in wildlife and tourism development efforts.

“Goni’s curriculum vitae justified the decision of the Institute to select him for the 2017 Fellowship Hall of Fame of the Institute.

“The Institute selected the conservator-general, along with the wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, and others in Africa for the fellowships.

“However, it took the Institute five years to research the operational activities of the National Park Service in Nigeria and beyond to conclude on the selection of the conservator-general for the award,’’ he added.