By Frank Meke
It is not in doubt that Nigeria is shadow boxing serious deforestation issues, and unfortunately, we are not sure if we understand the dare consequences.
From the seventies till date, the massive loss of biodiversity and the spiral effects on soil erosion and fauna resources migration are still seen from the prisms of mediocrity and unbelievable disdain.
Apart from illegal loggings and poaching of fauna resources, we intentionally encourage the open unmitigated deforestation for urban housing and other elephant projects, fueling the rage of climate change and its attendant consequences for our tomorrow existence and peace.
Years ago, the WorldWide Fund for Nature and other United Nations Sustainable Development agencies pleaded with Nations to reserve about 25 per cent of their forest cover to help mitigate global warming and assist in food production
It was a ground beat, which led many countries, particularly in Africa, to step up the agenda to create and support the presence of protected area ecosystems such as National Parks.
Nigeria, as a prominent signatory to most of the profound these environmental expectations, particularly of the International Union of Conservation of Nature ( iucn) and others, pushed through legislative processes to birth the first Seven National Parks and lately, additional ten inorder to meet the global benchmark of 25 percent forest cover.
While the federal government speeds up the process, the same can not be seen from the states and local authorities, thus engendering an ecological and environmental imbalance and disaster that could blow up on our face, if not already at our door steps.
Worrisome to me is the absence of conservation education and awareness in most of the states and local government areas in Nigeria. Today, flooding has overrun over ten critical states in the northern fringes of Nigeria with the potential to grow our food requirements and enthrone sustainable agricultural intervention projects.
Apart from desertification, other human activities, as earlier stated, opened bare our biospace, and we are gradually being fed with our own poison by nature. One of the most critical connections to robustly powering awareness and conservation education is the deliberate presence of zoos and nature parks in urban areas, which in itself, apart from enhancing environmental aesthetics of our city centres and the preservation of natural habitats, zoos and nature parks in particular also help to promote biodiversity and create an exclusive conservation classroom away from the wild.
These profound natural laboratories, which bring families and forest beings together, have sadly gone extinct in Nigeria, and so are their intrinsic and socioeconomic values. Today, Nigerians are nature migrants as green tourists to other countries, which took away our flora and fauna resources to develop their zoos and Nature Parks.
Our universities, which once used to husband and maintain zoological nature gardens and parks, have lately abandoned the projects, thus engendering an absence of literate zoologists and opportunities for families to relate with nature as an enduring recreation.
Two years ago, the only zoo and nature park in the entire eastern region , located at Nekede, near Owerri, imo state capital, was lost to the ignominy of its values after a long protracted battle to protect and preserve by its technical team. Nekede zoo is no more, and its vast natural resources presence plundered and auctioned by the state actors and their collaborators. A housing project and estate is alleged to bear the new face of nekede zoo address. What a shame!
This same sad scenario may also play out in Edo state, where its iconic ogba Zoo and Nature Park are being threatened by land grabbers and a section of its ignorant elites and state actors.
Though the state governor, Godwin Obaseki has shown some measure of interest in the restoration of edo state rich forest cover in the past eight years and including the resistance to bring down the famous ogba zoo and nature park, it’s however benubbing that the nature conclave in the heart of the ancient Benin kingdom, is suffering from the aftermath of its invasion and violation of its critical infrastructure by known but untouchable land grabbers in the state.
On my recent visit to the state two weeks ago, I noticed the wear and tear of that unwholesome impact of that invasion and also the lack of implementation of the state government repayment process for a bank facility funneled to restore the lost glory of the nature reserve and zoological park by the management of the zoo.
No doubt, the ogba Zoo remains the only poster boy of Nature and zoological Park ecosystem in Benin nay Nigeria. The story of its survival is heart rendering as the operators limp from the impact of massive borrowed injection of funds to service the various restoration masterplans without help from the government.
Apart from decades of encroachments from the communities around nature haven, and illegal private buildings around, and to which the state government failed to intervention to dislodge and prosecute the invaders, the government also failed to pay up the 36. 5 million naira arbitration judgment awarded in favour of the zoo management over six years ago, including the legal expenses.
As if that was not enough to ground the activities of the zoo, an orchestrated kidnapping of the lead Director of zoo in 2017, with the family spending close to 70 million naira as ransome to the rampaging kidnappers, pointed to the zoo land grabbing issues as possible oxygenator of the kidnap incident.
Undaunted, and determined to prove that the private sector can make a difference where government quivers, the management of the zoo and nature park has turned around the fortunes of the enclave, despite the economic downturn in the country. The management of the zoo is processing the international membership of Pan African Association of zoos and Botanical Gardens,( PAAZAB) the World Association of Zoos and Aquarie( WAZA) and International zoo Educators Conference, apart from playing a leadership role in the National Association of Zoo Practitioners . The managers of Ogba Zoo are also members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers for Industrial Health, Safety and Environment ( HSE).
To revisit the urgent need for the Godwin obaseki government to support the good work done by the management of the zoo, a letter dated August 5th and sighted by this reporter was urgently dispatched to government house and copied to the state Secretary to government, the Honourable. Attorney General and the Honourable Commissioner of Environment, seeking for an urgent help to save the nature conclave from collapse.
The letter signed by the Director of Ogba Zoo, Mr. Andy Ehanire sought the intervention of the governor to pay up the arbitration award of 36. 5 million naira to the management, approve the engagement of a third-party Zoo management expert to guide the implementation of the new masterplan and also navigate through the technical complications arising from the distortions of land mass where the nature was located
Next month, September, 2024, Edo state goes to the polls, so would Godswin Obaseki sign off credibly for the future survival of ogba Zoo, or would he renege and play the owerri, Nekede zoo abracadabra as allegedly done by his Imo state counterpart, Senator Hope Uzodinma? In our next report, we shall unveil the many faces of intrigues, the plundering of the naure park by insiders in the Edo state government who cornered and shared the land where the ogba zoo keepers lodge were built and the many road blocks against the payment of 36.5 million naira arbitration award obtained since 2016 in favour of the zoo management.
