The Director-General of National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Innocent Barikor, has said that recent cases involving the handover of pangolins in Kano State and Akwa Ibom State reflect growing public awareness and support for wildlife conservation in Nigeria.
He praised a hunter in Akwa Ibom for voluntarily reporting and surrendering two pangolins to authorities instead of attempting to sell them, describing the act as a significant boost to conservation efforts. Barikor also commended security agencies in Kano for their coordinated efforts, noting that stronger inter-agency collaboration is improving the fight against wildlife trafficking.
He warned that trafficking in wildlife—whether conducted physically or through online platforms—is a criminal offence under Nigeria’s environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act and relevant 2025 regulations, and assured that offenders would be prosecuted.
Barikor reaffirmed NESREA’s commitment to protecting endangered species and urged the public to continue reporting wildlife-related crimes. In the Akwa Ibom case, the hunter, Imo Etim, handed the animals over through the Pangolin Conservation Guild Nigeria, after which NESREA officials transferred them to the National Park Service, although one of the pangolins had died.
