Nigeria’s Conservator-General at the National Park Service, Dr. Ibrahim Musa Goni on Wednesday called for support for recycling of plastic waste in Nigerian coastal areas to create wealth and save sea turtles from pollution, loss of habitat, hunting and extinction.
The CG made this statement at an awakening programme organized by the Green Fingers Wildlife Conservation Initiative at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos to create awareness on importance of sea turtles, their ordeals and protection challenges in Nigeria.
As a special guest, the CG commended the Initiative for organizing the programme and choosing students, as critical stakeholders, to champion the campaign for effective protection and conservation of sea turtles in Nigeria, affirming that the strategy has the capacity to address the issues of hope, trust and sustainability in the campaign.
The CG added that he is inspired by the exhibitions put up by the students to illustrate the importance of sea turtle to the ecosystem and the need to stop oceans’ pollution to restore their integrity and save sea turtles and other aquatic animals from extinction, commending and urging the students to ensure that the campaign is sustained to its fruition.
The CG used the occasion to educate the students on the difference between national parks, forest and game reserves, stating that National Parks are managed by federal government while forest and game reserves are managed by state governments globally and that Nigeria is blessed with naturally rich national parks. spread across all geopolitical zones of the country except for Southeast that is yet to have a national park.
The CG added that for a forest or game reserve to become a park, a sitting governor of the concerned State must initiate the process by writing the federal government to seek for an area to be upgraded to a National Park. The process continues from there till such game or forest reserve is handed over to the National Park Service as a National Park.
The CG reiterated that the Event’s theme, “Sea Turtle Awakening”, is important as it is in line with the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda that seeks to support National Parks in Nigeria to achieve its mandate of strengthening National Security /food security and providing opportunities for economy diversification and inclusive growth.
Earlier, the Director of Green Fingers Wildlife Conservation Initiative, Mr. Chinedu Mogbo in his welcome remark, expressed gratitute to the CG and other guests that turned out for the programme, inspite their tight schedules.This, according to him will no doubt create the desired impact that is required to inspire the students and other participants at the programme to spread the campaign of saving our oceans to save the sea turtles and their habitats in Nigeria.
The programme witnessed inspiring messages and thought provoking discourse from other important personalities such Director General of NCF, Dr. Joseph Onoja, Professor Kehinde Kemobonta, Mr. Desmond M etc. It also featured activities such exhibition on sea turtles, debate on awareness creation on sea turtles, drama etc.