Lagos Free Zone Company, NCF Partner on Sea Turtle Conservation

Bennett Oghifo 

The Lagos Free Zone Company (LFZC) is partnering with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) to protect and conserve sea turtles in the company’s operational area. 

Sea turtles are threatened due to being susceptible as by-catch by fishermen. They also nest on the sea shore, this makes their eggs vulnerable as they are often harvested by locals and consumed as food. This accumulated vulnerability is one of the reasons for its global decline, thus the need to conserve them.

LFZC is a free trade zone developer and management company responsible for the Lagos Free Zone. With an operational area of over 800 hectares with nine designated industrial zones.

The company said it is determined to support the ecosystem to mitigate the impact of human activities. “This is part of LFZC’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Lagos State. To implement this project, LFZC is collaborating with the NCF, the foremost conservation organisation in Nigeria with over 40 years of conservation experience and a national footprint in ecosystem conservation.”

Lagos Free Zone Company is located at Ibeju Lekki in Lagos state. Parts of its environs, particularly the shoreline adjoining the sea have been identified as important sites for sea turtles most of which are endangered. The project is aimed at educating and raising awareness both within and beyond the surrounding communities. 

According to NCF, this collaboration is part of their “Strategic Action Pillar 2021-2025, Pillar 2 – Saving Species in Peril. The objectives of this pillar include: To protect and recover indigenously imperilled and other significant species in all ecosystem types and critical habitats of Nigeria; To expand options for rural outreach strategies, livelihood schemes and grassroot coordination in support of in-situ wildlife conservation across support zone communities of critical habitats; To provide information consistent with facts, trends and predictors of wildlife dynamics as guidelines for policies, recovery plans, decision-making and other sustainable investments in biodiversity management; and To foster interagency collaborations and partnership for the commemoration of relevant conservation anniversaries, administration of legal instruments, environmental legislation and conservation education.”

Sea turtle is among focal species NCF is determined to rescue. The Foundation is also protecting pangolin, African forest elephant, Nigerian-Cameroon Chimpanzee, vultures, Cross River gorilla, among others.