Wild Africa Fund Harps on Protection of  Elephants in  Nigeria

Sunday Okobi

As nations of the world commemorate World Elephant Day, Wild Africa Fund has hailed the efforts of its partners in Zimbabwe and Nigeria working to protect elephants, encouraging the governments to safeguard national parks home (as forest) for elephants. 

The group stated that while Africa boasts approximately 415,000 elephants, Nigeria grapples with multifaceted challenges threatening its native elephant population.

It lamented that habitat loss, poaching for ivory, and human-elephant conflict are the major threats elephants face in Nigeria.

Wild Africa Fund in a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday stated that over the past 30 years, Nigeria’s elephant population has dramatically declined from an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 two decades ago to a current estimate of 300 to 400.

It said Nigeria, like Zimbabwe, can immensely benefit from sustainable wildlife tourism and conservation initiatives that protect elephants, adding that in places like Zimbabwe, innovative measures are emerging. 

The Nigeria Representative at Wild Africa Fund, Festus Iyorah, in the statement said: “In Zimbabwe, Wild Africa Fund partnered with the Tikobane Trust to use an elephant repellent, a concoction, including chili, garlic, and rotten eggs, and presents a non-lethal method of conflict resolution.

“Likewise, the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme experiments with deterrents like chili fences and reflective barriers.

“In Nigeria, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has been using satellite collars to enhance the monitoring of elephant movements, allowing for a more prompt response when they venture outside the reserve. This has effectively reduced Human- Elephant Conflicts (HEC) incidents, including the use of elephant guardians, construction watchtowers, and the establishment of a beehive and odorous elephant fences.”

 Wild Africa Fund said it encouraged more innovations and collaboration to save elephants in other parts of Nigeria, especially in state-managed forest reserves in the Southwest Nigeria- Omo in Ogun State and Idanre in Ondo State, where forest elephants face severe logging pressures and agricultural encroachments.

Iyorah said besides, unprotected sites like Itasin in the Southwest, where some elephants from the Omo forest reserve migrated to and a hotspot for Human-Elephant Conflicts (HEC), should be prioritised with local solutions that protect elephants from humans.

According to him, “In addition, we must prioritise the legal protection of the smaller unprotected sites where elephants are still endangered to prevent their potential extinction and continuous clash with humans.”

He noted that Wild Africa Fund is a vibrant new African NGO in Cape Town, with offices in Lagos and Kigali. “By offering high-quality free-to-air documentaries, short films, music videos, animations, and public service announcements for TV, radio, and social media channels, we aim to be Africa’s leading wildlife and environmental communicator.

“In addition to educating, informing, and driving awareness to support the protection of Africa’s natural heritage, we will continue to assist with on-the-ground conservation activities in Africa. Through our collaborative partnerships, we seek to have a transformational impact,” he stated in the statement.