ILLICIT TRADE IN PANGOLIN SCALES 

  The authorities should do more to conserve the nation’s wildlife

The frequent seizure of Pangolin scales from smugglers by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) further reinforces Nigeria’s notoriety as a place where illicit wildlife trade thrives with minimal checks. Available reports indicate that the collaboration between the NCS and the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) has led to the seizure of about 25,000 tonnes of pangolin scales in the last four years. Last Friday, the NSC Comptroller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, announced the arrest of a notorious trafficker in possession of 9,493 kg of pangolin scales believed to be about 7.2 tonnes.

While these operations mark a significant achievement in the ongoing efforts to dismantle wildlife trafficking networks in Nigeria, relevant authorities should still be concerned about the ease with which some unscrupulous foreigners have made the country a target of this illicit trade. Despite being officially listed as endangered in Nigeria, Pangolins are still hunted in areas where deforestation has fragmented and reduced their habitat. Records from a recent study show that Nigeria-linked Pangolin seizures in the last decade alone amounted to almost a million. Many Pangolins are killed and trafficked every year for their scales, which are used in traditional Asian medicine. 

Meanwhile, Pangolins have an extremely important ecological role of regulating insect populations, particularly ants and termites. One single Pangolin can consume around 70 million ants and termites per year. Pangolins therefore save humanity huge amounts of money annually in pest destruction. Scientists believe that if Pangolins go extinct, there would be a cascading impact on the environment. 

Eight different Pangolin species are in the world with four species in Africa, including in Nigeria. Thailand is home to two Pangolin species, the Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica) and the Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). It is illegal to trade in these species of Pangolin that are listed in CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Appendix I, the highest level of international protection.   

Regrettably, the number of these gentle creatures is fast depleting as more bags of Pangolin scales are traded even in open markets in Nigeria where they are sold as bushmeat. But the primary destinations for Pangolin scales and meat are China and to a less extent, Vietnam. These criminals also use Thailand as a transit point in the illegal Pangolin trade. Specifically, their scales are boiled off their bodies for use in traditional medicine; for their meat, which is a high-end delicacy in Vietnam and in China; and for their blood, which is seen as a healing tonic. 

With global trends indicating an increasing number of seizures and only an estimated 50,000 Pangolins still in existence, protection of this species is even more important. This is also the reason for the crackdown, however feeble, by the Nigerian government agencies that has led to arrests and seizures recorded so far. But more needs to be done by the authorities to stop this illicit trade in the nation’s precious wildlife, and the use of Nigeria as a hub by world’s crime syndicates. 

Nigerian conservationists recommend community education and empowerment of locals in the fight against illegal trade in wildlife. Communities involved in hunting wildlife need to understand why they should protect endangered wildlife species. It is also recommended that this problem could be addressed with the amendment of Nigeria’s existing conservation laws and with better enforcement, to discourage hunting and poaching of Pangolins and other wildlife. 

Meanwhile, the states are shirking their responsibilities. Many governors do not even know that it is their duty to enforce conservation laws. There are no functioning wildlife departments in most states. The laws are outdated or moribund. Recruitment into wildlife departments stopped a long time ago. All these must change.