Partnership with ANI, great synergy for conservation

The Conservator of Park (CP) at the Okomu National Park based in Edo State, Lawrence Osaze, has commended the leadership of the National Park Service (NPS), attributing the significant reduction in illegal logging of trees, poaching of animals and such activities to the partnership with Africa Nature Investors (ANI) Foundation.

Speaking with journalists at his office in the Okomu Landscape, the CP praised Ibrahim Goni, Conservator-General of the NPS for his visionary leadership and thanked ANI Foundation for tremendous support since their involvement in the management of the Okomu National Park along with the NPS.

“I was posted here in November 2022, so we started working in earnest from December of that year. They were still trying to settle down, carrying out lots of training for the team, rangers and all that.

After the training, the work moved to recruitment of the rangers on behalf of the park. We call them Volunteer Rangers. Before this time, we had a serious challenge of illegal logging around the place, but we joined forces and the story today is entirely different; the park is relatively peaceful, and logging activities are at the barest minimum.”

Speaking further, the CP, an indigene of Edo State, said efforts were being directed at other areas, including enlightenment and education of communities living around the park, as well as empowerment, which ANI Foundation continues to champion.

“More so, both of us, the National Park Service and ANI Foundation, have had series of meetings and engagements with the communities, to convince them to give us the required support. And by the grace of God, a few activities have been done in collaboration with other people, like the socio-economic initiatives, with a view to bringing other viable means of livelihood to the people in such a way that they will not be fully dependent on the forest resources. We have engaged some to help us guide the vestige ecosystem,” he added.

According to the CP, ANI Foundation was invited to the partnership following the eco-tourism sustainability scheme it brought to bear in its ongoing partnership with the NPS regarding the Gashaka Gumti National Park in Taraba and Adamawa states.

“ANI Foundation was brought in for them to contribute their quota to the sustainability of the national park in Edo State. And since then, we have been working well together in terms of park protection and community engagement to ensure the park is protected sustainably in this environment. Our land is one major functional area. You know in the rural communities, you have different functional areas, like land, water and trees,” he stressed.

Also speaking, Peter Abanyam, ANI Foundation’s Project Manager for Okomu National Park, said what the park lacks in size, being the smallest national park in Nigeria, it makes up for in richness regarding species diversity.

“Okomu National Park is one of the biodiversity hotspots within this region in Nigeria, especially the African Forest Elephant, which is a flagship species. Okomu is also important for the monkey species known as the White Throated Monkey, which is endemic in this park. By endemic, we mean that in the whole wide world, it is mostly only found here, apart from a smaller population in the south western parts of Nigeria,” he stated.

Speaking about ANI Foundation, Abanyam said: “Our aim at ANI is to make Africa’s nature and wildlife a source of pride to Africans and to demonstrate that appropriate private sector investment can make nature conservation sustainable and profitable in a manner that benefits local and regional development. As a non-profit organisation, ANI Foundation is purely charitable, raising funds for conservation purposes and in partnership with the National Park Service to manage the Gashaka Gumti National Park and Okomu National Park.

“ANI supports the two national parks in terms of protection, working with local communities and identifying young Nigerians, who are strong and willing to join the National Park Service and helping to provide training for them. Our work with local communities involves identifying their needs and in which areas of development we can partner with the local communities to attract donors towards investing in local communities.

On his own, Patrick Igbinidu, the Iyase of Udo, a prominent traditional ruler in Edo State, commended ANI Foundation on its efforts towards improving security and development in surrounding communities of Okomu National Park.

Speaking with journalists at his palace in Udo near the location of the popular wildlife park in Ovia Southwest Local Government in Edo State, the Iyase stated that the organisation’s efforts to improve security and foster socio-economic development have not gone unnoticed.

“ANI Foundation has been a great partner since they arrived at the Okomu National Park. I welcome them into our community and I’ve been seeing their efforts and must commend them for how they are helping to develop the entire community. For instance, I am aware they recently carried out an employment drive through which they employed some of our people. This has favoured our community, I never expected that ANI would do that, so I am grateful to them for what they have been doing in my community and I pray that God will bless the efforts,” the Iyase stated.

Earlier, Osaze commended the NPS leadership, saying the significant reduction in illegal logging of trees, poaching of animals and such activities is due to the thriving partnership of the NPS with the ANI Foundation.