FG Moves To Privatise Three National Parks

FG Moves To Privatise Three National Parks

The Nigerian government has said it is set to partially privatise three of its national parks as part of efforts to optimise the conservation of the biodiversity in the protected areas and turn them into top tourist destinations.

Conservator General of the National Park Service, Ibrahim Goni, who spoke Wednesday while receiving two Land Cruiser trucks from African Nature Investors (ANI) at the headquarters of the service in Abuja, urged the private sector to key into the initiative.

Goni said, “The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is currently working with the National Park Service (NPS) for the partial commercialisation of three of our national parks.

“This is to key into the global agenda of trying to bring NGOs into conservation activities and I hope that with the pencilling down of Cross River National Park, Kainji Lake National Park and Gashaka -Gumti National Park, the process will be fast-tracked so that in no distant time, investors and entrepreneurs coming into this country will support the government.”

According to Daily Trust, he added that the commercialisation would tackle encroachment by host communities as the investors would improve the livelihoods of the communities’ residents.

He urged governors to show interest in the conservation efforts of the NPS and its private sector stakeholders in their respective states.

The African Nature Investors (ANI) Director, Brig Gen Olajide Laleye (retd.) on his part said the donation of the vehicles was part of its technical support to the NPS.

He said the organisation had achieved so much in conservation works at the Gashaka Gumti National Park and Okumu National Park with the support of the NPS.

Laleye said ANI had been providing technical support to NPS since 2017 and it would not relent in its efforts to see that the Nigerian biodiversity is protected.