Nigeria’s anti-corruption body has partnered with EIA to combat wildlife crime

Nigeria’s anti-corruption body is to collaborate with the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) to tackle wildlife trafficking.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) and EIA signed a memorandum of understanding on September 20, allowing the two agencies to work together and develop a strategy to combat environmental crime.

“The EIA will assist the ICPC in terms of capacity and expertise sharing as the ICPC increases its focus on enforcing relevant laws and investigating illegal wildlife trafficking and other environmental crimes,” the ICPC said in an email email statement to Mongabay.

Justin Gosling, EIA‘s securing leadership of the criminal justice program, Mongabay said EIA has been working in Nigeria for the past five years because “it is widely recognized that Nigeria is a major hub for wildlife trade.”

EIA previously has a “From Africa‘ report that showed how Nigeria has become a major country in the packaging, sale and export of large quantities of ivory and pangolin scales destined for Vietnamese and Chinese buyers. Between 2015 and 2020, Nigeria was involved in more than 30 tons of ivory and 167 tons of pangolin scales seized worldwide, “the equivalent of at least 4,400 elephants and 167,000 pangolins,” the report said.

The ICPC statement states that the reason why Nigeria is a “regional wildlife trade hotspot and other cross-border crime” is that “enforcement is weak due to a lack of high-level strategic response.”

The agency added that a review by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime showed that Nigeria is being used as a “consolidation point for various forms of illegal wildlife and forest products trade,” especially pangolins, ivory and rosewood sourced from Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

To tackle this problem, “the ICPC is prioritizing enforcement, disrupting criminal networks and investigating corruption among officials and actors in the chain of illegal wildlife trafficking and other relevant crimes,” the agency said.

Gosling added that it is important to tackle corruption in the public sector as criminals explore avenues such as bribing officials within the human trafficking network.

“While Nigeria has significant challenges… I think we are seeing very good signs,” Gosling said. EIA has previously worked with Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate crimes against wildlife, which Gosling said is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to the problem.

Activities that EIA has facilitated in Africa include training investigators, raising awareness among judges and prosecutors that environmental crime is a serious form of organized crime, and sharing information with enforcement agencies.

Gosling said EIA is hopeful that their joint efforts will help destabilize wildlife trafficking networks, making it difficult for criminals to operate in the same way they do now.

Banner image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.