The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, has said Nigeria is fully committed to taking decisive action to end illegal wildlife trade.

Balarabe said this in his address at the opening of CITES COP20 held recently.

According to him, in the past year Nigeria has: strengthened its National Park Service and deployed new forest guards across the country; equipped its rangers with modern monitoring technology, intelligence systems, and digital evidence management.

Nigeria has also tightened legislation and inter-agency collaboration to detect, prosecute, and deter wildlife criminals more effectively.

“I proudly announce that Nigeria and Cameroon have signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding to jointly protect our shared ecosystems and stop cross-border trafficking.

“We are also putting communities at the heart of conservation — expanding alternative livelihoods, education, and decision-making platforms so that local people become the strongest guardians of our biodiversity.

“Yet we cannot do this alone. I call on developed nations and the international community to step up with more funding, technology transfer, intelligence-sharing, and innovative financing so that frontline countries like Nigeria can fully deliver on our CITES obligations.

“Illegal wildlife trade remains the greatest threat to endangered species. It must be dismantled — decisively and without compromise.

“Nigeria stands ready to work with every Party here in Samarkand to make COP20 a turning point for global wildlife protection.

“The future of our shared biodiversity depends on the decisions we take together in these coming days,” he said.