National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Nigeria, said Monday that the voluntary surrender of pangolins in two separate states signals a measurable shift in public attitudes toward wildlife conservation, even as the country remains one of the world’s most significant transit routes for illegal trade in protected species.
The agency said the incidents — one in Akwa Ibom State involving an accidental trap, the other in Kano State involving a customs interception — both resulted in animals being handed to authorities rather than entering commercial networks. NESREA Director-General Prof. Innocent Barikor described the outcomes as evidence that awareness campaigns and enforcement efforts were beginning to register at the community level.
In the first incident, a local hunter in Akwa Ibom, Imo Etim, discovered two pangolins in traps he had set for grass-cutters — a common species in southern Nigeria with no protected status. Rather than seek a buyer, Etim contacted Prof. Olajumoke Morenikeji of the Pangolin Conservation Guild Nigeria, a specialist civil society organization. NESREA officials led by State Coordinator Mfon Nkanang subsequently collected the animals. One of the pangolins died before it could be transferred. Both animals were later officially handed over to the National Park Service.
“In Akwa Ibom, the hunter didn’t look for buyers; he approached the right authorities. That is a big win for conservation efforts in Nigeria,” Barikor said in a statement issued through NESREA’s press directorate.
In Kano, officers of the Nigerian Customs Service Kano/Jigawa Area Command intercepted one dead and two live pangolins suspected to form part of an illegal wildlife consignment and transferred them to NESREA officials led by Assistant Director Ismaila Anamoh. The animals were taken to the Kano Zoological Garden and received by Hajiya Hafsah Bello Adam, a representative of the Kano State Zoological and Wildlife Management Agency.
Barikor said the Kano case demonstrated the value of coordinated action between agencies. “Such collaboration gives great hope for wildlife protection in the country,” he said, attributing the successful handover to the increasingly structured relationship between customs officers, state wildlife management bodies, and NESREA’s field personnel.
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The recoveries come against a backdrop of serious concern about Nigeria’s role in the global pangolin trade. In April 2025, more than 3.7 metric tons of pangolin scales, representing over 1,900 individual animals, were seized in Lagos alone. Estimates covering the period from 2010 to 2021 suggest that upward of a million pangolins — roughly 90,000 animals per year — were trafficked through Nigerian networks. Porous borders and historically weak law enforcement have made Nigeria one of Africa’s primary exit points for illegal wildlife products destined for Asian markets.
The regulatory framework is also in transition. The Nigerian Senate passed the Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill 2024 in October of that year, legislation described as one of the toughest legal deterrents to wildlife crime in West Africa, which would expose traffickers to fines of up to 12 million naira and prison terms of up to 10 years. The bill awaits presidential assent. NESREA has in the interim been enforcing prohibitions under the existing Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental (Control of Endangered Species in Domestic and International Trade) Regulations 2025.
Barikor issued a direct warning to those conducting illegal trade through digital channels.
“We know some of these traffickers operate online through various social media platforms. What they must know is trafficking in wildlife is a criminal offence, whether carried out online or offline,” he said, citing the 2025 regulations by name. “We will take action against that.”
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The warning reflects a documented trend in wildlife crime enforcement globally, where commercial transactions have increasingly migrated to encrypted messaging applications and social media marketplaces, complicating detection and prosecution. Between 2022 and 2024, Nigeria secured just 12 convictions for wildlife offences — a figure that conservation advocates have said is far below what is needed to serve as a credible deterrent.
Three pangolin species have been recorded in Nigeria: the black-bellied pangolin, classified as vulnerable; the white-bellied pangolin, classified as endangered; and the giant pangolin, also classified as endangered. All three are protected under both Nigerian law and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES, to which Nigeria is a signatory.
NESREA said it would continue field enforcement operations and urged members of the public to report suspected wildlife crimes to the agency or to the nearest law enforcement authority. No prosecutions arising from either the Kano or Akwa Ibom incidents have been announced, as both recoveries involved voluntary handovers rather than arrests. The fate of the surviving animals transferred to the National Park Service and the Kano Zoological Garden has not been formally disclosed.
