Nigerian anti-corruption body partners with EIA to combat wildlife crime

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

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and EIA signed a memorandum of understanding Sept. 20, which will allow the two bodies to work together and develop a strategy to combat environmental crime.

“The EIA will be of assistance to the ICPC in the area of capacity, expertise knowledge sharing as the ICPC focus more on the enforcement of relevant laws and investigation of illegal wildlife trade and other environmental crimes,” the ICPC said in an email statement to Mongabay.

Justin Gosling, EIA’s securing criminal justice program lead, told Mongabay that EIA has been working in Nigeria for the last five years, as it “is widely recognized that Nigeria is a significant hub for wildlife trafficking.”

EIA previously released an “Out of Africa” report that showed how Nigeria has become a key country in the packing, sale and export of large amounts of ivory and pangolin scales heading to Vietnamese and Chinese buyers. Between 2015 and 2020, Nigeria was implicated in more than 30 tons of ivory and 167 tons of pangolin scales seized globally, “the equivalent of at least 4,400 elephants and 167,000 pangolins,” the report noted.

The ICPC statement said the reason why Nigeria has become a “regional hotspot for wildlife trafficking and other transnational crime” is that “enforcement is weak due to lack of high-level strategic response.”

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

To address this issue, “the ICPC is giving priority to enforcement, disruption of criminal networks and investigating acts of corruption amongst officers and actors in the chain of illegal wildlife trade and other relevant crimes,” the agency said.

Gosling added that it is important to address public sector corruption, as criminals explore opportunities like bribing public officials throughout the trafficking network.

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

Among the activities EIA has facilitated in Africa are 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 force wildlife trafficking networks to be destabilized, making it difficult for criminals to operate as they do now.

Banner image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.