The Federal Government on Thursday called for more workforce and protection of park rangers across the country to achieve global biosafety framework.

Alhaji Ibrahim Yusufu, Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Environment made the call at the commemoration of the 2023 World Ranger Day celebration.

Yusufu who was represented by Dr Moses Ama, the National Coordinator and Focal Person, Programme, Forestry Department in the Ministry said that the theme of the celebration “Ranger: The natural Solution to Achieving the 30 by 30 Biodiversity Targets” is apt.

“In order to achieve the 30 by 30 target of the Global Biodiversity Framework no doubt hinges on having a workforce of rangers that is sufficient in number, diverse, motivation and quality enough to carry out its responsibility with precision and effective impact.

“This is because the rangers as essential planetary health professional workers are central to the success of any environmental and wildlife policy or target globally.

“On daily basis, rangers in Nigeria undertake difficult task of safeguarding our diverse ecosystems such as Forest Reserves, Game Reserves, Biosphere Reserves and our Parks. In specific terms,” he said.

The permanent secretary said that National Parks across the globe are bedeviled by serious anthropogenic challenges which may vary in intensity from country to country.

“Some of the challenges include illegal hunting, logging, grazing, mining, pandemics (Covid-19 of recent) and exploitation of Non-Timber Forest Products. These human activities often resulted in conflicts with perpetrators resorting to violent attacks on park rangers.

“However, there is a new dimension to these challenges which is occasioned by the activities of organised criminals such as terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers, and other non – state actors.

“The situation has extremely become worrisome as these set of criminals ruthlessly attack park rangers with sophisticated weapons,” he said.

Dr Ibrahim Goni, Conservator General, National Parks Service (NPS) said that there was need for deliberate and conscious efforts to improve the quality of the environment.

“It is important to note that a lot of rangers have been lost or injured in the line of duty to protect our natural heritage and treasure,” Gone said.

Mr Chris Galliers, President International Rangers Federation said that the Federation
recognises rangers as essential health professionals for the critical tasks they perform.

Galliers who was represented by Dr Mohammed Kabir, Assistant Conservator-General of NPS said that rangers offer services such as: protection, conservation, biodiversity monitoring and visitor services.

“The sector already suffers from a shortage of capacity, so to meet the 30 by 30 target, the number of rangers needs to increase to 1.5 million,” he said.

Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, Chief of Army Staff commended NPS for its efforts in conserving and protecting the forest as well as other conservatives.

Lagbaja who was represented by
Maj.-Gen. Koko Isoni also assured NPS of his support in carrying out its operations by protecting the lives of its rangers when the need arises.

Mr Geoffrey Nacha, the Country Manager, Africa Nature Investors also promised that his organisation would continue to assist NPS in its operations.

The occasion was marked with parades by the rangers, symbolic planting of trees, stripping and reassembling of guns, the presentation of award to outstanding rangers and tokens to the families of deceased rangers.