Innocent Onoh
As Nigeria joins the international community to commemorate World Pangolin Day 2025, Wild Africa has urged both the government and the general public to protect the world’s most trafficked mammal from extinction and support ongoing efforts to update national wildlife legislation to help combat wildlife trafficking in the country.
Wild Africa made the call in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos.
Wild Africa, reputed as Africa’s most effective conservation communicator, inspires public support and political will to protect Africa’s wildlife and wild spaces forever.
The statement posited that although pangolins are protected by both national and international laws, including the 2016 ban on international commercial trade, high demand for their scales – used in traditional medicine, especially in Asia – and their meat, eaten as a delicacy, is driving them to extinction.
While observing that pangolins remain underappreciated and under-protected and are in urgent need of global attention and support, it enjoined the Nigerian public to join the fight against poaching by reporting illegal wildlife trade and supporting local conservation projects.
It pointed out that Nigeria has emerged as a global export hub and a prominent player in the supply of pangolin scales primarily to Asia, as 55 per cent of pangolin scales seized globally between 2016 and 2019 were linked to the country.
“It is not too late to change the narrative and move Nigeria from its current status as a major trafficking hub to become one of Africa’s strongest protectors of pangolins, and it is our collective responsibility to achieve this task,” said Dr. Mark Ofua, Wild Africa’s West Africa spokesperson.
“No action is too small when it comes to protecting pangolins, and we must all work together to discourage illegal bushmeat trade and support new laws to combat wildlife trafficking,” Ofua added.
The organization announced that as part of its efforts to raise awareness about the species, it is using a combination of radio, TV, billboards, and public service announcements featuring influential Nigerian ambassadors such as 2Baba, Emanuella, and Ali Baba to highlight threats facing pangolins and their crucial role in the ecosystem.
On the part of Nigeria, it highlighted that the nation has taken significant steps to combat the illegal trade of pangolin scales through legislative measures and enforcement.
For instance, it said that in early 2024, Nigeria introduced the Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill, which recently passed a second reading, believing that if enacted, the bill would impose harsher penalties for trafficking in illegal wildlife products such as pangolin scales and deter wildlife crime.
According to the statement, “Seizures of pangolin scales and other illegal wildlife products, as well as prosecutions of such cases, are also on the rise.
“In December 2024, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) arrested a suspected pangolin scale broker and confiscated 2.179 tonnes of pangolin scales, representing approximately 1,100 pangolins.
“Since July 2021, the NCS and its partners have conducted 16 operations, 35 arrests, and 12 convictions, seizing 21,582 tonnes of pangolin scales.
“Despite these successes, pangolin populations remain at risk, particularly with the demand for their scales in Asian countries like China, where these scales are falsely believed to have medicinal properties.
“In its latest submission to the 78th Meeting of the UN CITES Standing Committee (3-8 February 2025), China proposed a 90% reduction in pharmaceutical and hospital use of pangolin scales by 2026, and a 50% drop in overall medicinal use, with an annual consumption quota of 1 metric ton. While this represents significant progress, conservationists worry that even a 1-ton quota could still fuel illegal trafficking, further endangering the species,” it says.
Reacting to the proposal by China, the CEO of Wild Africa, Peter Knights OBE said, “We hope China will quickly phase out all use of pangolin scales as there are a number of alternatives in traditional medicine and the source of the scales has never been transparent. We also need more awareness and better law enforcement in Africa to keep it off illegal bushmeat menus.”
Observed around the globe on the third Saturday of every February, World Pangolin Day is dedicated to raising awareness about pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammals. The celebration aims to highlight the importance of protecting these unique creatures and their natural habitats.