By Comfort Ntaji
The Federal government has set up a special wildlife recovery taskforce to implement the report of the wildlife and forest Crime analytic toolkit.
The Minister of environment Balarabe Lawal who was represented by Director planning research and statistics of the ministry Mr Stanley Jonah made this known during the launch of the international consortium on combating wildlife Crime ,wildlife and forest Crime analytic toolkit assessment report in Abuja.
While thanking the UNODC and other international partners for the efforts in putting the report together , he said the toolkit is timely and will strengthen government’s efforts to combat wildlife Crime.
The Minister called for the cooperation of all stakeholders to combat wildlife Crime as a matter of national security.
While presenting the key findings of the report ,Mr Giovanni Broussard Africa coordinator UNODC global programme for crimes that affect the environment said there is need for a standardized approach to prosecution of wildlife and forest Crime as the present system where each agency prosecutes based on their own specified laws allows many crimes go unpunished.He further suggested that sentencing guidelines be developed to complement endangered species guidelines.
Further recommendations include establishment of a transnational joint investigative team under WLEFT as well as establishment of electronic system for issuing CITES
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