President Muhammadu Buhari, has, in a reaction of anger, ordered the security agencies, most notably the Nigerian police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate and bring to justice, those behind what has been described as a global record-shattering consignment of pangolin scales illegally hidden in a shipment from Nigeria that was intercepted in Singapore on its way to Vietnam. Authorities in Singapore in two busts seized over 14 tons of pangolin scales hidden in shipping containers among packets of frozen beef. Five days later, they found 14 more tons in 474 bags in another container that was declared as cassia seeds, which are used to make tea. Both shipments were heading to Vietnam from Nigeria. The international media focus raised the visibility of the threat facing pangolins in Nigeria, and indicting the government over its failure to avail itself of its obligations to protect the pangolins which are an endangered species.
Aso Rock sources who elected anonymity not to attract the anger of the president for obvious reasons, told Huhuonline.com that Buhari, who is in London on a private visit was very irritated by the media coverage of the incident, especially by the BBC, which portrayed Nigeria as a corruption-ridden country with highly dysfunctional institutions where bizarre things happen because everyone from house maid to president, has an exchange value. The president was also miffed at news report estimating that some 38,000 of the endangered pangolins were believed to have been killed in Nigeria for the shipment, and fumed over the failure by Nigerian authorities to detect the illegal cargo at the point of shipment.
The president was quoted in a series of angry phone calls as directing the person on the end of the line that the culprits could easily be tracked down from the bill of laden and sundry shipping documents and they should be arrested and prosecuted without delay in order to send a message to the international community that the Buhari administration has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption. “You must get to the bottom of this,” the president shouted on the phone, adding: “this case is very simple to figure out those who made the shipment. No matter the rank and status of those involved, heads must roll.”
The scales, have been linked to four species of pangolins native to Africa, were heading for lucrative the black market sales in Vietnam. The pangolin is said to be the most widely trafficked mammal in the world, and its scales are in high demand in Asia for use in traditional Chinese medicine. The scales are made of keratin, the same material in human fingernails. Their meat is also considered a delicacy in China and other Asian countries.
Wildlife groups are concerned that the busts point to a jump in poaching of pangolins in Nigeria. “The news of this record-shattering seizure is deeply alarming and underscores the fact that pangolins are facing a crisis. If we don’t stop the illegal wildlife trade, pangolins face the risk of going extinct,” noted Paul Thomson, an official with the Pangolin Specialist Group, an offshoot of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The group called it the biggest seizure of pangolin scales on record.
Richard Thomas of monitoring network Traffic said: “The sheer size of these two latest seizures is unprecedented and will undoubtedly prove a major setback to the traffickers concerned,” but he warned that the seizures themselves won’t put the traffickers out of business. The number of scales shows that the shipment was part of a large business, Thomas said.
Pangolins are the most frequently illegally trafficked mammal in the world, with an estimated 300 of them poached every day on average. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has declared all eight species as “threatened with extinction” since 2014, while two species are critically endangered.
International laws forbid trafficking of all pangolin species and techniques such as fingerprint forensics seek to deter poachers, but the recent seizures from Nigeria have shown that the pangolin is still heavily trafficked around the world.
