It does appear that Nigerians and wildlife lovers shall be seeing more of Lions and Big Cats as The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) with the support of IUCN Save Our Species and the European Union recently hosted a Geographical Information System (GIS) training workshop for Rangers of the Kainji Lake National Park (KLNP).
The training is part of the ongoing project titled “Emergency Rescue of Nigeria’s Last Populations of West African Wildcats – Lion (Panthera leo) and Leopard (Panthera pardus) in Kainji Lake National Park in Niger State.
According to a statement by the NCF Spokesman, Dapo Soneye, this project is designed to address the identified challenges of habitat degradation from unsustainable land use activities, animal poisoning and hunting pressure. The goal is to improve the conservation and range protection of lions & leopards in KLNP with 50% increase in park surveillance and 70% reduction in livestock invasion into the park by December 2023.
Furthermore, rangers will be equipped with additional tools (drone, camera traps, GPS etc) to improve park surveillance and wildlife monitoring by December 2023. This will further improve rangers’ capacity for monitoring and interpreting data using GIS for effective management decisions.
And the training appears to have been anticipated as a participant at the training said “The GIS training was very interesting and will go along way in helping our work. Training and re-training will help us very well. This GIS training will help us locate on the map how to determine the location of some animals.” CPI Yusuf Ibrahim.
According to the Conservator of Park, CP Jimoh Oladosu while appreciating the initiative, he said “One of the benefits of the training is to improve on how to use some gadgets. We really appreciate NCF and IUCN for this initiative. It will make our rangers better and improve the park.”
The workshop facilitator, a GIS expert, Dr. Michelle Fasona, in her statement said “The job of managing our national parks by rangers is usually challenging because of the nature of their work. The training on the use of GIS for rangers is a good initiative. The use of GIS techniques is a useful time-saving tool for rangers when surveying and gathering data from the field. The information gathered from the use of GIS can help park rangers to make more informed decisions when managing the park’s resources”
Dr. Stella Egbe, the project coordinator, in her remark said that “KLNP is important as a Key Biodiversity Area and one of the only two sites with a viable population of lions in Nigeria amongst other rich biodiversity. However, the challenges of unsustainable anthropogenic practices threaten both the habitats and species within the park. With the support of the IUCN SOS funded by the EU, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation implementing these series of trainings and other activities to improve the conditions of the National Parks, improve rangers’ capacity and promote sustainable activities in communities surrounding the National Parks.”
Kainji Lake National Park
The Kainji Lake National Park is located in Niger and Kwara States. It comprises two sectors; Borgu and Zugurma, which are separated by Kainji Lake, a lake impounded on the Niger river for hydroelectric power generation. The park is recognized as a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) and one of the two sites in Nigeria with a viable population of Lions, it is also the first National Park in the country. The area is rich in biological diversity and harbour endangered species such as lions and leopards among other rich diversity like baboon, buffalo, waterbuck, reedbuck, duiker, warthog, hippopotamus, monkey, crocodile, birds, Costus spectabilis and species of reptiles.
The Borgu sector which is the sector currently being used for tourism purpose lies between Borgu and Baruten Local Government Areas of Niger and Kwara States and covers an area of 3,970 km2. It is bordered to the east by Kainji Lake and in the west by the Republic of Benin. Zugurma sector covers an area of 1370.89km2 and it is situated in Mashegu Local Government Area of Niger State. The park is surrounded by different towns and villages which cut across different ethnic groups. Some of which are Bussa, Wawa, Kamberi, Kainji, Babana, Kaiama, Ibbi, Nupe and so on. The cultural occupation of the people is farming in guinea corn, maize, rice; cattle rearing; dyeing, blacksmithing, weaving, hunting, fishing, petty trading, and pottery making.
