Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, the Conservator-General, National Parks Service, on Thursday, said that there would be adequate security and surveillance patrol at all the national parks in the country during Easter.
This assurance was contained in a statement signed by Yakubu Zull, the Media Assistant to the Conservator-General and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
Goni said the move was to ensure the safety of lives and property of visitors and tourists at the parks during the festive season.
He said: “Our intention is to rid off criminals and hoodlums, who might want to take advantage of the festive period to perpetrate nefarious activities in and around the parks.”
He said that despite the security situation in some parts of the country, the service would continue to serve as an embodiment of the nation’s biodiversity conservation and ecotourism destinations.
The C-G called on the public to visit any of the seven national parks in the country during Easter holidays without fears and urged Christians to pray for the peace of the nation.
NAN reports that the service had in February, trained some of its rangers across the country on arms and weapon handling.
Goni told NAN that the training would help to equip the rangers to enable them control cattle grazers in the park, which happened due to lack of designated cattle routes and functional grazing reserves.
He said that the service would continue to protect the parks from the infringement of the public for farming and other human activities.
He said: “These encroachments threaten the conservation of the parks, especially Cross River, Gashaka-Gumti and Kainji Lake National Parks.”
He said that the service would construct and rehabilitate rangers’ barracks and access roads for accommodation and safe custody of operational equipment.
Goni added: “We will rehabilitate access roads to ease park surveillance and anti-poaching patrol in order to boost wildlife viewing, and enhance park monitoring and evaluation.’’
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