Environment Minister Balarabe Lawal has said the Federal Government will buy more arms for effective operations of the National Park Service (NPS).
Lawal announced this when he visited the NPS headquarters and the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) in Abuja.
The minister said President Bola Tinubu was very concerned about the operations of the parks because of the spate of insecurity in the country.
He said there was an ongoing collaboration with relevant agencies to rid the nation’s forest of bandits, illegal miners, and the coastal areas of oil thieves.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NPS is statutorily responsible for the preservation, enhancement and protection of wild animals and plants as well as other vegetation in National Parks, and for matters connected therewith.
Lawal urged the NBMA to be more proactive in its approaches and carry out more research to curb the inflow of unwanted genetically modified foods.
“If you allow these genetically modified foods to come into the markets, there will be a very fierce war”, he said.
The minister praised both agencies for their efforts and urged them to do more in order to keep up with their mandates.
Lawal advised the agencies to work as a team and to be dedicated and punctual in their duties for the effective discharge of their duties.
The Conservator-General of NPS, Dr Ibrahim Goni, urged the minister to review upwards the subventions of the agency.
Goni also requested for the procurement of more arms for NPS to curb trans-banditry activities with Cameroon as well as commercialise the three parks.
NBMA’s Director General, Dr Agnes Asagbra, solicited the minister’s help to enable the agency to have a bigger office space and more trainings for its workers.
She also requested for machinery to fight environmental activities that impede the operations of the agency.
NAN reports that both agencies made elaborate presentations of their operations to the minister.
They also led the minister on a tour of the NPS animal orphanage, mini-park, museum, and NBMA’s laboratory before Lawal planted a tree to mark the visit.
