Google Speech-to-Text API Automatic Transcription (Chirp). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:32a
00:00:39of
00:00:51of
00:01:03Thank you for joining us today on Netfall, welcome to the program, I'm
00:01:07Ayola Kasim, established in 1980, the Nigerian
00:01:10Conservation Foundation is a primer non-governmental organization
00:01:14dedicated to nature conservation. At its
00:01:1837th annual general meeting in Lagos, the foundation appointed
00:01:21former Vice President Professor Yami Oshimbajo as the president
00:01:25of its board of
00:01:27of trustees, succeeding chief Felipe Assoju. Under this new
00:01:30leadership, the NCF aims to skill nationwide programs
00:01:34and enhance youth
00:01:36of participation in climate action. Today on the program, we look at the
00:01:40prospects and
00:01:41of course the challenges before the prof. Just
00:01:44of stay
00:01:49a in with us. Just 135
00:01:52kilometers northeast of Lagos, lies the
00:01:55of Omo Forest Reserve in Open
00:01:57State.
00:02:02Spanning over 130,000 hectares, om is
00:02:06one of West Africa's
00:02:08of last sanctaries for endangered chimpanzees, white
00:02:12throughted genon monkeys and Nigeria's few remaining
00:02:15forest elephants, but this globally
00:02:19recognized biosphere is being systematically
00:02:23dismantled from
00:02:25of within.
00:02:27of For generations. licensed
00:02:30loggers have operated on the state
00:02:33quarters, but as timber demand
00:02:36explodes in the country's commercial hubs, loggers are pushing
00:02:40deeper into the reserves for preservation measures, and
00:02:44they aren't the only ones in
00:02:46Europe.
00:02:55I living
00:02:55in a jebody, I'm a contractor here in area
00:02:58J4. say highly
00:03:01disappointed because when i came in here everything
00:03:04was the summit was working,
00:03:08the road was maintained by the project, but
00:03:12for now over close to 15
00:03:16years now is
00:03:18of only been contractor, we contractor that reparing the
00:03:21road and most
00:03:24in especially now that the the
00:03:28ministry of agreic.
00:03:32have how will i put it? they have putting their
00:03:34own
00:03:38business here, we the contractor, we
00:03:42loggers don't have a say more,
00:03:45because the ministry of agric have taken over the
00:03:49forest, farmers are finishing the
00:03:53of wood, finishing the wood, destroying the
00:03:56wood for us to cut. to
00:04:00generate resources for the for
00:04:03the forest ministry, why they
00:04:07of the farmers are generating resources for the ministry of
00:04:11agrek, very soon that won't
00:04:13be any wood left
00:04:17for us, it will only
00:04:19of be agreed forest here
00:04:21again, the farmers
00:04:24on the part say they practice
00:04:26agroforestry, they claim when the... loggers
00:04:30come, the fell giant trees right top
00:04:37of of the coco farms, wiping out their investments. we paid to the government and they also pay to
00:04:41the government, we paid the paramot ruler went to get a portion
00:04:44of the light, but when we want to harvest our coco,
00:04:47it is
00:04:47the government that harvest it and they receive payment on
00:04:51of that.
00:04:54of the
00:04:55of amount paid for a ton is more than 13,
00:04:59this is because We still pay the office workers in the
00:05:02of ministry of
00:05:02agrigue.
00:05:12Yeah.
00:05:43So we are an area and the loggers are in another area. The
00:05:47people in this forest, planting koko, got their plantation
00:05:51from the land owners. There is no
00:05:55traspasser planting here, we fight no
00:05:57one. We stop wherever
00:06:01our located boundary
00:06:02is.
00:06:10Duro. Lori ilẹ.
00:06:17With inadequate funding and manpower, the boundaries between legal
00:06:21extraction zones and protected santuries have completely
00:06:25blurred, corruption
00:06:29and unauthorized boundary expansions have left the forest
00:06:33vulnerable to a chaotic free for
00:06:35all, as loggers push deep into
00:06:39the core zone and farmers claim the under story.
00:06:43the forester elephants find their habitat fragmented into
00:06:46unleevable patches, stripped their food and
00:06:49pathways, so the elephants strike
00:06:52back. in
00:06:562018, the conflict became deadly a
00:07:00surrounding
00:07:00community.
00:07:12but on the frontline is a small team of nigerian conservation foundations
00:07:16rangers who patrol the thousands of hectares.
00:07:20many the footpath or track you are
00:07:23seeing are not um established by us, they actually
00:07:27elephant road, so any connection you see like
00:07:31this, no that
00:07:31it is elephant those all those
00:07:34parts, so we are right at the middle
00:07:38their their habitat, we just over dozen
00:07:42rain. just covering hundreds of square kilometers,
00:07:45almost thin green line is heavily outmatched, the
00:07:49phase armed loggers and hostile farming communities with
00:07:53minimal protective gear and questionable legal backing
00:07:56from local courts. protected area
00:08:00is not like a zoological garden where the
00:08:04wildlife are kept inside enclosure so they are
00:08:08moving on their free um within their free
00:08:11habitats. so so the possibility of wildlife
00:08:15encounters often arrive, they
00:08:18might come back come by dangerous animal
00:08:22that may want to um charge
00:08:26at them and um
00:08:29that also put their life at
00:08:33risk, also uh rangers work
00:08:36a rugged terrain, they have
00:08:39to work long
00:08:42distance every day, they have
00:08:45to um um
00:08:48cover um a
00:08:51specific um area
00:08:54you know ring that daily patrol regardless
00:08:57of the number of
00:09:00rivers, the hills they have
00:09:04to uh other
00:09:07obstacles
00:09:09they they have to overcome so...
00:09:13those are some of those uh uh problems
00:09:16and also it doesn't matter what the whether
00:09:20says once they are in the forest when every rain
00:09:24comes they still have to you know because even there is no way to
00:09:28hide you inside the rain uh
00:09:31so regardless of weather so they
00:09:35walk in harsh weather you know to complete their
00:09:39assignments the greatest paradox.
00:09:42or more lies in its administrative structure, managed
00:09:46under a dual mandate by the state government, part the forester
00:09:50license for commercial timber concessions,
00:09:54while the inner core is meant to be strictly protected
00:09:58conservation zone.
00:10:01without clearly defined physical boundaries, the line between legal
00:10:05economy and environmental crime has completely
00:10:09blurred. migrants farmers
00:10:13move into the fertile soils the reserve because the lack of
00:10:16formal land rights, they built temporary
00:10:20settlements, which are reported to be more than 70
00:10:23currently, constantly clearing deeper into the elephant
00:10:27habitat to avoid detection.
00:10:31Despite the relentless pressures, almo remains a
00:10:34place of profound resilience.
00:10:38Thanks to the relentless purchers turned rangers patrols,
00:10:42there has not been a single recorded incident of elephant poaching
00:10:46in the reserve for over 10 years, but many points
00:10:50that the task are head is stuck, and the Nigerian Conservation
00:10:54Foundation knows. the challenges too well,
00:10:57the protected forests across the country are not peaceful sanctuaries at
00:11:01the moment, they are active battlegrounds over the past
00:11:05three decades, the country has lost nearly all of its
00:11:09primary forest cover, falling victim to a multi-billion nara black
00:11:13market driven by timber trafficking, illegal mining and
00:11:17unregulated coaching, for the men and
00:11:21women taxed with defending Nigeria's biodiversity,
00:11:25Leadership is measured not in corporate board rooms, but in
00:11:28survival. The line between environmental preservation
00:11:32and national security has completely
00:11:34vanished. This highlights the
00:11:38core challenge of conservation leadership in Nigeria,
00:11:42which experts summarize as institutional bottleneck. While
00:11:46the Nigerian Conservation Foundation pushes for landscape
00:11:49restoration. In all the areas it operates across the
00:11:52country. State governments have historically been slow to
00:11:56finalize and enforce upgraded forest bills. now the
00:12:00foundation is shifting its leadership strategy to bring massive
00:12:04political weight to the table. we also trying to replicate
00:12:07LCC in other parts the country. we already have a large expans of land in
00:12:11Abuja, we're trying to finalize the paperwork for that, because I think
00:12:15that also is very attractive. LCC is very attractive. In
00:12:19fact, lot of people who don't know NCF, when you say, oh, I'm in
00:12:23NCF or I'm a chairman of NCF. NCF they look a bit confused, but the
00:12:26moment you say lucky conservation oh their faces light up and they understand so
00:12:30we realize that we need to replicate this more. It's also a real
00:12:34hands-on way of people seeing what's the you
00:12:38know what's the benefits are in conservation having
00:12:41a green
00:12:42spaces.
00:12:50Nigeria stands a razer of thin ecological tipping
00:12:54point with. with over 90% of its original rain forest
00:12:58already degraded, the country's reach biodiversity
00:13:01faces an existential threat from illegal logging, urban
00:13:05cool and climate
00:13:07instability.
00:13:11for decades, the battle to protect these vanishing
00:13:14ecosystems has been fought in isolated
00:13:18silos. non-profits lacked political muscle,
00:13:22governments lacked continuity, but in mid in
00:13:252026, environmentalists say there is now
00:13:28seismic shift in leadership, which they believe may
00:13:32be right to the player book. after a
00:13:36quarter century of dedicated service, conservation
00:13:39pattract chief Philippe Assodu stepped down as president the
00:13:43board of trustees and in his place, the Nigerian Conservation
00:13:47Foundation appointed a man intimately familiar with
00:13:51the highest corridors of power, former vice president,
00:13:57and i think is even more uh remarkable
00:14:01that uh chiifyodu as
00:14:04well as several others including uh
00:14:08the founder chief slado of
00:14:12blessed memory uh
00:14:15and chief kinder williams, i
00:14:19believe um chief
00:14:22dr asuh professor.
00:14:27who were the initial uh thought leaders and
00:14:31founders the NCF, I think
00:14:34that that was a generation of visionary
00:14:37Nigerians who somehow so many years
00:14:41ago saw the importance of environmental
00:14:45conservation, of biodiversity,
00:14:49long, long before climate change ever became the issue
00:14:52that
00:14:53it is today and so I think that they deserve
00:14:56our commendation, they deserve our
00:15:00thanks, because uh, but for
00:15:03them, perhaps would not have the foundations that this
00:15:07country has been able to lay for the climate
00:15:11action would never have been laid, we are way ahead
00:15:15of several other countries the world, way, way ahead,
00:15:18on account the vision these gentlemen in those
00:15:22early days.
00:15:29Health is wealth and its value cannot be
00:15:33overestimated, that's why on health matters we take the time to
00:15:37bring... you the current trends in health, the public and private
00:15:40sector, primary and tertiary healthcare institutions,
00:15:44innovations and disclosures from industry professionals with
00:15:48a view to keep you updated and informed, health matters
00:15:52on channels television, a network built on
00:15:55trust,
00:16:00the 2025 to 2013 as vice president from 2015
00:16:04to 2023, professor shimbaj wasn't just
00:16:16hem
00:16:17taken the country's the premier environmental non-governmental organization, he bridges the
00:16:21historic gap between high level state governance and grassroot
00:16:25ecosystem preservation. Professor
00:16:29Oshimbajo's leadership marks deliberates generational pivot for the
00:16:33NCF, while honoring pioneering founders like chief
00:16:37SL. He has explicitly stated that the foundation's
00:16:41next phase relies on the enthusiastic support of
00:16:44young Nigerians by senturing youth in the NCF's
00:16:48agenda, the foundation aims to convert youth climate
00:16:52anxiety into structured green jobs
00:16:55ranging from urban circular economy startups to
00:16:59rural forest restoration collectives under the green recovery
00:17:02Nigeria Program. One the key issues of course
00:17:06is: how to address biodiversity
00:17:10issues uh, we need to have a better
00:17:14plan, especially for biodiversity,
00:17:16we need to take advantage also of
00:17:20climate change. climate change offers
00:17:23some
00:17:25uh some opportunities that we have to take advantage of. one of those
00:17:29is climate positive growth, the notion
00:17:33that um using renewable
00:17:36energy, which we have in abundance, we
00:17:39can actually advance - our economic objectives,
00:17:43much more speedily, create more jobs and create more opportunities,
00:17:47so I i think that we're going to focus a great deal on
00:17:51the development opportunities that climate change
00:17:54offers, the jobs it offers, the new
00:17:58opportunities it offers,
00:18:00you know the great vistas that it opens up, especially
00:18:03for the generation, for this younger generation. "I
00:18:07think
00:18:07that there is great opportunity, there's great hope.
00:18:11Nigeria's biggest conservation challenge has never been a lack
00:18:15of ideas. It has been said that is been a bottleeneck in
00:18:19enforcement. Under professor Oshimbaju's leadership, the
00:18:23NCF says its first major target is transforming
00:18:26conservation from a charitable hobby into a core economic
00:18:30driver. We see new phase of conservation, because
00:18:34why the we are going to see lot more..." younger
00:18:37people being part of this move and
00:18:41why would they do that? because they
00:18:45understand now that it's not just about protect the
00:18:49ocean or the forest, but it's actually the
00:18:52infrastructure on which their generation will builds, and so except the young
00:18:56people have buy in into it, they have to see that it
00:19:00is for them, not so much for us and with that,
00:19:04i know that there be an improvement in the... behavior,
00:19:08there will be a change in the attitude and the mindsets and the
00:19:12culture towards conservation, because yes we need funding, because
00:19:16lot of what we need to do require funding, but then there is lot of money
00:19:20also in that space, right? now we are
00:19:23um in the NCF is working with federal government to um
00:19:27you know to have a survey and have a proper data the value
00:19:31of our you know of our forests and all all of
00:19:34our echolog that we have so we know the true value and 'we
00:19:37are able to you have no proper data and if
00:19:41these young people are part of what we are doing then we are sure that the funding
00:19:45will come that is required to do what needs to be done because
00:19:49they would also have the right attitude and culture and
00:19:52behavior towards protecting their own, it's not money alone
00:19:56that's
00:19:56you know that solves the problem but the mindset and the behavior. the
00:20:00NCF enters its next chapter with a highly visible
00:20:03advocate capable of elevating conservation to
00:20:07matter of national security and economic strategy by
00:20:11combining chief asiodu's institutional foundation with
00:20:15professor oshimba jo's expertise in global climate diplomacy
00:20:19and national governance. experts say Nigeria's conservation
00:20:22movement is positioning itself to be more technologically
00:20:26advanced, financially sustainable and politically
00:20:30influential. but I'm very optimistic and I'm
00:20:33optimistic because uh money will follow ideas.
00:20:37money will follow commitment, it will follow dedication, and I
00:20:41think we have all of that, we have the ideas, we have the dedication, we have the commitment, so we
00:20:45expect that the money will come up, I'm not unduly worried
00:20:49about. that and you
00:20:52know because
00:20:52I think that if you are committed to cause
00:20:56and and there are so many sources of
00:21:00of resources to do this work, there are so many sources of resources and
00:21:03again we are not really looking for hard cash, you are looking for
00:21:07collaboration, you are looking for co-travelers working with
00:21:10co-travelers who may have the resources that you don't have, so it's not
00:21:14necessarily we're not building a fund,
00:21:16you see what I mean, what we're doing is seeking collaborators.
00:21:22going the same pathway as as we are, and we're trying to work together with them, and there are so many
00:21:26all over the world, international alliance, a
00:21:30global alliance of people, a global coalitions of people who
00:21:34are doing exactly the same sort of work, and that has been the case since the
00:21:38foundation of this, this foundation the
00:21:41NCM, so we are not unduly worried about
00:21:44resources, under these new
00:21:48leadership era,
00:21:49the NC. is heavily investing in digital
00:21:53technology to modernize field operations across
00:21:56Nigeria. The foundation is rolling out specialized tracking
00:22:00systems designed to monitor project stages, manage
00:22:04outstanding funds and oversee fuwed officers in real
00:22:07time. This technological modernization,
00:22:11the say will directly back the protection of 58
00:22:15endangered species. They say it provides better
00:22:18intelligence for Rangers defending critically threatened
00:22:22habitats, us at NCF, we deal
00:22:26with lot of partners, we we're conducting lot of projects
00:22:29all over the country, and so in our strategic action plan that
00:22:33we commenced last year, we agreed and decided to invest more in
00:22:37technology, so that at click of a button we can say at what
00:22:41stage each project is, who are the field officers in charge, what
00:22:45was the aim the project, how far have we covered, what is
00:22:48left, what is the... balance on the funds that we're given, do we have
00:22:52any challenges that we want the partners to to meet, you know, and
00:22:56so on, so we've we're deploying technology, we've invested heavily in
00:23:00technology, and the investment is going to continue over the next five years, and we
00:23:04charge other enges at all, not only in the environment
00:23:08space, to be able to, I mean, we all know that AI technology is
00:23:11available, I mean, you can use it for good, you can use it for mischief,
00:23:15but there's a lot of good, lot of
00:23:17benefit
00:23:19in it. With the renewed strategic direction, measurable conservation
00:23:23impact and a historic transition in leadership, the Nigerian
00:23:27Conservation Foundation says it enters its next structure
00:23:31with confidence building on decades of service while remaining
00:23:34stepfast in its mission to protect Nigeria's natural
00:23:38heritage for present and future generations.
00:23:41Environmental challenges confronting Nigeria remain
00:23:44significant, but experts say so two are the
00:23:48opportunities to build resilient. landscapes, restore
00:23:51ecosystems, strengthen livelihoods and inspire a
00:23:55new generation of environmental leaders. achieving these
00:23:59outcomes will require both leadership, strong partnerships,
00:24:02sustained investment and collective action across every
00:24:06sector of society. NCF is
00:24:10not is not working alone and you cannot work
00:24:14alone, this is a global alliance, a global
00:24:17coalition, by working with everyone. is interested in the same things
00:24:21with government, with civil society, with
00:24:24practitioners in this field, and as I said, the important thing is
00:24:28to look at the opportunities that climate action and and
00:24:32environmental action present, there are very many opportunities
00:24:36presented, I think that if you look at the opportunities, even
00:24:39even the opportunities that are created by
00:24:42maintaining uh biodiversity and by
00:24:46the various aspects of climate action that we think,
00:24:50"we can actually participate in, the opportunities are
00:24:53huge.
00:30:2723° celsius here in Abuja, the federal capital
00:30:30territory, good morning, welcome to your daily dose of
00:30:34sunshine, sunrise daily, and Yusuf, what
00:30:38i can tell you is that the sky is heavy with rain here
00:30:42in lagos, but guess what, it's still 26 degrees
00:30:45according to the weather man, and it's the 20 is
00:30:49the sixth day in the month of august 2026, i say welcome to the
00:30:53show, my name is
00:30:54io, but we do
00:30:58have quite a bit lined up for