The Nigerian Conservation Foundation has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately sign the Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill, 2025 into law, warning that Nigeria’s extraordinary biodiversity was disappearing at an alarming rate and that legal protections for threatened wildlife remained dangerously inadequate.

Director General of the NCF Dr. Joseph Onoja made the call on World Biodiversity Day 2026, describing the legislation as long overdue and essential to prosecuting wildlife crimes, regulating trade, and deterring the exploitation of threatened species. He called on governments at all levels to fully fund and implement Nigeria’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan targets and enforce existing wildlife protection laws without delay.

The NCF said Nigeria ranked 36th globally for biodiversity richness, supporting nearly 8,000 plant species across 338 families and over 22,000 animal species, including insects, fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Despite this wealth, more than 90 percent of the country’s original forest cover had already been lost, with deforestation, habitat fragmentation, climate change, pollution from oil spills and gas flaring, and invasive species continuing to drive species decline and ecosystem degradation.

Onoja said biodiversity loss was not an abstract global problem but was happening in Nigeria’s forests, wetlands, and communities, affecting food security, water, health, and livelihoods. He said Nigeria’s revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan aligned with the 23 global targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, committing the country to halting biodiversity loss by 2030 through effective management of high-priority areas and protecting at least 30 percent of land, inland waters, and coastal and marine habitats.

He said the NCF over the next five years would prioritize conservation actions for key species and ecosystems most at risk, working with communities, state governments, academia, and the private sector to strengthen habitat protection, combat illegal wildlife trade, restore degraded landscapes, and integrate biodiversity values into development planning at state and local levels.