February 01, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has unveiled plans to procure more arms for the effective operation of the National Park Service (NPS).
Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, who disclosed this on Thursday, when he paid an official visit to the headquarters of the NPS and the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) in Abuja, said President Bola Tinubu was very concerned about the operations of the parks.
Noting the spate of insecurity in the country, Lawal said there is an ongoing collaboration with relevant agencies to clean the forest of bandits, illegal miners and the coastal areas where oil thefts take place.
The Minister charged the NBMA to be more proactive in its approaches and to engage more in 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.
Responding, Dr Agnes Asagbra, the Director-General of NBMA, appealed for the provision of bigger office space and more training for members of staff of the agency. She also requested machinery to fight environmental activities impeding the operations of the agency.
Also, the Conservator-General of NPS, Dr Ibrahim Goni, appealed to the Minister for an upward review of their subvention. He also requested the procurement of more arms to curb trans-banditry activities with Cameroon as well as the commercialisation of three parks.
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