An imaginative animal adoption campaign in Plateau State captured the imagination of Governor Simon Lalong. They said everybody should adopt an animal, he remarked in response to a request by the Acting General Manager, Plateau State Tourism Corporation, Mrs Salome Bidda, at a May 21 event to mark her 100 Days in Office.Lalong is expected to keep his promise to be responsible for the feeding of an elephant at Jos Wildlife Park. He was quoted as saying: My wife is keener about animals and has been keeping animals. She will take care of the feeding of the lion and lioness and I will take care of the feeding of the elephant.Lalong, who has been reelected for a second four-year term that will begin on May 29, also declared: All government appointees; the Chief of staff, Head of Service and commissioners must adopt and take care of at least one animal in the park. According to a report, The governor also said that all those seeking political appointment must also include the name of the animal they are feeding in their Curriculum Vitae. According to him, he would confirm from the Acting GM, when he sees the CV, to be sure that they are not lying. This specified condition for political appointment is novel, and reflects Lalongs inventiveness.By including political appointees in the animal adoption project, the governor indicated his administrations commitment to the idea. So, the participants wont be only Lalong and his wife.The governor added: The 24-members of the State House of Assembly should also pick one animal each and take care of it. He appealed to Plateau people outside the specific categories to adopt and take care of at least one animal. By seeking the involvement of the states lawmakers as well as the public, Lalong sent a message about the inclusiveness of the animal adoption promotion.This approach may be Lalongs way of compensating for the states budgetary provision for its tourism sector. According to a report, The saying that Plateau State is a home of peace and tourism might suffer a setback in the 2019 annual budget, because, only N337, 900.000.00, which represents 0.50 per cent, has been allocated to the tourism sector from a total budget size of 153 billion Naira. It is unclear why the Lalong administration allocated such level of funds to the tourism sector.It is striking that Lalong was quoted as saying he regretted the death of a lion about two years ago in the park. I fasted for no less than five days when the lion died because it generated a lot of revenue for the state, he said.An incident about four years ago drew attention to the dilapidated facilities in the park. According to a report, The Park, on December 2, 2015, recorded a loss with the killing of Leo, a lion which escaped confinement through a rusty cage. The lion was killed by some soldiers, drawing worldwide condemnation by animal rights activists who insisted that the park needed to have used trained personnel to demobilise the animal, using tranquilisers.The Nigeria Association of Zoological Gardens (NAZG) had attributed the lions escape to manifest institutional neglect from cumulative arrears in scheduled maintenance and required upgrades. The group urged Plateau State Government and other stakeholders to strive toward world standards to avoid embarrassing circumstances, and advocated a Tourism Intervention Fund.The needed intervention is more than compelling political appointees to adopt animals in the park. A holistic intervention is necessary. It isnt enough to take care of the animals without taking care of the facilities. It is reductive to conclude that feeding the animals will solve the maintenance and upgrading issues at the park.Jos Wildlife Park, established in the 1970s, is a major tourist attraction. There are 102 animals in the park, Bidda told the governor. It deserves better funding. The Lalong administrations funding of the tourism sector contradicts the governors projection of a tourism-friendly image.Lalongs adoption of an elephant puts elephants in the news. Not many Nigerians know there are elephants in Nigeria. Well, there are. Last year, there was news that they were causing havoc in Lagos and Ogun communities. Elephants from Omo Forest Reserve in Ogun State were said to be on a rampage in some communities.The Chairman of Active Hunters and Farmers Club at Epe, Alhaji Ajagunoba Aribada, was quoted as saying in a November 19, 2018, report: We have been facing this situation for the past seven months. The elephants have destroyed all our banana, plantain and cassava farms. We cant even reach the other parts of the farm because the nursing female elephants are aggressive. This has caused food scarcity in the community.The village head of Oki Gbode Imobi, Baale Adeleke Olaitan, corroborated the disturbing account: Nobody can go to the farm for fear of being attacked. The elephants have eaten all the cassava crops and plantain on the farms. We want them out.The elephant invasion also affected fishing business in the community. The elephants enter the river to drink and bathe and ruin all the fish traps, said one Ismaila Lekan. My mother who is into fish business can no longer go about her business because of the fear of the elephants.Why did the elephants move out of the reserve, described as one of the last few elephant habitats in Nigeria' Farming and quarry activities are to blame. The elephants forced to leave the reserve are said to roam at the Ogun-Lagos border, where ImobiItasinEpe lagoon communities are located.The next question is: How were the elephants able to move out of the reserve' If the elephants had a reason to leave the reserve, that shouldnt mean they must have a way to leave. The elephants were able to leave the reserve because they could.If the reserve were properly managed, farming and quarry activities would not have been issues. Wildlife conservation is a serious issue. A report to mark World Elephant Day last year said: The Wildlife Conservation Society has outlined and advocated the need to increase aerial surveillance in strongholds, train and deploy more rangers in the protected areas, supply new rangers with equipment, assist the authorities in tracking and shutting down trafficking networks, and grow our community development programmes to support local communities to co-exist with wildlife. There are plans to create a wildlife sanctuary within Omo Forest Reserve. The authorities should take action.Governor Lalong should bear in mind that August 12 is World Elephant Day. His adopted elephant is expected to get a treat.
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