24th June, 2015
Jethro Ibileke/Benin
The management of Ogba Zoological Garden and Natural Park in Benin, Edo State, on Tuesday raised the alarm over massive encroachment on the Zoo by land speculators in its host Utagban and Ogbaneki communities.
Andy Ehanire, Chief Executive Officer of the zoo, in an open letter to the State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, said the zoo has been under constant threat from land speculators, which he said is challenging the management of the zoo from adequately carrying out its mandate.
According to him, the encroachment problem has placed their personal safety and investments as eco-tourism developers under “very dangerous risks.”
He lamented an incursion into the zoo on 18 June, 2015, during which a “large tracts of pristine conservation project of State, with high international acclaim were decimated with bulldozers,” adding that speculators afterwards put up the zoo’s land for sale to unsuspecting members of the public with fresh survey beacons.
“In the current circumstances, we want to again appeal for government protection of this priceless zoo forestry which is the very last vestige of the once 53 Sq. Km. Ogba Forest Reserve.
“The massive investment on the zoo’s infrastructure by the State Government could become a colossal waste if the encroachment problem persists,” Ehanire stated.
While calling on the governor to set up a full scale inquiry into the repeated destructive incursions to the zoo, which he said has “led to serious loss of its ecological integrity,” Ehanire also appealed to the governor to cause the Ministry of Lands and Surveys to urgently carry out a fresh survey of the zoo with clear delineation of its boundaries and provide for full-time forest guards and security protection to the facilities.