Daud Olatunji
Nigeria’s elephant population has plunged to about 400, with conservation experts warning that continued forest destruction, poaching, habitat fragmentation and human-wildlife conflicts could push the country’s remaining elephants beyond recovery.
The experts raised the alarm on Wednesday during a World Elephant Day media chat organised by Wild Africa and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation to mark the annual event.
Wildlife veterinarian and conservationist, Dr Mark Ofua, said the surviving population comprised about 300 forest elephants and 100 savannah elephants, describing the figure as dangerously close to a critical threshold.
Ofua, who is Wild Africa’s West African representative, said Nigeria had once been home to large elephant herds, particularly in what is now Delta State, where travellers reportedly had to wait for elephants to cross roads.
He lamented that the herds had disappeared within a generation.
“I grew up not seeing any elephants in Delta State. All gone,” he said.
According to him, the country’s remaining elephant population is now too small to guarantee long-term survival if the destruction of their habitats continues.
“This is already at a critical position or a critical mass because that is already too small a family. So there is going to be inbreeding and genetic crossing because it’s too small,” Ofua said.
He, however, said the remaining population could still recover if urgent measures were taken to protect their habitats and stop hunting and other threats.
“But if we continue in the current trajectory of habitat fragmentation and hunting and clash and all that, and the number drops beyond the critical, that means we’re on the verge of losing our elephants forever,” he warned.
Also speaking, the biodiversity pillar lead at the NCF, Dr Stella Egbe, said Nigeria’s remaining elephants were scattered across several forest and savannah landscapes, with some populations moving across international borders.
She identified the Omo Forest Reserve and Okomu Forest Reserve, Cross River National Park and Andoni in Rivers State as areas where forest elephants could be found.
She said Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi State hosts the country’s largest concentration of savannah elephants.
Egbe explained that some elephant populations also move between Nigeria, Benin Republic and Cameroon, making the preservation of connected habitats critical to their survival.
She said the fragmentation of forests had disrupted the movement of elephant populations and reduced the space available for feeding, breeding and reproduction.
According to her, two elephant populations are now found in Ogun State — one in Omo Forest Reserve and another in a smaller natural forest around Itasin in Ogun East.
“As wildlife comes more in contact with people, there is a lot of conflict,” Egbe said.
She warned that the destruction of farms and food crops by elephants could trigger retaliatory killings, further threatening already vulnerable populations.
Human-elephant conflict has reportedly been recorded around Itasin, while rising water levels during the rainy season sometimes force elephants in Andoni out of their forest habitats and into nearby communities.
Egbe said measures including noise deterrents, beehives and chilli fences could help farmers protect their crops, but stressed that the lasting solution was to stop further destruction and fragmentation of elephant habitats.
She also raised concern over the absence of an effective emergency compensation mechanism for farmers whose crops are destroyed by elephants.
The NCF, she said, continues to engage communities on how to manage encounters with elephants, while the National Elephant Action Plan contains strategies aimed at reducing human-elephant conflict and preventing retaliatory killings.
‘80% of Nigerians don’t know elephants exist here’
Ofua identified inadequate public awareness as another major obstacle to wildlife conservation, saying a large proportion of Nigerians were unaware that elephants still exist in the country.
“The greatest challenge conservation is facing in Nigeria is education,” he said.
“It would shock you to know that a whole lot of Nigerians, I would easily say about 80 percent of Nigerians, do not know we have elephants in Nigeria. It’s that serious.”
He cited the reaction of residents to a video of a mature bull elephant sighted in Andoni as evidence of the growing disconnect between Nigerians and the country’s wildlife.
The conservationist called for intensified media campaigns and conservation education in schools to increase public understanding of Nigeria’s wildlife resources.
Ofua said elephant conservation was not merely about protecting animals but also about safeguarding ecosystems that support human life.
He described elephants as “the tenders of the forest”, explaining that their feeding patterns, movement and dung contribute to the survival of plants, insects, microbes and other wildlife.
He warned that the extinction of elephants would therefore have consequences far beyond the loss of one animal species.
“We’re not just losing the elephants, we’re losing a whole niche,” he said.
The conservationists also blamed inadequate government and private-sector funding for the worsening condition of Nigeria’s protected areas.
Egbe said inadequate resources had made it difficult to effectively manage protected green spaces, while insecurity in some parts of the country had restricted researchers’ access to areas where poaching and other illegal activities could be taking place.
She said the National Elephant Action Plan was developed by conservation stakeholders through a process led by the Wildlife Conservation Society, but warned that the plan could not achieve its objectives without adequate funding and implementation.
Egbe also linked the funding challenge to declining international conservation financing, noting that many Nigerian conservation organisations had historically relied heavily on foreign donors.
The experts accused successive governments of failing to match conservation policies with adequate funding, enforcement and political commitment.
They argued that policies protecting elephants would remain largely ineffective if government agencies responsible for protected areas lacked the personnel, equipment and resources required to enforce them.
Ofua said the government must lead the conservation effort, while businesses should see environmental protection as part of their corporate responsibility rather than charity.
“The government cannot do it alone. The few private institutions doing it cannot do it alone,” he said.
He urged companies involved in construction, land clearing and infrastructure development to support habitat protection and environmental restoration.
He also advocated corporate sponsorship of conservation projects, rescued animals and public education campaigns.
Egbe said the NCF already had partnerships with companies, including Chevron and MTN, while banks and other organisations had supported tree planting and natural-resource conservation.
She called for stronger policies requiring businesses to mitigate the environmental consequences of their activities.
Beyond biodiversity protection, the conservationists said Nigeria could generate jobs and revenue by properly developing its wildlife and ecotourism sector.
They cited Tanzania and Rwanda as examples of African countries that have turned wildlife and natural attractions into important tourism and economic assets.
Ofua said Nigeria’s forests, waterfalls, lakes and wildlife reserves could support local economies, create employment and attract international visitors if properly protected and developed.
He warned that destroying the country’s natural resources would also mean losing potential economic opportunities.
“But by the time you lose all these resources, you lose these likely jobs, you lose this likelihood,” he said.
The experts also called for stronger enforcement against the illegal trade in elephant tusks and other wildlife products.
They noted that cultural practices involving elephant tusks persist in some parts of Nigeria, making public education and enforcement necessary to reduce demand.
‘Elephant extinction signals wider environmental collapse’
The conservationists described elephants as an “umbrella species” whose protection automatically safeguards numerous other species sharing the same ecosystem.
Ofua explained that elephants can consume between 50kg and 100kg of vegetation daily, while their dung returns nutrients to the soil and supports smaller organisms.
Their movement through forests also creates pathways, opens spaces for vegetation and assists the dispersal and germination of some plant species.
He warned that the disappearance of elephants would consequently threaten other animals, plants and organisms dependent on the same ecological system.
“The elephant is an umbrella species,” Ofua said.
“So if the elephants are thriving, that means the forest is thriving. It automatically means that all the animals in nature, they are thriving because all these are like under the umbrella of the elephants.”
He added that declining elephant numbers should be treated as a warning about the broader deterioration of Nigeria’s forests.
“If the elephants are disappearing, if the elephants are doing poorly, it means our forest is doing poorly. It means all the animals under the umbrella, they are doing poorly too,” he said.
The experts called for urgent protection of elephant habitats, stronger enforcement against poaching and illegal wildlife trade, sustained government funding, private-sector investment, community participation and aggressive conservation education.
They warned that saving Nigeria’s remaining elephants would require action before the population falls below a point from which recovery becomes increasingly difficult.
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