Author(s)

Augustine Ugar Ogogo¹, Sijah Agbor Asuk¹, Rebecca Victor Ikpeme²

¹Department of Forestry and Wildlife Resources Management, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.
²Cross River National Park Headquarters, Akamkpa, Nigeria.

Poaching of wildlife has continued to be the major problem confronting national parks managers in Nigeria in spite of effort being made to curb the ugly trend. This paper examined the anti-poaching programme of the Cross River National Park Okwango Division Nigeria from 2002 to 2013, with a view to making recommendations for the improvement of the programme. Focused group discussions, personal interviews, review of official records and structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Analysis of variance using randomized complete block design and student’s t-test were used to analyse data. Result showed that 1 - 5 arrests of poachers per month per patrol station was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than 6 arrests and above. On the other hand, the number of hunters’ sheds and traps destroyed had 21 and above being significantly (P < 0.05) higher than 20 and below. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the number of poachers arrested and fined between 2002 to 2006 and 2007 to 2011. The low performance of the anti-poaching programme was attributed to poorly equipped rangers’ posts as well as well the absence of alternative livelihood options in the enclave and surrounding communities. It was recommended that more rangers should be employed, and the rangers should be adequately kitted, well equipped patrol stations be constructed and the enclave and surrounding communities be involved in the management of the National Park in addition to providing them with alternative livelihood options.

Evaluation, Anti-Poaching, Cross River National Park, Okwango, Nigeria

Ogogo, A. , Asuk, S. and Ikpeme, R. (2014) Evaluation of the Anti-Poaching Programme of the Cross River National Park Okwango Division, Nigeria 2002 to 2013. Open Journal of Forestry, 4, 507-511. doi: 10.4236/ojf.2014.45054.