By Sam Olukoya
LAGOS, Jul 5 2005 (IPS)

An initiative that aspires to turn a national park into what officials term a “benchmark for eco-tourism developments” may seem beyond reproach. If the conservation area is Yankari National Park in north-eastern Nigeria, however, it could well give pause for thought.

The park, which extends over more than 2,000 square kilometres, is famous for its diverse mammal populations, bird life and warm springs.

Yankari is currently run by national authorities. But, the government of Bauchi State where the park is located believes the Abuja administration is doing a poor job of managing it – and that the area should be placed under state control.

“The park has suffered continuous neglect and the facilities and infrastructures in the tourist camps may be considered as a national shame, revealing lack of common sense and poor management skills,” said state officials in a recent communique.

The solution? A partnership between government and the private sector that will, according to Bauchi authorities, allow five million dollars to be spent on Yankari – transforming it into a sustainably-developed tourist attraction.

It is a proposal that environmentalists and communities living near the park have greeted with trepidation.

“The attention will be more on exploitation than conservation because when private enterprise takes over, they will concentrate more on tourism at the expense of conservation,” local activist Ishaya Buba Bajama told IPS.

“Our grand parents have denied themselves hunting and farming in order to keep this nature reserve,” he adds. “That is why we are not in support of this transfer.”

Jacob Ibeun, a natural resource expert who has worked in several conservation areas, believes that if Yankari is handed to the Bauchi State government, a dangerous precedent will have been set for the country’s seven other national parks.

“The band wagon effect will lead to other states following the Bauchi State’s example, thus reversing the progress made in nature conservation in Nigeria,” he says.

“The Bauchi State government request amounts to dismembering the Nigeria National Park service…Such an action will ridicule Nigeria in international conservation circles and constitute reneging on nature conservation treaties entered into by Nigeria.”

Mahmood Attaib – who lives near the park – has similar concerns.

“Yankari is internationally recognised as a national park. If the Nigerian government loses its control over the park, it will be classified as a game reserve. This will cost Yankari the international reputation it has enjoyed as a national park all these years,” he notes.

In addition, there are fears that private sector development will lead to job losses.

“The communities will miss the opportunity to be employed sustainably by the federal service…That there are elements of privatisation…does not augur well for sustainable employment,” observed Bajama.

However, Bauchi State argues that private funding for the park is essential at a time when poverty relief and development initiatives – such as the provision of basic services – are putting demands on scarce government resources.

“I have been to Namibia (in Southern Africa) and seen how game reserves should be run,” says State Senator Abubakar Maikarfi. “Most of the parks in Namibia are privately owned; the public sector plays a minimal role in managing them. The private investors should be given a chance to invest in Yankari.”

Nigeria’s House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing the Bauchi State government to take over the park. This bill will now be put to the Senate, for full parliamentary approval.

“The House of Representatives has already passed the bill and if the Senate can do the same, we shall get the national park with the president’s assent,” said Maikarfi, who sponsored the legislation.

However, opponents of private sector involvement in Yankari are not willing to admit defeat on the issue just yet.

Attaib, for one, says he is willing to take legal action, should the need arise: “I am ready to fight this case as far as the Supreme Court.”

While the park’s facilities may have grown sadly dilapidated under national government, it is clear that many prefer a policy of “better the devil” you know for Yankari.

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