By ABIGAEL JOSHUA

The Conservator General (CG) of the National Park Service (NPS), Dr Ibrahim Goni, on Monday said that the service will soon acquire a helicopter for its operations.

Goni said this in Abuja on Monday during the two-day 2022 World Ranger Day celebration.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event is marked annually every July 31, to appreciate and commend rangers who have laid down their lives during their line of duty.

The CG commended rangers for their sustenance of the national parks assuring that the park officials would soon be trained by the Nigerian Army on the job to enhance performances.

Goni said that the laws of the national parks are effectively observed and expressed satisfaction over the World Ranger Day celebration.

The Assistant Conservator General, Okedeji Okeyoyin, in his paper, “The Significance of World Ranger Day”, said that rangers are responsible for protecting the national parks and other protected areas.

“The natural resources, ecosystems, and wildlife within them; and the people who visit them.

“Park rangers may serve as law enforcement officers, environmental experts, historians or a combination of the three,” Okeyoyin said.

He said that rangers are also conservation education officers, wildlife extension services, park community relations officers, park interpreters and prosecutors, and researchers.

“Rangers are nature’s unsung heroes that conserve nature and natural environments in diverse geographical locations and altitude under the vagaries of changing weather conditions and difficult terrains.

“Rangers working in protected areas all over the world are committed to preserving wildlife and wild natural environments for the benefit of posterity.

“They protect and conserve the diverse forms of life both on land and water using diverse skills and equipment,” Okeyoyin said.

He said that regardless of the regular duties of anyone’s discipline, the goal of all rangers was to protect the park resources for future generations and to protect park visitors.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Conservation Foundation, Dr. Joseph Onoja, commended the protection of natural heritage and assured of the foundation’s continual support to the NPS. (NAN)

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