West African Conservation Network (WACN) recently visited the Ganjuwa Local
Government Area of Bauchi State, where Sumu Wildlife Park — for which it
recently signed an agreement with the Bauchi State Government to co-manage
and restore — is located, reaffirming its commitment to revive and develop the
park into a thriving conservation and tourism destination.
Implementation of the agreement has already begun, with plans underway to
deploy camera traps and refurbish patrol vehicles in the coming weeks.
Speaking during a familiarization visit by the WACN team to the Local Government
Headquarters, Chairman of the Council, Hon. Mohammed Idris Miya, pledged to
support efforts aimed at revitalizing the park.
According to him, any assistance needed from the Local Government will be
provided beyond expectations.
“As you are comparing Yankari with Sumu, we even want to be more than
Yankari, and with you, I believe things will go beyond that. I told my
people that there is something good coming to Ganjuwa Local Government,” he said.
Earlier in her address, WACN Project Manager for Sumu Wildlife Park, Justina
Elachi, assured the Chairman that WACN is committed to introducing new ideas to
rejuvenate the park. She noted that WACN is working to reintroduce indigenous
subspecies that have been lost from the park.
“Conservation is very broad, and it is possible that even though
indigenous subspecies may have been lost in the park — or may even be
totally extinct without any surviving stock — we can introduce another
subspecies of the same species to play the same ecological role that the
formerly extinct local subspecies would have played.”
The Project Manager promised that WACN would elevate Sumu Wildlife Park to
rival Yankari and other leading destinations. She emphasized that this would
unlock development opportunities for Ganjuwa Local Government Area and Bauchi State as a whole.