Zimbabwe has opened an international conference in a bid to win global support for its campaign to be allowed to sell its stockpile of seized ivory.

If the southern African country is not permitted to sell off its 130 tons of ivory, estimated to be worth $600 million, officials warn it may quit the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The three-day conference started Monday, 23rd May 2022 at Hwange National Park, the country’s largest wildlife park situated in south-western Zimbabwe.

Representatives from 16 African countries, as well as Japan and China from Asia, major consumers of ivory, were in attendance based on the official report.

Penultimate week, envoys from some European Union (EU) countries such as Britain, as well as the United States and Canada, were guided through heavily guarded vaults in Harare that were filled with piles of elephant tusks to win international support for legal sales of the ivory.

Zimbabwe’s effort to sell the said ivory is controversial with many conservation groups opposing it, saying any sale of ivory encourages poaching of the pachyderms, i.e. illegal killing of wildlife.

The conference “is sending a dangerous signal to poachers and criminal syndicates that elephants are mere commodities, and that ivory trade could be resumed, heightening the threat to the species,” said a coalition of 50 wildlife and animal rights organizations from across the globe in a joint statement issued the same Monday.

Southern African countries had twice been permitted to sell off their ivory stocks to Japan and China in 1997 and 2008 and those limited sales resulted in “a sharp escalation” in poaching across the continent, said the coalition.

“Legalizing the ivory trade, including authorizing another ‘one-off’ sale could have similar disastrous consequences.” the groups stated.

Zimbabwe had argued that its elephant population was growing rapidly at between 5% to 8% per year, a rate it said was unsustainable. It disclosed that the country was desperately in need of the funds from the sales of the ivory to manage its elephant population, which it said had grown to a ‘dangerous’ size.

Zimbabwe’s estimated 100,000 elephants are double the carrying capacity of its national parks, according to its parks officials. Hence, the overcrowded elephants were destroying the trees and shrubs that remained vital for them and other wildlife.

It’s noteworthy neighbouring Botswana has the world’s largest elephant population with more than 130,000. Together Zimbabwe and Botswana reportedly possess nearly 50% of the world’s elephants. The two countries are apparently struggling to cope with the booming numbers.

Opposition is coming from Kenya and other members of the African Elephant Coalition, whose 32 members are mostly East and West African countries that have fewer elephants. They argue that reopening legal international trade in ivory trade, even for a single auction, would result in increased poaching.

CITES banned the international ivory trade in 1989 to curtail poaching. In addition to banning ivory sales, CITES in 2019 also imposed restrictions on the sales of wild elephants caught in Zimbabwe and Botswana, a move that pleased some conservationists but dismayed officials struggling to manage their overcrowded parks.

There is a flourishing illegal trade in ivory in which international syndicates fund poachers to kill elephants and saw off their ivory tusks. The ivory is then smuggled overseas, where there is its demand for production of jewelry and trinkets.

Increased poaching and loss of habitat have made Africa’s elephant populations more endangered, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) stated last year.

Zimbabwe and Botswana say they are ill-equipped to deal with poachers without the money from ivory sales, especially because earnings from tourism have dwindled due to COVID—19 related travel restrictions since 2020.

Rather than encouraging poaching of wildlife, African countries ought to work towards leveraging its impact on tourism, which remains one of the greatest boosts of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) across the globe.

Hence, they are enjoined to work out modalities in this regard, by creating formidable policies and ensuring their apt implementation headlong.

Why does the government of Nigeria constantly try to conceal some vital news and information from the general public especially if the news will paint a dent in the government? There’s no reason to justify acts like these and it calls for citizens to raise an alarm. 

It is strongly in the public interest that the government always clear the air, in honesty, void of propaganda, and give reports on incidents, especially on terror attacks as it is important to inform the public of emerging developments and information is vital as it can be used to convey public safety messages and avert subsequent incidents. Citizens’ lives depend on it. 

Everything in governance should not be all about propaganda and protecting the image of the government and its officials. 

What happened in Kano state last Tuesday is a pointer to how the government of Nigeria works harder than the devil in covering up news and keeping the citizens in the dark without knowledge of what is going on in their neighborhood. For the safety and interest of the public, some critical news like a bomb blast should never be covered up. The government always claims that if the populace gets to know about the gravity or the intensity of what is going on sometimes it will create tension or panic in the mind of the people and hit up the society and make it ungovernable. This defense is ridiculous and holds no water. 

A bomb exploded in the Sabon gari area of Kano state last Tuesday, the kano state government through its commissioner of information rebutted the claim that it was never a bomb blast but rather it is a gas explosion from a welder’s workshop. The Kano state police command through the police commissioner also stated categorically during media interviews that it was never a bomb blast rather it was an explosion caused by the negligence of a welder.  The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also corroborated the claims of other government officials and denied that it was never a bomb blast. 

The government media team tried as much as they could to cover up the news and reduce somewhat seem like a terrorist attack to a mere gas explosion from a welder’s workshop.

Thanks to Providence for the hard work of some independent media outlets and some journalists that carried out a background investigation and insisted that the government is not being honest with the incident and that it was actually a bomb blast and somewhat look like a terrorist attack that took place which calls for the state to beef up security in the area and stop living in denial. This set of persons who insisted with proves that it was a bomb attack that took place was bullied and attacked by many to shut them up and they were called “mongers of bad news” and “wishers of evil”. 

As Gautama Budha will say; three things cannot be hidden for long; the sun, the moon, and the truth. The truth about what happened in the Sabon gari area of Kano state subsequently made it to the news in a gradual motion or a news leak. The security agencies and the government officials who all denied that there was never a bomb blast are now chewing back their lies.

We understand that the media plays a huge role in determining the atmosphere of the society and that’s why the government pays so much attention to it and try as much as possible to whittle down some ill news and release opposing propaganda in order not to create tension but some news should rather be allowed the gloat over the public space for the citizens to be properly informed and any attempt to cover it up will create more harm.

It’s high time that the government and their foot soldiers that are paid to spread propaganda and lies to cover up some critical information know that some critical information is necessary for the survival of the people and it can be useful in averting the mayhem or averting subsequent incidents. 

News of planned terrorist attacks like these should never be covered up for the sake of protecting the image of the government or not to create panic in the mind of people. People need to know what is going on especially this season when Nigeria is struggling with security failure because their lives and survival depend on it.

The veteran forward reportedly lost 70 million followers after his seemingly cruel decision to perpetuate his would-be illustrious career at his hometown club for another three years.

A lot of people in Madrid are really unhappy with the youngster twisting the plot and that has culminated in a massive unfollowing of the professional’s Instagram page.

It is also claimed that a lot of persons, Madrid fans as well, blocked the sport star on micro logging platform, Twitter, for the same.

Mbappe chose to remain in PSG for yet another trio of seasons, explaining that it wasn’t yet over. The forward let the footballing universe in on the fact that he wanted to see France and it’s league at the top. His decision to remain a nationalist didn’t go down too well at the Spanish capital which was full of thousands of people anticipating his monumental advent at the club. The pack includes their star striker, Karim Benzema who also felt hurt by Mbappe’s infamous response to Madrid.

Mbappe who had 71.6 followers on Instagram dwindled to 70.9 followers succeeding his putting pen to Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s paper.

What really transpired? Let’s get a bit to the nitty-gritty of the backstory, shall we?

Even though the native of Paris claims he wants to see France and it’s league at the very top, it would be necessary to study the details of Mbappe’s new contract. What really made the striker stay. Are Paris Saint German up to something? How did they manage to get in the way of a record-breaking, season-defining transfer.

Well, when it comes to transfers, PSG have always had cards up their sleeves and rabbits to pull out of their hats. This has been contributory in landing Titans in the past like Neymar for $222m in 2017, and Lionel Messi last summer after Barcelona capitulated owing to financial crisis.

Les Blues had to table a really juicy, tantalizing and irresistible offer, one embellished with a lot of benefits in order to cajole the Frenchman to stay back. Kylian’s new contract has a green tick on complete control of the club’s sporting projects meaning Mbappe will be able to sway to a great degree, how the club is run. According to his new indenture, the 23-year old can hire as well as fire players and even managers in the future. This means the youngster can get back at people he doesn’t fancy or have good camaraderie with. This kind of deal makes the prolific forward somewhat of a backroom member of the club. Just imagine having to choose your coach and those you work with on the pitch. Mbappe’s critical choice making is the apparent backwash of Les Blues’ desperate act to keep one of their main men, the future of the French club.