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EIA report exposes persistent wildlife trafficking networks, corruption in West and Central Africa – EnviroNews
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A new report by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals that West and Central Africa remains plagued with illegal wildlife trade.
Beyond Africa: The persistence of wildlife trafficking networks in West and Central Africa is based on six years of remote, online and field-based undercover investigations into trafficking networks dealing primarily in elephant ivory and pangolin scales destined for Asian markets.
The investigations concluded that illegal wildlife trade in the region remains a serious, organised and adaptive criminal enterprise, enabled by corruption at various points in the supply chain.
The findings reflect EIA’s 2020 report Out of Africa: How West and Central Africa have become the epicentre of ivory and pangolin scale trafficking to Asia, which detailed how endemic corruption, weak or absent rule of law, low levels of development and hotspots of armed conflict had left the region wide open to exploitation by well-organised transnational criminal gangs.
EIA Securing Criminal Justice Programme Lead, Justin Gosling, said: “It’s unfortunate for wildlife and the countries concerned that the warnings of our 2020 report have not been heeded.
“The picture that emerges is instead one of criminal networks which have not been dismantled but have instead evolved, demonstrating a consistent capacity to circumvent enforcement pressure rather than be deterred by it.”
Beyond Africa does indicate that enforcement in Nigeria and the wider region has visibly improved since 2020, with more incidents being detected, more arrests recorded and more prosecutions pursued.
Nigeria’s Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill – which has passed the National Assembly and is now awaiting presidential assent – directly addresses the top recommendation of an International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) analytical toolkit assessment and represents the most significant overhaul of the country’s wildlife protection framework in nearly four decades.
“These are genuine achievements and the agencies and policymakers responsible deserve recognition,” said Gosling. “Yet our findings make clear that improvements in enforcement activity have not translated into the disruption of trafficking networks.”
Beyond Africa demonstrates how criminals operating in Nigeria have responded to enforcement efforts by shifting export locations from Lagos to cities with weaker enforcement presence, such as Port Harcourt and Enugu.
As well as relocating geographically, criminals have also adapted their concealment methods and the legitimate products used to disguise contraband, while migrating financial transactions toward bank transfers and underground banking systems as the naira has depreciated.
The gulf between interceptions and meaningful judicial outcomes is stark and long-standing. Of 58 wildlife crime incidents recorded in EIA’s database which occurred in Nigeria between January 2021 and February 2026, fewer than 10 convictions were recorded.
Across West and Central Africa, the arrest-to-conviction rate stands at just 16 per cent. Enforcement disproportionately targets low-level, easily replaceable actors – those caught in possession – while the corrupt officials, logistics coordinators and financial beneficiaries who sustain networks at the highest levels continue to operate with near impunity.
This selective accountability is both a symptom and a consequence of corruption, which Beyond Africa identifies as a structural feature of the trade rather than an exception. Bribery operates along the entire length of the supply chain, from road checkpoints and port scanning officers to senior officials within the Nigeria Customs Service.
EIA investigations reveal that at least one prolific trader maintains a senior-level contact who pre-arranges bribes across all relevant agencies before a shipment moves. Even enforcement tools designed to improve detection – such as container scanners, introduced at Onne Port in 2021 – are being circumvented through bribery of the officers who operate them.
Wildlife crime in West and Central Africa is also increasingly convergent with drug trafficking, money laundering and financial crime. EIA has identified networks simultaneously involved in synthetic drug trafficking and the illegal wildlife trade, with illicit proceeds laundered through real estate and informal value transfer systems. This convergence demands a broader, multi-agency enforcement response which goes well beyond commodity seizure.
Gosling added: “Nigeria does not bear responsibility for this trade alone. Ivory and pangolin scales are sourced across Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon before consolidation in Nigeria for export.
“Transnational coordination through joint investigations, shared intelligence and reciprocal enforcement remains critically underdeveloped.
“However, there are genuine grounds for cautious optimism. Strong new legislation, a shift in financial practices which creates new intelligence opportunities and growing recognition of crime convergence all point toward levers which, if pulled with political will and sustained international support, could begin to alter the trajectory.
“But the window is narrowing – the threatened species involved cannot wait indefinitely and determined traffickers are not standing still.”
The key findings in Beyond Africa include:
- trafficking networks are resilient and adaptive – not in retreat
- enforcement stalls at the incident – investigations rarely go further
- transnational investigations and cooperation are failing
- the gap between arrests and convictions is vast and long-standing
- corruption is structural, not incidental
- wildlife crime is converging with drug trafficking and money laundering.
