National parks, varsity sign pact to boost ecotourism, research

The National Park Service has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal University Wukari (FUW) to collaborate in ecotourism, research and conservation education with the university.

Speaking at the signing of the MOU at the headquarters of the national parks in Abuja, the Vice Chancellor of Federal University Wukari, Professor Abubakar M Kundiri, said the MOU marked a milestone towards the advancement of quality education in the university, a statement from the park said.

Prof Kundiri noted that government funding alone could not sustain the operations of the university, hence the need to explore other areas of revenue.

He said with the signing of the MOU, the university would now have access to the parks' facilities for research to boost tourism activities that could generate revenue and open up employment opportunities for the population in addition to fulfilling its mandate.

In his remarks, the Conservator-General of National Parks, Ibrahim Musa Goni, gave a rundown of the locations and activities of National Parks and their roles in enhancing national development.

While noting that National Parks has served as a field laboratory to students studying natural sciences in tertiary institutions, he said it has so far trained over 2000 students.

He welcomed the collaboration which, he said, was the second of its kind since he assumed duty as the chief executive of National Parks Service, and called on other institutions of learning to emulate FUW to raise the bar in natural science education and conservation of biological biodiversity.