The Daily Africa Summit holds International Vulture Awareness Day September 3, 2022

By Eyo Nsima

The Daily Africa Summit has concluded arrangements to hold its International Vulture Awareness Day on September 3, 2022, at 4pm, West African Time, WAT.
The Summit will have Professor Edem A. Eniang, Head of Wildlife Ecology Unit, Dept. of Forestry and Wildlife, University of Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, as Guest speaker.
The International Vulture Awareness Day is celebrated globally to inform, educate and mobilise support towards the preservation and protection of vultures.
However, Professor Edem A. Eniang is qualified to speak, apparently because he is not only an experienced and qualified professional, but has also carried out some researched on the subject.
In a statement obtained by The Daily, www.thedaily-ng.om, the organisers, stated: “He was born on 1st October, 1969 in Itam- Itu, Local Government Area of Akwa-Ibom State. He had his early primary education at Government School Mbak Atai, Itu, Nigeria and proceeded to the famous Command Secondary School, Zaria Road, Jos Plateau State where he graduated in 1984. He had his Bachelor of Agriculture in Forestry and Wildlife Management from the University of Uyo, Uyo Akwa Ibom State in 1992. He also bagged his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Wildlife Resources Management from the prestigious University of Ibadan in 1998 and 2004 respectively.
“He started his career as Graduate Assistant in the Department of Forestry and Natural Environmental Management in the University of Uyo in 1995 and rose through the ranks to the enviable status of Professor in October 2015.
“Professor Edem A. Eniang is an effective academic of international reputation in Wildlife resources management with twenty-five (25) years’ experience in teaching, research, training, counseling, advocacy and community service with national and international organizations which has produced over 100 publications in highly reputed national and international journals. A talented and a passionate wildlife conservationist, international environmental management consultant and team leader, Professor Edem A. Eniang is highly motivated and driven to succeed within challenging environments.
“In 2017, the former Hon. Minister of State for Environment – Alhaji Ibrahim Jubril now His Royal Highness, Emir of Nasarawa personally handed over 600 life animals including 145 venomous snakes which were seized by men of Nigeria Customs and Excise Department to Prof. Edem Eniang in a public event at Calabar to keep in trust for the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“His outstanding career performance has earned him numerous international awards. In the cours of his lifelong pursuits of endangered species conservation research in Nigeria, Prof. Eniang has rediscovered the Preuss’s Red Colobus Monkey (Procolobus badius preussi) in the year 2000 which was presumed to be extinct in Nigeria since 1980 and the Flying lizard (Halaspis guentheri) in 2015 which was last seen in Nigeria in 1968 and presumed to be extinct in Nigeria
“The global naming of his newly discovered West African Zebra Gecko in his honor as Hemidactylus eniangii in 2010 by international scientists working in the University of California Berkeley, USA became the icing on the cake of his extraordinary passion-driven wildlife conservation career. In 2012 to date, Prof. Eniang has discovered within Nigeria, Eleven (11) new animals including two (2) Culubrid snakes, two (2) Eel species, one (1) Amphibian and six (6) Forest Gecko species all yet to be classified by science.”
The organizers, added: “He has to his credit over twenty-five awards from both local and international governmental and non-governmental agencies including winning the Conservation award of prestigious Pan African Association for Zoos, Aquarium and Botanical Gardens (PAAZAB) 1st Conservation Award at South Africa in 2002. Professor Edem A. Eniang has held several positions of responsibility within and outside the University community. He is currently the Head of the Wildlife Ecology Unit in the Dept. of Forestry and Wildlife, University of Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State. He has mentored several national and international programs of which the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sponsored Environmental/Conservation NGOs working in Nigeria is one.”