By Doh James Sonkey
The Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Jules Doret Ndongo has told Forestry staff to use their newly acquired motorcycles in order to fight against poachers. Minister Jules Doret Ndongo was speaking last March 18, 2024 at the esplanade of Ministerial building N°2 as he officially handed over 150 motorcycles keys to his collaborators in the field.
“150 motorcycles were acquired by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife at the request of ecoguards in the field. Ecoguards will therefore use these motorcycles to track down criminals in Cameroon’s protected areas.” The Forestry and Wildlife boss said.
The motorcycles were given to the three Northern regions; the Adamawa, North and Far North of Cameroon and they were received by the various Regional Delegates of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife.
Minister Jules Doret Ndongo told reporters after the ceremony that “poaching is a phenomenon, illegal hunting which is forbidden by our laws and regulations. One of the mission’s of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife is to eradicate as much as possible poaching in our protected areas and with modern tools. You have poachers equipped with horses heavily armed and who are permanently in conflict with our ecogaurds. In order to win our missions, we signed an important Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Defence. Regularly with the National Control Brigade, we undertake seizure and the suspects are dragged to court to answer charges.”
He concluded that, “I want to congratulate my field collaborators for the work they are doing with limited resources at their disposal. I want to hope that these 150 motorcycles which are being given to the three Northern regions will permit our collaborators to increase their performance and their results in the fields. A motorcycle is a very important tool for our field collaborators in charge of fight against poaching. As you can imagine, they have to cover a very huge territory in the past without any material as a car. We are really grateful to the President of the Republic, H.E Paul Biya and the Prime Minister, Head of Government for the financial means put at our disposal.”
The ceremony was also attended by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Joseph Nyongwen.
In reaction after receiving 42 motorcycles for her region, the Adamawa Regional Delegate of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Njieukam Florence Amabo said she hopes that after receiving these motorcycles, it shall be the turn of vehicles.