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By Our Reporter
A High Court in Benin City has adjourned to October 26, 2026, proceedings in the enforcement suit filed by Everal Services Limited, franchisee of Ogba Zoological Garden and Nature Park, against the Edo State Government.
The adjournment followed the absence of counsel representing the state.
Speaking after the session, lead counsel to Everal Services, Kingsley O. Obamogie, SAN, said the company is seeking to enforce a 2016 arbitral award in favour of the Zoo Management.
On November 3, 2016, a sole arbitrator awarded ₦36.5 million in damages to the company for breach of its lease agreement and issued directives to protect the zoo.
Obamogie stated that the award ordered the Edo State Government to secure Ogba Zoological Garden from encroachment, including building a perimeter fence.
He alleged that successive administrations, especially the immediate past government, failed to implement the directives despite the ecological importance of the zoo as a heritage of the state.
The learned silk said both parties had explored an out-of-court settlement, which last five years but failed to achieve a settlement., thus forcing the company back to court to enforce the binding award.
Legal and environmental experts warn that Nigeria’s inability to enforce protected areas like Ogba Zoo could jeopardize access to climate grants from the Green Climate Fund and World Bank.
Activists also argue that continued encroachment violates the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and may constitute an environmental crime. Of the 53 square kilometers that make up the Ogba Forest Reserve, what is left is less than half a kilometer now within the zoo that is under massive encroachment.
