President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday signed the ‎Endangered Species Control of International Trade and Traffic Amendment Bill 2016.

 
Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang later told State House reporters that the Act was to discourage trafficking in endangered species.

Enang, who said the Act would encourage the culture of the preservation of endangered species, added that with the assent, Buhari had increased the penalties for violations of the Act's provisions in line with the current realities.

"The intent of this amendment is to bring the penalty provisions in line with economic realities and to serve as a deterrent to people trafficking in endangered species because endangered species are the preserves of the country".

Our correspondent reports that the assent brought to 17, the bills signed by the president in 2016.

Senate President Bukola Saraki, who also addressed journalists yesterday, said the signing of the bills "shows in part. what we've been able to do in the National Assembly and there are many more bills to come and the president is also responding to it.

"You're going to see more of that in 2017. There are a lot of bills lined up. For us in the Senate, for example, in the last session, just this last three months, we did much more than what we did in the entire year. The National Assembly is settling down and as such, you'll see more bills passed for the president to sign."