Professor Edem A. Eniang 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 coursof his lifelong pursuits of endangered species conservation research in Nigeria, Prof. Eniang has rediscovered the Preuss’s Red Colobus Monkey (Procolobus badius preussi) in 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 honour 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. Between 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.
He has to his credits 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 responsibilities within and outside the University community. He is currently the Head of Wildlife Ecology Unit in the Dept. of Forestry and Wildlife, University of Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State. He has mentored several national and international programmes of which the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sponsored Environmental/Conservation NGOs working in Nigeria is one.
Professor Edem A. Eniang is a member to many international organizations which include Society for Conservation Biology, USA (African Section), Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society, Addis Ababa and three (3) different commissions of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), namely, World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and Species Specialists Commission (SSC) where he represents Nigeria in the Boas and Pythons Specialist Group (B&PSG), Primates Specialists Group (PSG), Crocodilian Specialists Group
(CSG), to mention but a few.
Professor Edem A. Eniang belongs to many local and international professional bodiesexamples of which are the Forestry Association of Nigeria (FAN) Uyo Chapter Akwa Ibom State, Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB) United Kingdom, American Society for
Primatologists, International Primatological Society and African Primatological Society and has been consultant to many organization including Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) in states and Federal Governments of Nigeria.
He is the Thematic Leader in charge of promoting and supporting effective and equitable governance of natural resources and deploying natural based solutions to address societal challenges under the IUCN /WCPA programme. He is also a member Nigerian National Coordination Group (NCG) of Key Biodiversity Areas in Nigeria ; he is a fellow and the Business Manager of Wildlife Society of Nigeria (WISON) as well as the elected officer in charge of Academia and Research in the nascent Coalition of Biodiversity Conservationists of Nigeria (CNBC).
Prof Edem A. Eniang’s passion for wildlife and environmental conservation has led him to convert his private residence to a Wildlife Conservation Education Center in Uyo, the first of such facility in Akwa Ibom State where the general public are given conservation awareness in favour of our threatened wildlife species and habitats. His extra-curricular activities include Wildlife Photography, Conservation / Environmental Education and International Conservation
EDEM ENIANG'S iMAGE GALLERY
