Buhari, conservationists decry illegal logging in Nigeria

CONTINUED illegal felling of logs for commercial purposes in Nigeria, is threatening timber, teek wood and similar species, without commensurate efforts to replenish them.

This situation has now resulted into felling of immature ones, thus posing serious danger to the future of forests in Nigeria.

The most pronounced area where these untoward activities are visible includes “J 4’ along Ijebu-Ode- Ore Road, boundary between Ogun and Ondo State respectively.

On the highway are scores of Timber-laden trucks, going to different locations, while teek species, which attract Chinese usually crated inside containers.

Conservationists however, are consistently warned on the danger inherent in what they considered as “none or partial regulation of Nigerian forests by the regulatory body.”

Speaking with Nigerian Tribune last week, Dr Elias Williams, a Conservationist in Lekki Phase 11, noted that the way things are going; time will come when timbers may not be available for local consumption.

“I am afraid to say that with the way logs are being fell in Nigeria, especially, in the South West of the country, time is coming that it would be difficult for us as a nation to get planks for our consumption.

“There is no gain saying that while people are felling these trees, there are no concerted efforts for their replenishment and that is why immature ones are being fell,” he said.

Chairman of Okobaba Plank Sellers’ Association, Ebutte Metta, Lagos State, Alhaji Ganiu Onikeku corroborated Williams’ view, especially, as government and other stake holders are just interested in the falling of the trees without effort at their replenishment.

According to Onikeku, matured timbers take between 30 to 40 years before they are due for use. “But these days, what we see in the market are immature logs and that is while the qualities of most of planks in the market are questionable.

Onikeku urged the authority to ensure that they put in place, measures that would not only protect the immature timbers, but also to put in place mechanisms that would eliminate illegal felling of timbers and teeks.

Underscoring the importance of protecting the Nigerian forests, President Muhammadu Buhari, recently at the flag-off ceremony of “Keep Kaduna Green Project,” Charged forestry department to stem the tide.

President Buhari, represented by the Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, pointed out that over 576 million trees are lost in the country annually due to deforestation, said that this situation has led the increased rate of desertification, flooding and drought in some parts of the country.

The President feared that with the growing deforestation in the country, effort of the federal government to achieve the forest cover and restore the environment by 25 per cent might be a tall dream.

According to environmental experts, Nigeria has one of the world’s highest rate of deforestation of primary forests, where more than 50 per cent of such forests have been lost in the past decades through unsustainable logging.

These practices, they said, contribute to the environmental challenges such as erosion, flooding, desertification among others.

Reacting to the issue, Director-General of National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Dr Lawrence Anukam says the agency will deal with companies, organizations or individuals that degrade the environment through their operations.

In Ekiti State, report had it that farmers in the state protested the indiscriminate harvest of timber wood, saying it’s inimical to economic revival.

Farmers in Ikole-Ekiti and its environs have expressed concern over the indiscriminate logging that is fast degrading forest and destroying their tree crops in the area.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the farmers said the illegal activities of some timber contractors, who cut down trees indiscriminately in the area, were becoming worrisome, urging the relevant authority, especially, the Forestry Department in the state to step up efforts to curb the menace to reduce the level of deforestation and save tree crops from total destruction.

A cocoa farmer, Mr Ezekiel Ojo, decried increase in the number of timber contractors, indulging in the felling of trees with impunity in the area.

Another concerned citizen, Victori Oyerinde in her comment titled: “Illegal Logging and Encroachment: Which Way, Nigeria,” argued that the greatest challenge to sustainable forest management (SFM) in Nigeria is the increasing rate of illegal logging

and encroachment, which he said is more rampant in the tropical rain forest ecosystem of Nigeria because of its richness in desirable tropical hardwood timber species and fertile land.

According to Oyerinde, government policies, institutional support in forest management and enlightenment have not succeeded in curbing these problems.

“This is a great concern to all stake holders and researchers in forestry. This situation has been presenting real challenges to professionals in forest management because it is now very difficult to determine the future of the tropical rainforest ecosystem in Nigeria,” she observed.

Observers would realise that the development of forest resources management in Nigeria could be divided into three phases, namely; the reservation phase between 1899 and 1930, the exploitation phase between 1930 and 1960 and the development phase from 1960 to date.

Forest reserves are portions of forest estate constituted by law and gazetted by the State or Local Government. Entrance and activities such as logging, hunting, farming and collection of minor forest products in these reserves are controlled by the government.

More than that, available records in the Federal Department of Forestry show that Nigeria has a total of 1,160 constituted forest reserves covering a land area of about 1075 square kilometres, while rural development, encroachment, illegal logging, massive conversion to agriculture and large scale afforestation projects are some of the problems responsible for the disappearance of this natural forest ecosystem.

Illegal logging and encroachment are the greatest threat to SFM today. The natural forest is now disappearing at an alarming rate of 3.5 per cent (about 350,000 – 400, 000 ha) per annum.

Illegal logging is the indiscriminate removal of logs from the forest without following the due process highlighted in government logging and harvesting policy.

“The illegally logged are usually converted into planks (flinches) at the site using a hand power-saw machine, while teeks are illegally exporting by Chinese, in collaboration with their local partners,” said a source at the Nigerian Export Promotion Council.

Observers noted that causes of illegal felling in southwest Nigeria are the discretionary power of governments to de-reserve forests, lack of coherent and consistent forest policy, excessive bureaucracy in harvest management, poorly defined property rights, non-transparent allocation of concessions and corrupt government officials in charge of log control.

More than that they are of the view that over-capacity utilisation in some timber industries, use of outdated management practices and inefficient log tracking system, with most Nigerians and timber touts with political god fathers.

Effects of Illegal logging, apart from causing economic sabotage to government, also expose the nation to an avoidable scarcity and low quality of planks.