Heritage Bank partners group, Oyo State on afforestation

HERITAGE Bank Plc, has thrown its weight behind Globus Resources Limited, a subsidiary of Triton Group, to flag off the second phase of afforestation programme in Oyo state.

The bank as the first financier had earlier financed the first phase of the project and offered N2 billion long-term facility to enable Triton Aqua Africa Limited (TAAL) expand its aquaculture businesses- nursery/hatchery for the production of fingerlings and brood stock in Ikeja; and earthen ponds for catfish and tilapia in Asejire, Iwo and Gambari towns in Oyo.

Under the programme, Globus Resources is expected to plant about 350,000 seedlings of teak, Gmelina arborea and Cidrella trees yearly over a period of nine years in a bid to reforest about nine thousand hectares of land in Gambari village in Oyo state which had been exploited by tree fellers for timbers among others.

Speaking at the event, Ifie Sekibo, Managing Director/CEO of Heritage Bank commended the governor of the state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and the Triton Group for the initiative between the state and Globus Resources to reforest the area again.

He remarked that if every governor could put a little bit of backing into agriculture as a way of life, it would go a long way to better the lives of the people.

“We seemed to forget that our lives as Nigerians/Africans started with the land. If we  don’t take care of the land, the land will take care of us, the land does not need us, and we need the land to take care of us. Afforestation is one of the ways to take care of the land and we need to talk about carbon credit because we need to find a way to make money,” Sekibo stated.