Some few weeks ago, the Ogun State Government, through the office of the Secretary to the state government announced the suspension of all activity in the forest reserves across the state.
The suspension came as a shock to stakeholders in the sector, as no one expected such response from government, it was swift, it was decisive, as it was important to save the forest reserve from destruction.
The suspension was done as it was observed that trees were been felled, without regard for replanting, it was also observed that tree fellers had no regard for the environment, as they have turned to moving deep into the forests to kill elephants within the forest.
, hence, the suspension was necessary. The suspension by the state government
covers logging, timber exploitation, evacuation of logs and Forest Concession as well as activities in all Government and non-governmental open forest areas, it was done to look into all issues affecting the State Forest Reserves and advise Government on a comprehensive policy and process to ensure the sustainability of the programs being implemented in the sector.
Supporting the need for the suspension of forest activities in the state, the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun recently at a 2020 budget meeting held in Ijebu Ode, said that he ordered the immediate closure of the forests because people now seem to only go into the forests to fell trees and not replant, saying that their refusal to do so has caused green house effects to the environment.
According to him” I placed an embargo on tree felling because there has been an indiscriminate felling of trees, we cannot allow you to go to the forest and be felling all our trees, you can’t just be felling it like that, it is indiscipline, it is very wrong.
He further said that the indiscriminate felling of trees must stop, as government will be putting regulations in place to ensure that if trees are to be fell, more trees must be planted to make the forest better.
Abiodun at the town hall meeting also noted that it was a blatant lie that since government ordered the suspension of forest activities across the state, government had made it hard for people felling trees to live, saying that the suspension was a necessary one.
Another of the mistakes of tree merchants in forest reserves across the state, was their erroneous belief that everything in the forest belongs to them, these tree fellers go as far as planting in the forest, they have even gone as far as going deep to disturb the natural environment where elephants live, they go there, kill them, for what purpose?
In developed countries like the United States of America, Great Britain, just to mention a few, it is an offense to disturb the natural habitat or even go and kill them.
What these people are simply doing is using their overzealousness to reduce the population of elephants, the area J4 prides itself as one of the forest reserve areas in the country where elephants live safely, so, why create a new record?
Prince Abiodun affirmed that his government will only lift the embargo on forest activities in the state upon putting in place necessary regulations that will govern activities in the reserves.
Oluwafunso Obasan,
Ogun State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Abeokuta.