A joint task force comprising security agencies and forest conservation experts has been constituted in Cross River State, south-south Nigeria.
This will help to curb the excesses of illegal loggers and conserve the remaining mangrove and rain forests.
The Director General of the Cross River Afforestation Commission, Mr. Austin Anoh made this. Known while speaking with Voice of Nigeria in Calabar, the state capital.
Anoh noted that Cross River, which is one of the 25 biodiversity hotspot in the world and also home to Nigeria and Africa’s largest rain forest, decried the alarming rate of depletion of the rain and mangrove forests.
According to him, “the governor, Professor Ben Ayade and indeed experts as well as other stakeholders in forest conservation are very unhappy with the level of illegal logging happening despite the ban.
“Before now there was an Afforestation agency and there was Anti-Deforestation. The Anti-Deforestation was to ensure that illegal loggers are arrested. We discovered that they had compromised with the timber dealer. That task force could not give account of those arrested or trucks confiscated.
“We noticed that people were depleting and stealing wood from our forest through Akamkpa, Boki, Ikom and other communities. That was why the governor disbanded that committee and chose to set up a new joint task force comprising security personnel to check illegal activities in our forest.
“As a Commission in partnership with sister agencies, we have made it public that any individual or group of persons caught would be made to face the weight of the law. Although, it is not the duty of the Afforestation Commission to arrest anyone, but we have no choice than to protect our forest reserves,” Anoh stated.
Forest Guard
The Director General said that the new task force otherwise known as the Forest Guard Committee has been mandated to safeguard the forest against activities of illegal loggers.
“Our commission has come out in full force to protect the forest. By the end of this week, the Forest Guard committee in company of a joint security task force would be heading into the field to begin our work. We will be going to eastern Boki, where we have the largest forest reserve and where we have observed these activities.
“I can assure you and stakeholders concerned that whoever is caught in the act or thereafter would be arrested and made to face the wrath of the law. Within two weeks I can assure you that we will have some people in custody, I guarantee you all,” he asserted.
Legal Action
Meanwhile, a coalition of Civil Society Organisations including ‘Rainforest Resources and Development Center’, ‘We The People’ and ‘Citizens’ Solution Network’ have decried the alarming rate of forest depletion in Cross River State.
The coalition noted that more than 17.64 percent of its rainforest are faced with some factors such as illegal logging, agriculture, urbanisation and uncontrolled bush fires amongst others.
The Chief Executive of Rainforest Resources and Development Centre, Dr. Odey Oyama in a report stated, “the forest has come under severe attacks by several actors including the state government, plantations, companies and illegal loggers.”
The coalition threatened to resort to legal action against the government for failing to safeguard the forest, noting “the act of forest depletion is a criminal offence”; it destroys the natural ecosystem and habitats of useful organisms and rare fauna and flora.
Confidence Okwuchi
