…as experts review Forest Plantation Strategy
By Isaac Aimurie and Godspower Eguasa
The Edo State Government has commenced the screening of one hundred and fifty (150) persons for training as forest police officers that would check insecurity and protect resources in forests across the State.
This was disclosed by the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, during the Forest Plantation Strategy Workshop held in Government House, Benin City, the State capital.
According to the Governor, the security outfit is his administration’s response to the issue of insecurity in the State’s forests.
“Forest security has been a major issue of concern to our administration and to address this, the first 150 persons are being screened for training as forest police. By the end of the year, we will have the forest police cadre for them,” Obaseki said.
He emphasized that deforestation has long-term social, economic and environmental implications for the state as “we are not only putting ourselves at risk but the future generations.”
He told experts from Proforest, the Edo State Oil Palm Project (ESOPP) and other players in the industry that “The workshop is a continuation of the journey we started some months ago and I recall about this time last year or thereabout, there were protests calling on me to open the bush because we had to take very drastic measures to shut down our forests because of the level of abuse and deforestation that was going on.
“Though some of that still continues, we have put in measures to pull back on the level of deforestation we have been witnessing in the last several years.
“In the beginning, we raised the alarm that we just cannot continue this way, that if we do not do anything about the level of deforestation, we are not only putting our generation at risk, we are putting future generations who will live here at risk, and you can see the effect today.”
He further said that one of the biggest challenges the State faces is that “roads don’t last anymore because the natural system that used to absorb water has been upset.
“You could see gullies everywhere, people have been screaming that we should come in and help fix their gullies, but it is difficult for us as a government, because how do we explain to the children unborn that we borrowed large amounts of money to fill up gullies and because we had been irresponsible about the way we managed our environment?
“This workshop is to help us now that we have created a forestry commission and we are putting institutions in place to help us reorganize our forestry system. We have to see this workshop as one of the measures we have put in place to help us brainstorm and further deepen our forestry sustainability through the establishment of successful plantations in the State.”
He continued: “The whole world is talking about the environment today and about the reduction of emissions. I want everyone who is present in this workshop to know that our State, Edo, is one of those few States in this country that are so richly endowed and blessed with different types of vegetation.
“Here is one State in which you have swamps, you have rain forest and you have savannah that can sustain one form of crop or another. We are blessed with a very wide diversity of vegetation that is accessible.
“Part of what we are enjoying today are the trees that were planted forty, fifty years ago. If we are not planting today, what will the next generation harvest, we are not saying don’t eat, but what about the children that are coming, will they starve?
“Our gathering here today is to focus on how we can meaningfully begin to work on renewing our forest resources because as you know, up to recently, the majority of our people used to live and get their livelihoods from the forest. For those who are old enough, there are some soups that we can no longer make because the trees we were getting the ingredients from no longer exist.
“There are people, communities who live off plantation or forestry assets but when there is no forest anymore, what do they do, they all migrate to urban areas and compound the problems that we have in the urban centres.
“But the good thing is that if we start deliberately today to begin to replant, and we do it conscientiously, in another 20-30 years, all of that vegetation would have come back.”
Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq., said that the efforts the State Government is making today is what ought to have been done thirty years ago.
“We have been de-reserving our forests for friends and families,” he lamented and urged participants in the workshop to sustain their support for the Obaseki-led administration, assuring that all the projects initiated by the administration will be completed.
Earlier, the commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Jonathan Lawani, said “In view of the current status of our forests, this workshop is not only apt but also relevant to the current effort by the State Government to revamp the forestry sector.”
He added: “The Edo State Government has keen interest in forest plantation as one of the ways of offsetting the impact of unsustainable exploitation and reducing the pressure on our natural resources.
“Apart from the economic value of trees in our forest, you all will agree with me that the trees we have in our forests also help us to have a good life. The whole world is grappling with the effects of climate change and everybody is racing to fight these effects and all these efforts are to reduce the carbon dioxide in our environment so that we can have a breath of fresh air.
“We must think about the present and the future as well and that is why this workshop is a very important one and we are happy to have a Governor that is concerned about this important sector.”
