Dissatisfied with the unchecked exploitation of forest resources and in some cases, the wanton destruction of forests in Edo State, the Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has organized a forestry stakeholders’ workshop in Benin City, the state capital to sensitize loggers, security personnel and other stakeholders on the need to protect Edo’s forests.
Welcoming guests to the workshop on Tuesday February 22, 2022, Obaseki said: “I want to acknowledge the presence of security chiefs, the commissioner of environment and sustainability, the chairman, Edo State forestry commission and distinguished stakeholders.
“My duty here is to come and reiterate what we have told you at the beginning of our second term. My position is very simple; before we were all born we had our forests.”
The Governor declared: “We met the forests and we will live the forest. It is wrong for us to consume all the forest resources in our own lifetime. If the people before us had consumed these forest resources, and treated the forests the way we are treating it today, none of us would have been here today because we will not have a safe place.”
The workshop was a follow-up to the closure of the forest by the Governor in 2021, an action the Commissioner for Communication and Orientation said was taken to check the illegal activities of loggers in the state.
The governor told stakeholders at the workshop that “The world has now realized that we can no longer treat our environment the way we are doing today. It was never like this. I do not know where the lawlessness started; a situation where people just go into the forests, cut off the trees, bribe who they want to bribe and make their money and move on; and leave the problem for their children.
“So as a government, we are not against anybody. We are only saying that the God that has given us the opportunity to govern Edo did not make a mistake.
“There comes a time in the history of the people that we should draw the line, saying this one we will not do again, this is where we will now go. All of you voted for me to take Edo forward, is that not so; all of you. So why will I do something against you? Whatever we are doing now is for your own good and for the good of your children.
“Some of you have businesses you will handover to your children. But if we destroy the forest the way we are doing, what will the children inherit.
“So that is why we said let us step back, let us begin to do the right thing. And what we are doing now is not new; this is how it was done before.
“Many of our parents went to school on scholarships from timber. We have to be responsible for the way we treat the forest. We have resolved to govern this business properly.”
On the need for a new law and specialized commission for the business the Governor said: “Forestry is specialized. We are not mixing it with anything again. It’s not going to be under any ministry.
“It will be a commission of its own. Only foresters will be at liberty to deal with the issue of forestry, so that when we talk, we will understand each other. Secondly, we must upgrade the law. We can’t be operating in 2022 with the laws of the 1930s. Can it work? We must take ourselves seriously.
He assured that his administration will attract the needed investment to the sub-sector so that it can flourish and serve future generations.
Representatives of saw millers and timber lorry owners at the workshop pledged to support government policies for the sector.
