Leon Usigbe, Abuja
The Federal Government has blamed the ongoing deforestation in the country on powerful interests in states who frustrate efforts to stop the felling of trees for charcoal.
This is coming as the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is pursuing its target to plant 25 million trees by the year 2030 under its afforestation policy.
Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, made the declaration while appearing on the 69th edition of the Inter-Ministerial Media Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
He revealed that each time the federal government tried to move against the menace to save the environment, there was a pushback at the sub-national level on the ground that the trees belong to the states.
Fielding questions on the felling of trees for charcoal, he said: “No other administration has tackled this issue like the Buhari administration. The challenge we are facing under deforestation and charcoal is engaging the Nigerian Governors Forum because of the Land Use Act.
“The federal government is just a policy provider and doesn’t have that control over state government land to work out a modality which the Kaduna State government has keyed in properly.
“It has invested some hectares of land to plant and we are working with the local governments. So, we are projecting other states will follow suit.
“What we further did to have some level of control, apart from timber legal standards, we have what we call DFTA, which is essential to track in areas where there is so much pressure on our forests.
“After tracking it, raise red flags and then engage those communities and the state governments so that a solution can be brought and have a level of arrest of the continuous challenge to our forest.
“What we did not tell you, is that the activities of the people in the charcoal business with all due respect are being supported by a number of powerful people in the sub-national level. And if we try to do some level of enforcement, they will tell you, we own this territory, you are the federal government and you cannot enforce your rule and policy on us.
“So, that is part of the challenge in terms of controlling these activities. But in spite of this, the task force is still there, going after some of them on an ad-hoc basis, trying to find out who and who is involved, who licensed who. We are doing our best to curb the situation.”
The Minister said in keeping with the promise of President Buhari to plant 25 million trees by the year 2030, the Ministry has already coordinated the planting of about five million trees in the country.
He noted that it has also restored and cultivated 161 hectares of land within and around the Support Zone Communities of the National Parks across the country.
On climate change, he said that the phenomenon has become a major threat to sustainable development in Nigeria, saying: “The country’s response to tackling climate change challenges has become a multijurisdictional, multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary, and multi-resource initiative.
“As a country, we are vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change and the response measures.
“The impacts of climate change in the Country is evidenced in the reduction in crop yield, decreased fresh water availability, disruption of economic activities: petroleum resources, fisheries, destruction of infrastructure.
“Other major concerns include major flooding and Increased Storms in the Niger Delta, Flooding Across the Country, Increased Aridity in the North, Water Shortage in the North- Drying up of Lake Chad and Climate-induced security challenges.
He affirmed that Nigeria also signed up to the Commonwealth Land Charter aimed at addressing land degradation, saying “Government has signed a 700 million dollar agreement in the 19 Northern States to ensure land remediation, oasis recovery, through the Agro Climatic Resilience for Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project etc.
“Also signed the Effectiveness Agreement with the EIB for 175 million Euros for land recovery, erosion control and watershed management in 23 states namely: Cross River, Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Gombe, Borno, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna.”
He stated that the Ministry implemented the integrated Dryland Afforestation based on a multi-pronged approach in 55 communities including raising of assorted trees, establishment of various models of forestry, and promotion of Farmers Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) techniques for the purposes of increasing the forest cover of the country.
On the Governor of Anambra, Charles Soludo’s claim that the state is the erosion capital of the country and what the government was doing to arrest the situation, Abdulahi said: “On Anambra being the erosion capital of Nigeria, again some of these things boils down to the nature of our federal structure.
