Leave our forests reserve, Ondo govt tells illegal settlers

The Ondo State Government yesterday warned all illegal settlers in its forest reserves to quit immediately or face prosecution.

 Akin Olotu, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture, gave the warning in Akure during a parley with journalists.

 He said the government gave the forest reserve to farmers to farm and plant their cash crops and did not cede the lands to anyone.

 Olotu said, “I believe this administration is so kind to them (settlers) unlike what we have in the past. It is a punishable offence for anybody to enter the forest reserve and start building houses, creating camps, pulling down trees and others. It is five years imprisonment.

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“When this administration came in, we started the registration of farmers in the forest and the registration was never meant to confirm the ownership of them.

“And when we started it, most of them were not faithful and most of them were not from Ondo State and we now made it compulsory for them that you cannot be mining our resources here and take it elsewhere.”