Name forest intruders or forfeit agreement, Ogun dares timber contractors

The Ogun State Government has given all Ijebu timber contractors a seven-day ultimatum to provide those who cut trees in the Queen’s and Buffer zones, Area J1, basically reserved for elephants inside the forest reserve.

The commissioner for forestry, Tunji Akinosi, an engineer, said this while addressing contractors at Oke-Mosan.

Daily Trust on Sunday recalls that there was outrage recently when saw millers, explorers and timber contractors stormed Abeokuta in protest against the alleged release of a notorious logger, AdetutuAjayi, by the state police command.

The protesters were drawn from different groups, which include Ogun State chapters of the  Forestry Association of Nigeria, Sawmillers Association of Nigeria, Timber Explorers Association of Nigeria and Timber Contractors Association of Nigeria.

The aggrieved saw-millers plying their trades in Ijebu land expressed concern over illegal logging at the Omo Forest Reserves in Ogbere, Ijebu-East Local Government Area. They accused the state government and the police of complicity.

But the commissioner issued a seven-day ultimatum for them to name those aiding and abetting illegal activities in the forests. He declared that failure to identify them within the stipulated period would lead to forfeiture of their agreements.

Akinosi lamented that despite regular monitoring by forest officers, as  well as media sensitisation in all the dialects in the state, the illegal loggers still perpetrated the act in areas demarcated for elephants, saying the violation would be taken with iron hand.

“We ensure that our monitoring is regular and announcements are made daily on radio and television to keep people out of the areas allocated to elephants in the forests. But the orders are still defied with impunity, and we will not take it lightly,” he said.