‘Nigeria’s forest cover reduces at 3.5 percent yearly’

Nigeria’s forest cover is fast reducing at 3.5 per cent annually, the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed said weekend.
She said the 3.5 per cent rate of deforestation, which Nigeria records yearly, is unacceptable if the global standard must be achieved.
The minister, who disclosed this in Abuja at an emergency national stakeholders meeting on afforestation, said the action called for urgent attention.
She said the deplorable condition of forests was a matter of concern as states were witnessing unprecedented high rate of deforestation and forest degradation arising from intensive logging of timber for the export market and fuel wood extraction for domestic energy purposes.
“More than ever before, there is a torrential increase in the number of people entering the wood export business, this can be testified by the inflow of requests for letter of support and CITES permit for wood export in recent times, the sporadic littering of our highways with trucks carrying containers of wood from our forest,”the minister said.
She noted that other human activities also responsible for deforestation and forest degradation included bush burning, urban expansion and other aspects of land use which might be compatible with forest maintenance.
The forestry department sector, according to her,was also challenged by outdated policies and regulations, inadequate manpower and low capacity enforcement at various levels of government.