Crisis is brewing in Plateau State with the Pan community in Qua’an Pan Local Government protesting what it calls the state government’s ceding of the Pandam Game Reserve to a Chinese company for it to harvest timber. The bone of contention is the planned deforestation of the 41 year old Pandam Game Reserve located in Qua’an Pan LGA. It was established by the defunct Benue Plateau State government in 1972 but commenced operation in 1975. The reserve is famed for hosting many rare species of wildlife such as the pigmy hippopotamus.
The host community has accused the Governor Simon Lalong administration of planning to demolish parts of the reserve, with adverse consequences for the environment and the animals that live in it. People from the Pan/Koffiar axis have vowed through their spokesman, Albert Kobep, that they will “stiffly resist” the state government’s deforestation moves. Apart from the deforestation issue, the Pan people say that the state government has failed to resolve outstanding issues on compensation for land which was taken over at the time the reserve was created. They say the Chinese company has already commenced logging operations in the reserve’s Bwall segment, against the wishes of the host community.
Plateau State government on the other hand says is that its plan is simply to regulate logging operations in the forest. Director of Press and Publicity to the Governor Mr. Emmanuel Nanle has dismissed the community’s protest as baseless, saying illegal logging operations have been going on in the reserve with the full knowledge of the host community. It is difficult from afar to determine who, between the state government and the host community, is telling the truth. Whatever the truth is-and it is likely to lie in-between the two competing claims— the important thing at this time is that the reserve should be protected at all costs.
Game reserves are created for the conservation of the natural habitat. Not only do they beautify the environment and promote the health of communities by supplying vital oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide but they also provide the habitat for plant and animal species to flourish. That the founding fathers of the old Benue Plateau State had the foresight to create this game reserve more than 40 years ago is a testimony to their vision, patriotism and selflessness. Since then the state has been split two times and has passed through the hands of numerous military and civilian administrations but each one of them did what it could to maintain this reserve.
Since the early 1970s, this country’s environment has deteriorated sharply. Whole forests have been lost and the desert has inexorably marched southwards. Plateau State may look lush today but it is shortsightedness on a historic scale to assume that it will continue to be so into the future if leaders do not carefully tend to its environment. If the Plateau State government has given a license to a Chinese or any other firm to commence logging operations in this reserve, it should revoke that license immediately. Its duty at this time is to expand the game reserve and enhance its riches, not degrade it.
If the state government is “regulating” logging activities in the reserve, it should go beyond that and stop these activities. On the other hand, if there is truth to the government’s charge that the host community has been doing illegal logging activities in the reserve, it should stop it forthwith or it should be stopped from doing so. Both government and community should instead cooperate with private partners to develop this reserve into a major tourist attraction. Nature lovers from all over the world could come to visit the reserve. That is much better than logging and selling irreplaceable logs of wood.
