Need we say more about why coordinated policies towards charcoal production, consumption, and exports are necessary in sub-Saharan Africa and the international community? — TCP
via AllAfrica.com news service.
Conversion: 1 billion Nigerian Naira is about USD 6,156,880
Nigeria’s Federal Government Loses N1 Billion to Illegal Charcoal, Wood Export
by Alex Abutu / 8 December, 2011
Nigeria has lost over N1 billion to illegal export of charcoal and logs from states in the South West and North Central to the Middle East and Europe in the last four years.
An investigation by Daily Trust revealed that charcoal and wood export were the major factors responsible for the massive deforestation in the country.
The illegal export is booming despite the existence of federal laws that prohibits the export of logs from Nigeria.
Due to the unabated nature of the business, the National Council on Environment which held in September in Kaduna took the decision to place an outright ban on charcoal export but that decision had not impacted on the trade which is responsible for indiscriminate felling of trees.
Documents from the federal ministry of environment showed that Nigeria’s total forest coverage which was 10 per cent at the end of the British colonial rule in 1960 had reduced drastically to about 6 per cent by 2010.
Internationally, the United Nations through the Food and Agriculture Organisation said that having 10 per cent was not good enough for any country, thereby setting 25 percent as the minimum acceptable forest coverage for any country.
Ghana currently has 32 percent forest coverage and Liberia has over 60 percent coverage.
In Nigeria according to the document, activities targeted at reducing the forest coverage had continued at an alarming rate while most of the coverage areas have been converted to other land uses.
Daily Trust check found that no state in the federation has updated inventory information about its forest cover or stock as there have left issues of forest management entirely to the federal government.
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