Forest
By Chidinma Agu
Lagos, March 16, 2018 (NAN) Dr Odigha Odigha, the Coordinator of Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), says the coalition will sustain its advocacy on protection of Cross River forest in 2018.
Odigha, who said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday, said that the NGOs had resolved to step up advocacy against destruction of the forest.
“This is what the NGOs have resolved to do this year and the campaign has started since January.
“Defending the Cross River forest from being destroyed is our priority because of its enormous benefits.
“To sustain the tempo, we have started training people, especially youths, on different projects that will discourage them from relying on the forest resources for their livelihood,” he said.
Odigha said that the coalition had received support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for its efforts to preserve the forest.
He said that part of the advocacy involved mobilising the stakeholders to refrain from executing projects that would encroach on the forest areas.
According to him, the advocacy involves enlightening political leaders at the state and federal levels on the need to preserve the forest.
Odigha said that the destruction of the forest for any reason whatsoever would be out of sheer ignorance, adding that the communities ought to know why the forest should be preserved.
“The global community will be quite eager to know what becomes of the last forest standing in Nigeria,’’ he said.
He stressed that it was, therefore, in the best interest of Nigeria to safeguard the Cross River forest from being tampered with in anyway. (NAN)
ACA/AOM/OOK
===========
Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed and Dayo Komolafe