NAN-AE-11
Trees
Damaturu, Feb. 2, 2017 (NAN) The Yobe Government on Thursday said it had engaged forest guards to check increasing cases of illegal felling of trees, currently causing environmental havoc in the state.
Alhaji Jibrin Kotormi, the state Commissioner for Environment, made the disclosure in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu.
NAN reports that of an estimated 1500 km of land affected by desert encroachment in 11 frontline states in Nigeria, Yobe accounts for 323 km.
The commissioner said some other measures had also been taken to safeguard the environment.
“We have made arrests and confiscated firewood and working tools from poachers; we are prepared to charge offenders to court,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, NAN reports that the demand for firewood and charcoal has increased in Damaturu metropolis, following the acute scarcity of kerosene.
NAN gathered that most households have resorted to using firewood and charcoal as source of energy for cooking.
Audu Mai-Itace, a firewood vendor in Damaturu, told NAN that, “there is drop in supply because of over dependence on the available firewood.
“Firewood vendors from Borno also depend on supply from Yobe because of the security challenges in their state which does not allow poachers to go into the bush.
“So, there is over-dependence on the available firewood, just as the ban by government created additional scarcity,’’ Mai-Itace said.
NAN reports that a cart load of firewood that was sold for N1,200, now sells between N1,800 and N2,000, while few pieces that were sold for N200, now sell for N500.
Buba Hamawa, a cattle grazer in Babangida, also decried activities of firewood poachers on the grazing reserves in the state.
He said that wood poachers within the state and other neighbouring states wer causing havoc on the environment. (NAN)
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(Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed)
Phone no. 08024147945
email: maimadu2@gmail.com