Two environmental protection advocacy groups in Cross River State, Rainforests Resources and Development Centre, and We the People Centre for Social Studies and Development, have announced plans to sue the state government for failing to stop the alleged massive illegal logging going on in the state’s forests.
The Executive Director of the RRDC, Odey Oyama and Ken Henshaw of ‘We the People’ disclosed this on Monday in Calabar while presenting a report on the unprecedented illegal logging activities going on in the state.
According to Oyama, in the guise of ‘salvage logging,’ companies that came to do agro-allied business in the state have resorted to illegal logging, thereby depleting the state’s forest resources and causing the state to lose billions of naira, while the government looks the other way.
“Research findings show unregulated timber extraction activities by at least 21 Salvage Logging Companies and 55 private plantations being carried out in the pristine tropical rainforests estates of Cross River state.”
He said the ban on logging exacerbated illegal logging, adding that “In recent times, the illicit timber trade has become even more sinister, with the emergence of well-armed and connected cartels with links to foreign nationals of Chinese extraction, rampaging the forests for two specific types of exotic species – Apa and Bubinga– believed to be of great value in China.
Oyama listed facilitators of deforestation to include forest guards, chainsaw operators, ‘crossers’ (local agents who aide external/foreign timber merchants), timber merchants, transporters, and law enforcement operatives, along with allegedly Anti-Deforestation Taskforce.
He said transportation of illegally logged wood “requires the regular bribing of law enforcement officials,” adding that illegal logging had become a more routine and open business.
He suggested a strengthened joint taskforce and combined teams of the Department of State Service, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission as part of measures to curb illegal logging in the state.
The boss of ‘We the People’, Henshaw, warned that there could be armed insurrection if the government failed to address the issue and return the forests to the local communities who rightly owned the forests.
“Forest is the biggest resource of the state. Massive deforestation is happening in the state. Over 100 trucks of illegally logged wood leave the state daily. We are taking the government to court. That decision would be taken during the Earth Summit in October,” he said.