The Ogun State Government has said it has intensified efforts to evict illegal settlers from the nine forest reserves across the state.
The Commissioner for Forestry, Taiwo Oludotun, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Friday.
According to Oludotun, the government had carried out several enforcement operations to ensure that illegal occupants vacate the forest reserves after being served quit notices.
Oludotun identified some of the illegal settlers as non-indigenes from Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Benue and northern states.
He said, “We have made some enforcement to make sure we chase them out of the forest, but we have discovered that some of them still stay. They have become a menace to us, and this is not allowed within our forest reserves because they end up destroying our forests.
“The forest reserve is not a habitation for people to live. It is a forest, not a farm settlement or a residential area. Anybody living in the forest obviously has an ulterior motive. That is why we don’t really want them there.”
The commissioner said their continued presence posed a threat to the state government and the forest reserves.
“They are posing threats to our forest estate and the state government. More so, these are people we don’t know. We don’t know their antecedents or the kind of work they do. How will a normal human being live in the forest? Then you should know either that person is a fugitive or has an ulterior motive because I don’t see why a sane person will live in a forest.
“We discovered that most of these settlers are even indigenes of our state. Most of them are from Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Benue and the northern states. This is not allowed. We are doing everything within the state government’s power, legally, to chase them out, and we will continue to do that until they leave the forest,” he said.
The nine gazetted forest reserves are Omo, Olokemeji, Ilaro/Ipake, Ohumbe/Oja-Odan, Aworo, Eggua, Edun Stream, Arakanga and Imeko.
The commissioner added that the state government had intensified patrols and surveillance within the forest reserves by engaging the services of the Amotekun Corps.
According to him, the move is aimed at complementing the efforts of the forest guards.
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