At 3.5 per cent annually, the rate of deforestation in Nigeria is the highest in Africa, according to John Mshelbwala, an assistant director in the Forestry Department, Federal Ministry of Environment.
Mr. Mshelbwala, who disclosed this in Abuja, said that the country had less than 15 per cent forest cover instead of 25 per cent, showing a deficit of 10 per cent.
“We are supposed to have 25 percent of the land mass of the country covered by forest, but we have just less then 15 percent; we are in deficit of 10 percent. How are we going to cover up the deficit, when over population is rising and the demand for land is increasing every day; where do we get land to allocate for afforestation to address the deficit?” He stressed the need for the government to enforce the relevant laws to control the rate of deforestation.
He called on state governments to desist from seeing forests as a source of revenue generation by granting licences to wood contractors.
The assistant director also urged estate developers to take into account the role trees played in the sustainability of the environment.
He also charged farmers to be cautious in their agricultural practice to avoid over depleting the forest land, stressing that there was no better alternative to deforestation than planting trees to replace those cut down.