Ogun State government has warned stakeholders in timber trade in the state to desist from habits that will lead to sabotaging forest reserves in areas J1, J3, J4 and J6 of the state respectively. They have been advised to remit all payments into government coffers.
Commissioner for Forestry, Chief Kolawole Lawal, gave the warning recently during an interactive session with stakeholders, which include cocoa farmers and timber merchants in the state. He tasked them on the need to acquaint themselves with government policies and comply with the terms of engagement. Lawal stated that the policy of the state government was not to witch-hunt anybody but to ensure that things were done in accordance with lay down rules and regulations of the ministry.
He said: “As part of efforts put in place to identify legal operators, farmers are to obtain and submit farmer’s agreement forms and collect their identity card at the ministry in order to ease their identification in the forest reserves.”
The commissioner warned farmers to desist from planting cash crops in the reserves especially planting of new cocoa trees as government would not hesitate to punish any farmer contravening the new agreement.
Plank sellers in the state were also warned by the commissioner to desist from buying illegal flitches from farmers, saying it had been banned in the state plank plant. “Anyone found with flitches (alamole) would be made to face the full wrath of the law. Government will no more condone any illegality in forest reserves in the state,” he said.
Responding, the Chairman of Baales in Atun Adugbose village, Chief Ogunde Idowu, said farmers had been protecting the economic trees and prevented operators from planting new cocoa trees in the forest reserves
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