Some of the seized woods and chain saws confiscated from
illegal loggers in Calabar, today
Cross
River State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade, has called on the Federal Government
and the international community to support the anti-deforestation efforts of
the State Government to preserve and manage its rich forest resource rather
than work against the construction of the superhighway by his administration.
Ayade
who made the call while inspecting over 22 trucks load of timber impounded by the
anti-deforestation Task-force of the State, also called on both the local and
international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Federal Ministry of
Environment and other stakeholders to show their true love for the State by
focusing on how the anti-deforestation Task-force can be adequately funded to
checkmate the obnoxious activities of illegal loggers.
According
to the Governor, “The anti-deforestation Task-Force needs money for advocacy,
they need money for intelligence, they need money to be at the forests, they
need to arrest these illegal loggers, they need to drive all the night and
through the forest, they need fuel, and all forms of logistics to sustain the Task-force. Cross River is doing this at a huge burden.”
Governor
Ayade explained that “it was based on this reality that the State made a choice
to construct the superhighway to help expand opportunities, harness all the
solid mineral deposits throughout the State, using the superhighway to the deep
seaport at Bakassi,” stating that “the superhighway will help us expand our
opportunities of harvesting all our solid mineral deposits through to the deep
seaport.”
Reacting
to what he described as cheap blackmail and bad politics being orchestrated by
some Cross Riverians and fueled by some international NGOs as well as some
persons who hitherto benefited from illegal exploitation of the forests, Ayade
stated: “You cannot claim to love Cross River more than us, you cannot afford
to care much more for our forests more than we do, hence the need to stop
playing this cheap politics.”
Continuing
he said: “In fact, all those who have been arrested so far for destroying our
forests and taking away timbers are all non-Cross Riverians. This is to tell
you the level of advocacy. And this is coming from people outside the state,
doing what they are doing. So, as a Federal Government that really thinks that
the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the key issue, it must realize
that besides the superhighway, the amount of forests depletion and loss is
massive and on a criminal scale.”
Governor
Ayade further noted that “even if Cross River did not have the
anti-deforestation Task-force, the State’s forests will be wiped out, whether
there is a superhighway or not. So let us stop playing politics, there is no
way in the world that development would be suppressed purely because of
environmental consideration. You only institute remedial programs to mitigate
the impact of your development which is the essence of the EIA which is a tool
to addressing environmental degradation that comes with development.”
Earlier,
the Chairman of the Task-force, Air Vice Marshall M. Osim (Rtd), said the Task-force was working in accordance with the mandate given by Governor Ayade to
sanitize the abuse of the rich forests heritage of the state.
AVM
Osim stated that the “intent and purpose of the Task-force was different from
the old ways where the Task-force became a victim by involving in impounding
woods from illegal loggers and selling them. Now, we have a credible and focused
team that is determined and committed to bringing sanity to the system.”
Osim
disclosed that 38 illegal loggers, mostly non-Cross Riverians, were recently
arrested, with 235 chain saws and 28 pumping machines seized from the
criminals.
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