Forestry Group to synergise with Edo Forestry Commission

The Executive Chairman of the Edo State Forestry Commission, Hon Valentine Owamagbe Asuen, on Thursday, in his office in Benin City, received the Forestry Stakeholders of Edo State (FOSES), on a courtesy visit.

The oalition declared its desire to collaborate with the commission, in its statutory mandate to protect and conserve forests and its related resources.

It also pledged support to the Commission to carry out its activities in the state.

FOSES was led on the visit by Mallam Alasa H. Ikhelowa, a notable environmentalist and development expert, as the group’s Chairman, and Comrade Tony Erha, a frontline environmental journalist and activist, and secretary of the coalition.

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Other members of the group, who were present at the meeting, included Prof Gideon U. Emenlue, a professor of Forestry and Wildlife, from the University of Benin and Mr Frederick Okoloise, a retired forester from the state’s Department of Forestry.

Mallam Ikhelowa, who was a Permanent Secretary in the state’s Environment ministry, stated that FOSES was desirous of collaborating in the areas of giving the needed forestry expertise, mobilisation of a wider range of stakeholders and to help in fundraising and entrenchnnent of local and international backings for the activities of the commission.

Whilst further referring to a text prepared for the visit, Ikhelowa suggested that the commission would need to revisit and expunge from the controversial Bill, which allegedly established the Commission, as a replacement for the 1968 Forestry Act, hinting further that there are portions of the Amended Bill that were anti-people and might hinder the smooth work of the commission

The group, among other things, also called for the establishment of a Forestry Trust Fund, immediate evaluation of existing forest reserves, reafforestation of forest reserves, revocation of vast forest land areas that were unduly ceded by past state governments, to single-crop plantation companies etc; effective protection by the state government for Benin Ogba Zoo and Nature Park (BENZOPA), state government support for Okomu National Park and establishment of additional protected forest areas for the state.

Hon Asuen expressed the optimism of working hand in hand with the group.

He said it was obviously made up of seasoned professionals and reliable men and women, who could help to achieve his commission’s laudable mandate, as being propelled by the state governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo.

While regarding the positions advanced by the group as worthwhile, and that his commission would look into them, as it also works with other stakeholders for the same effects, he urged FOSES to use its membership and the public to fastrack the good work of his commission, adding that its bid at “reforestation of Edo forests and carrying out tree planting exercises, also entails the re-orientation of the people, who the forests are primarily meant for.”

FOSES is a coalition of nature conservation groupings, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), conservationists, professional bodies, farmers, loggers, land users, youth groups and genders, who have been against land grabbing, undue deforestation and livelihood destruction, which had pitted them against the immediate-past government of the state.