Ado Ekiti – Ekiti Government said it has raised a total of 228,000 seedlings as part of efforts to regenerate existing forest reserves and boost schools’ afforestation in the state.
The State Commissioner for Environment, Chief Bisi Kolawole, made this known in Ado Ekiti on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN).
He said it had become crucial for states to explore alternative sources of revenue in the face of the current global recession and the dwindling revenue from oil.
According to him, the present administration intends to utilise the heavily endowed forests that abound in the state to improve its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Kolawole noted that the state government would no longer allow indiscriminate felling of trees which he noted had in the past deprived the state of its much needed revenue.
The commissioner warned that any forest officer or guard caught colluding with timber contractors to commit illegalities would be made to face the wrath of the law along with his collaborators.
He condemned the unwholesome acts of those he called unscrupulous timber contractors that attack forest officers and guards, who were in the course of performing their official duties.
The commissioner urged the concerned government officials to always abide by the civil service rules while enforcing compliance with the state’s forestry laws to avoid the consequences.
He assured them of their safety while in the forest performing their legitimate duties.
According to him, whoever attacks any government official in the course of carrying out his lawful duties will henceforth be thoroughly dealt with according to the dictates of the law. (NAN)