In a bid to maintain sanity in the forest reserves, the state government has warned baales in its reserves to desist from conniving with unscrupulous elements to perpetrate illegal acts.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Forestry, Adekunle Oyesanwen, issued the warning while addressing baales, contractors, and farmers during his familiarisation visits to Government Reserves at J3, J4, and J6 in the Ogun East Local Government Area of the state.
Oyesanwen stated that failure to abide by the rules and regulations guiding their operations in the reserves might lead to their removal from the enclaves and subsequent dethronement.
He revealed that the Ministry would soon collaborate with the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to publish an authentic list of all baales in the forest reserves.
His words: “Very soon, both the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs will come out with a list of all baales in the reserves.
“This would be done in a bid to identify those who are truly qualified to be in the reserves and to expose impostors,”;; he said.
The Permanent Secretary admonished team leaders and officers at the outstations to consistently provide intelligent reports on the activities of forest dwellers and ensure that stakeholders in the forest plant trees and nurture them to maturity.
He emphasised the importance of tree planting for both environmental sustainability and human health, noting that incidents of wind, erosion, and other natural disasters are usually minimised while carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by trees and oxygen released for human use.
Other places visited by the Permanent Secretary and top management staff of the Ministry included Smart Wood, Omo Wood Processing Factories, and the Forestry Plantations Project, all in the Ogun East Local Government Area.
