FG Commences Verification of Commercial Charcoal Forests

BY GBOGBOWA GBOWA

The Federal Government has approved the verification of commercial forests of all charcoal exporters in Nigeria.

Public Relations Officer of the Charcoal Export Legality & Compliance Group of Independent Companies, Mr Adesola Idowu who disclosed above said the approval was communicated in a letter dated February 9, 2022, and issued by the Federal Department of Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment.

The letter titled: Re: ‘Verification of Status of Our Commercial Forests in Commencing Our 2022 Reforestation As Pledged’ will cover five states which include Oyo, Ogun, Kwara, Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT,) between February 22 and 28, 2022.

Idowu urged all charcoal exporters who wish to participate in the verification exercise to contact the legal representative of the Charcoal Export Legality & Compliance Group of Independent Companies, Florence Omolola Jones Idowu, for more information.

He explained that charcoal exporters have also presented their application for certification to the Federal Government pursuant to the National Environmental (Control of Charcoal Production and Export) Regulation 2014.

Earlier, the statement noted, the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria assigned minimum of 50,000 units of Eucalyptus seedlings for the Reforestation exercise for Charcoal Exporters who have a goal to plant 100,000 seedling in 2022 alone; in furtherance of their information and action Memo presented to and approved by the 15th National Council on Environment which was registered on page 66 of the Report of the Council.