By Usman Koli
It saddens one’s heart to see truckloads of timber and charcoal going out of Burra Forest in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi state almost every minute. These illegal businesses are increasing every day, the residents of the area are crying out loud as a result of the indiscriminate felling down of trees in Burra axis.
For quite a long time, there were several complaints about the issue of deforestation in Ningi, especially when almost all the bushes around Ningi were being disturbed by tree fellers.
Lame–Burra Game Reserve, where the action is being perpetrated, is one of the reserves in Nigeria and has an elevation of 640 metres. Latitude 10.5763° or 10° 34′ 34.5″ North Longitude 9.2713° or 9° 16′ 16.5″ east. It covers 2,351.92 km2. The forest borders two states of Kano and Plateau.
Since 2019 when the present administration of Governor Bala came to power, deforestation has been one of his concerns, he had once taken serious actions against anyone involved.
The government suspended a caretaker chairman in Ningi because of this among other charges. But it seems the government is still not aware that this ugly act is still ongoing across Ningi. The government has arrested and seized trucks loaded with charcoal that was heading to Kano from the Burra community.
This deforestation is putting the residents of Burra and Ningi in fear over the rainy season. We nearly witnessed climate change, a sandstorm that clouded us for hours. Everyone knows that trees release much-needed oxygen and cutting them down indiscriminately is equal to denying ourselves the precious life gift. Lack of trees cover will also result in the trapping of greenhouse gases which will adversely affect the ozone layer and could cause diseases like leukaemia and cancer.
About 40 per cent of trees in the area are destroyed by charcoal dealers. As it stands, the local government authority is doing nothing about it. The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, and flooding.
In the year 2020 the then local administration confiscated truckloads of charcoal worth millions of naira coming out from the Lame/Burra forest.
We are calling on the state government to please address this matter urgently and save our environment from all sorts of erosions and climate changes.
Koli, a student of Mass Communication Department, Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi.
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