The Federal Government has approved the verification of commercial forests of all charcoal exporters in Nigeria.
This was made known on Thursday in a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the Charcoal Export Legality & Compliance Group of Independent Companies, Mr Adesola Idowu.
Idowu stated that the approval was communicated via a letter issued by the Federal Department of Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment, dated February 9, 2022, with the title: Re: Verification of Status of Our Commercial Forests in Commencing Our 2022 Reforestation As Pledged.
According to him, the verification will be done in five states which include Oyo, Ogun, Kwara, Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) between February 22 and 28, 2022.
He 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 clarification on the verification exercise.
He further said 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 being the law in force.
Earlier, the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria assigned minimum of 50,000 units of Eucalyptus seedlings for the Reforestation exercise of 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.