The rampaging ecological challenges facing some parts of the country have remained unresolved despite the existence of the ‘Ecological Fund’ meant to address the menace The Director-General, Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), Dr Joseph Onoja, calls for effective use of the Fund, in this interview with Assistant Editor, OKWY IROEGBE-CHIKEZIE.
How well has the Ecological Fund been put into use by the government?
Ecological funds have largely not been used for what they are meant to be used for, as they have not been channelled into addressing the real ecological issues in the nation. If they’ve been used well, we would have seen more investment in areas of environmental conservation because the fund was set up in the first place to do that. Unfortunately some governors erroneously use it as part of their security vote. The fund is usually used for different purposes apart from the ecological situation in different states as we have them. It has not been deployed to address real ecological issues. It is unfortunate that we have not really used it the way it should have been used, if we had been more circumspect, we would have seen more investment in areas of environmental conservation and much more. Take, for instance, a state such as Anambra where you have the problem of gully erosion, or in Lagos State, where you have coastal erosion.
In many other states, they are struggling with serious deforestation and land degradation, yet the money made for the environmental challenges facing the states are not dealt with.
There are several ecological issues that should have been taken care of by all levels of government and what we don’t understand is that ecological issues have social and economic impact.
The Ecological Fund runs into trillions of naira, but unfortunately, as I said before, it is not used for the purpose it is created. Rather it is treated like the governors’security vote that is not captured or accounted for.
The issue of conflicts as a result of pasteurisation and farmers would have long been taken care off if the funds have been well-utilised. Our policy makers and political leaders should come up with measures on how the nation’s resources can be better managed and by so doing avoid conflict that usually occur over competing interests. There is no gain saying the fact that we have lots of challenges as far as the issue of environment is concerned.
What is the difference between deforestation and afforestation?
Deforestation is when a natural forest that has been standing is cleared, while afforestation is the opposite. Afforestation strictly is a place where there was no forest before, and you plant trees to make it a forested area, this is done, especially to maintain a balance in the environment. Regeneration is allowing the forest to grow by itself, and this can be achieved by managing the place and keeping it safe from intruders by ensuring that the public does not have access to continue to clear it.
How does the environment benefit from carbon credit?
Carbon credit is the money you get when you allow a tree to stand. Where a tree is allowed to stand, it stores carbon without allowing it escape into the atmosphere. So, allowing a tree to absorb carbon and purify the atmosphere, a particular nation collects credit. Nigeria would have been earning enough from Carbon Credit if our policy makers knew what to do. We have laws in the environment sector. Our challenge is implementation. Also, we are free to domesticate and strengthen the laws governing the sector, if applied it will help position the sector for growth and competitiveness. But if not, it would continue to degrade it. If we can apply this we would have solved a larger percentage of our problems. The challenge, however, is that there is no strict enforcement of our laws, that is why somebody can just get up and go into a particular forest and start cutting trees and logging them and exporting them, albeit, illegally. I feel strongly that the government should ensure the laws are active and enforced because if the laws are not implemented, we will not achieve much. Currently, a lot of illegality is going on in the sector but if we put in the right measures, the environment would be improved between 50 and 70 per cent.
People just go on as if there is no law guiding the sector, but if we dust the laws and implement them they will serve as a check with the public knowing that there will be grave consequences for illegal logging and every other environmental laws’ infraction.
How can the nation ensure that the ecology is preserved, especially through greenery?
The environment law enforcement agencies must be strengthened and enabled to build their capacity to be able to enforce laws, we need to make our laws to first of all deal with contemporary issues and then make them enforceable. If we do the right thing in the environment sector we will spend less on health and other sectors thereby making enough money for the prosperity of the nation.
If people don’t live well, you have to spend more money to take care of them, but if the environment is conducive, then you don’t have to spend too much money on them. We spend money buying arms and ammunition to battle banditry, but if we had done the right things we will not be challenged as much as we are today, security wise.
The degradation of the environment has taken its toll on the environment; it has resulted in high level unemployment and the youths taking up arms against the society. There is evidence of high crime rate among the youth population to make ends meet. For instance in a particular locality, if you have somebody whose farm has been taken over by desert, that person will want to move , and when the person is moving, he will meet another person who is settled in his land and would use any means to resist a particular intruder and there could be conflict. If care is not taken, there will be superiority battle just as we are having in the Northcentral and other parts of the North where herders are accused of destroying farmlands, making farmers to lose their farms and income. But, if we have compelling laws on the environment there will be restraint on both sides. The daily and unnecessary bloodletting will be a thing of the past and the nation will be better for it.
What’s the story behind the Nigeria Conservation Fund (NCF)?
The Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF) was founded in 1980 and was registered as a charitable Trust in 1982, by the founder Chief Shafi Lawal Edu.
In those days, the issue of conservation was not well known in Nigeria so it became the foremost Conservation authority coming up with a lot of conservation initiatives and many advocacy which influenced some polices even at the national level, including the issue of environment and the protection of endangered species which was signed into law in 1984 by Muhammadu Buhari when he was Head of State.
As a result of our various fields of work in 1986, we led a field work that discovered that Gorilla has not gone extinct, leading to the establishment of Eko Esai Community Forest Reserve in Cross River State. Since then, we have been working closely with some states and the Federal Government. Our contribution in this area led to the formation of Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA).
NCF worked in Okomu National Park in Ovia Southwest of Edo State as a wild life sanctuary for endangered species, before it was handed to the National Parks. Today, we sit on the board of the National Park Services. Again, our activities in so many other areas led to the formation of the National Council of Climate Change, different committees relating to issues in the environment and conservation. We continue to intervene and influence policies that will help Nigerians have a conducive environment.
Has far has NCF stretched its collaborative efforts across the country?
In the course of our work, we worked with Taraba/Adamawa State where we implemented some projects on forest management which led to the formation of Gashaka-Gumti National Park.
We are in Ogun State where we are managing and foresting on behalf of the state; we have been doing that for the past 20 years and we influenced their wild life and forestry law that has since been passed. In Yobe State we have Hadejia-Nguru Wetland so we have been managing that wetland as well in conjunction with the National parks services.
Still, in the spirit of robust collaboration, the NCF teamed up with First City Monument Bank Plc (FCMB) in the provision of practical solutions to the menace caused by plastic pollution to commemorate this year’s World Environment Day (WED), as we provided recycling, upcycling and beach clean-up. The activities took place on June 1 and Friday, June 2 in Lagos. A beach clean-up exercise was carried out at Okun-Ajah beach to advocate actions that promote solutions to plastic pollution to the members of the Okun-Ajah community, Eti-Osa Local Government Area. The event involved school children, community members, and officials of NCF and FCMB.
Do you have supervisory role on any government agency as a result of the various collaborative works with both states and Federal Government?
No, we don’t have any of such role because we are a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). We partner with government to build their capacity; we also hold workshops with them because sometimes even some of the law enforcement agencies don’t even know that some animals, birds and trees are in danger of extinction.
To help the government and her agencies, we organise workshops to train them. The last one we organised was on Wild Life training where we illustrated what it takes to protect wild life. I must make it clear that when we talk of Wild life, we refer to plants and animals. Unfortunately, when we train the respective officials on best practices, the laws are still not implemented. We are not law enforcement agents; we can only encourage enforcement agencies to do their work and arrest any person engaged in contravening the law because at the end of the day it would affect all of us. When you willingly destroy nature provisions to mankind, not even money would be able to provide all that.
