BY: VITALIS UGOH, Calabar
As the huge Forest of Ekuri in Cross River state continues to deplete day by day and hour by hour without immediate remedy, the community and the state government have resorted to blame game.
While some section of the community are protesting against the illegal Logging the state government is rather pointiñg fingers to the community.
Following persistent appeals and protests by the community, it became imperative to carry out interviews on some personalities from Ekuri in Yakurr local government area of the state income an attempt to put the record straight.
Honestly, it has been protests upon protests in Ekuri concerning illegal logging on daily basis without any recourse to the community.
Patriotnews Online can authoritatively reveal that over Five Billon Naira worth of wood/log had left Ekuri Forest in the past four years.
In an interview, the Village Head of Obiofom, Chief Edwin Ogar said, ‘i am from new Ekuri which is along Calabar/Ikom road. My people are demonstrating because of the illegal exploitation of the Ekuri road, as well as the destruction of the roads, that has impeded movement of goods and services to Ekuri. And as community dwellers who are practicing farming, we cannot bring our products, because the loggers have gone ahead and destroyed the roads that we built by our own selves. And then, ‘Better-off’, by governor Liyel Imoke.
According to him, “they have defaced the roads, so the road is not easily passable, and that is why we have laid series of complaints to Cross River Stategovernment, to stop this illegality, but unfortunately, government is not listening to our cries.”
Resulting from the above he said “the best option for us, is to demonstrate as we are demonstrating so that government will know the effects of the destruction of our forests, as well as the deplorable roads that leads to Ekuri. And not just the government, it is also so that the public and the International community will be aware because we are marginalized people. We are voiceless. We don’t have anybody that can speak for us. And more so, we are a minority group that cannot stand and speak by ourselves, and in terms of literacy, the educational level of the Ekuri people along this road; that is talking of Edondon, Okokori, Old and New Ekuri, we are very backward in terms of education, and politically, we are not there.”Socially, the only option that was available to us, was to carry out a demonstration like this, so that the public will know what we are suffering, he added.
He said “well, it is true that the loggers are working in concert with some of the natives, a few natives, who are selling the birthright of their community. We do have constituent authorities in this community, it’is not as if the chiefs asked them. Only a few, woke up and began to bring loggers to Ekuri forest, without the consent of the chiefs of this community, because the chiefs have the customary rights. They are the chief custodians of our land, and in the normal way, they are supposed to approve any ongoing activity going on in Ekuri. But unfortunately, this is not done and that is why we have tried severally, to stop this encroachment into our land, and it is like the few natives involved, are not accepting what is the general opinion of the community. Take for instance in Ekuri community (new and old Ekuri community) we are at the forefront of conservation in Nigeria and unfortunately, these few, because they are backed up by government, decided to log. And we have laid series of complaints even to Governor Ben Ayade, as well as the forestry commission, and no help has come from that direction and so we felt that the best way is to demonstrate like this, so that they will understand that we are taking this issue seriously”.
Question: Okay, from these demonstrations, have you been able to punish or call to book, any of these natives, to let them know that what they are doing is not proper? If yes, what has been the result?
Answer: We have tried on our own because we have our own local mechanism of settling disputes like this. We’ve had series of meetings, the one between old and new Ekuri, the one between the four villages here, the one between the five villages that we speak the same language with, Ekuri we have vmhad these meetings severally, and that option has failed completely. And then, we also went to the police and the police decided to punish us.
Question: Why so?
Answer: They took bribes, and didn’t even try to listen to us. They said we should go settle our community matters, and we went to court, and one of them said ‘’since you have included my name, this case will not work’’ and they kept on delaying until the court processes elapsed; particularly, when this Covid-19 came up, and when the covid 19 was over, we needed to go back to court.
Question: Now, how old is this forest? And can you tell us the extent of destruction so far?
Answer: Well, this forest is as old as when the destruction of the world by the flood happened, during the bible days. The forest has been here for years. I met that forest here and my great grandparents told me that they met the forest here. The size of the forest, particularly in Ekuri, as we have taken the ground survey is 33,600 hectare of forest land, but by virtue of this logging, from our estimation, we found that 10,000 hectare has gone down the drain. So, what is left now is about 23,000 hectare. And then, there is pressure, the same group logging here, went and brought another company, to come and log the other axis of New Ekuri. New Ekuri is the last bus stop along this road. And then there is also a forest part to Iymittet in Obubra, the Ekuri, are in Akamkpa, but there is a forest part to Iyamittet, so they went and arranged with the forestry commission, and approved an illegal logging concession of Ekuri forest, and we protested. It appeared in an online news publication and we decided to write a protest letter, and submitted it physically to the forestry commission. They said they will study it, and when they do, they are not going to do that in isolation of the community, and after the study, went ahead and approved the other people’s illegal concession.
Question: Are these people ever armed? Reports have been heard about forestry bandits. Do they arm themselves and threaten the lives of members of the community?
Answer: Well, that is an excuse by Forestry Commission; that they are forestry bandits. Because if really Forestry commission did not approve that they should come then there would have been no at these loggers would have come, because we see them hanging together with the loggers and they are not armed. I haven’t seen any physical arms carried by them.
Question: So, how many years is this concession they signed?
Answe: They signed a concession for 99 years, and 20,000 hectares. Meaning that, Ekuri forest has just 16,000 hectares left.
Question: Beyond the destruction of your access roads, what other effects does this logging pose to the community?
Answer: You know, we are in the era of climate change that is bringing devastation to the entire world, the Ekuri forest, helped to stabilize the climate, unfortunately, this logging has aggravated climate change and that is why last year, and this year, my Ekuri people suffered a lot, we could not farm on our lands because of the weather change. When it’s supposed to be season for rain, it wouldn’t come on time, and when the crops were planted, the yield was not fruitful, because the crops were planted around this period and the crops never matured enough to be harvested. That is one of the things that affects us. And not just that, the forest products that we have in the community, are not yielding the right dividend for us. They are been eroded, in terms of productivity and because of that, we suffer due to financial difficulty. For instance, bush mango is no longer yielding, and these are the kind of things we depend on. We are a forest dwelling community, we depend mostly on farm products and forest products. Last year, for instance, bush mango did not yield and that also affected our income and livelihood. And it is making the people very poor.
Question: Who are you specifically directing this protest to?
Answer: We are specifically directing this protest to the governor of Cross River state. He is in charge of forestry in Cross River state; the forestry falls under sub-national jurisdiction. The only thing is that the national body comes up with policies that the state will adapt to. But, the management of forests, are in the hands of the state government and the state government has not been living up to expectation. And we are a pride to Nigeria, in terms of conservation in Cross River and Nigeria at large.We have been named as the —–community forestry in Nigeria, the largest, most well managed forestry in the whole of West Africa, and therefore, and for the government to have turned it’s back against the Ekuri, is a real abomination, a taboo. Because, this forest has helped both Cross River state government and the national government be at the forehand in terms of environmental multi-lateral agreements entered by the government of Nigeria. And then, all of a sudden they are no longer taking care of the forest. And on our own, we have tried our best to keep the forest, because we know that it is for the good of the present and future generation. We are in poverty, there is no road. And for us, the marginalized and few persons in the community, decided to keep this forest, because it is our inheritance. We inherited it from our forefathers and therefore, it is crucial for us to keep that forest alive, so that the future generation will benefit from it, rather than us mortgaging it, and then tomorrow, t
Also Mr. Imoh Nicodemus Dennis, the youth leader of the community said “as it is, that road blocked there is for security purposes. January this very year, on the 4th precisely, we had a communal conflict with the nearby community, that is why we tried to see how we can protect our community. And again, it was meant to see how we can stop most of these situations of the bringing out the woods. We want to see how that activity can stop, because we are actually annoyed. We frown against what is happening, because if that activity is not stopped, it could be a way of destroying our environment and community. That is one of the reasons why that checkpoint is built there. To see how we can stop most of these activities that people are engaging in, in our forests. .
Question: Chief. When you say stop, have you made some arrests? Have you been able to confiscate some locked wood?. Please expatiate on that?.
Answer: No, we have not made an arrest. But we have been talking to most of these persons, to stop this illegal exportation of wood. Like for instance, today we can see, for two weeks now, through the efforts of the youths, we say because of the roads, those activities should be stopped. And that is why for now, you have not been seeing vehicles comi2ng out, because we seriously frown at what is happening. So we are still standing on that; that they should stop whatever they are doing, because our roads are getting bad because of this exploitation.
Question: You said for two weeks, those activities have stopped, but somebody told us that even as at yesterday night, they were still taking out wood from this area?.
Answer: No, for two weeks now they have not. From the road there, we have banned them from doing any activity. So, if they came at night yesterday, then I’m not aware. I will find out whether that actually took place, so that we can caution that.
Question: What toll do they pay, to the security before they allow them, because that checkpoint has been there for weeks, if not months. So, how much do they pay to the community or to the youths for them to be able to pass the checkpoint.?
Answer: Those who are working there, for instance, from my finding, they pay them a small token before they can pass. I told them that I want to stop that, so that if actually they want to come out with the woods, a reasonable amount should be charged from them, so that that can also help to stop the activities?.
Question: Now, the woods are all by the roadside, is there anything you have done to impound those goods?
Answer: I have tried my best as a youth leader, and said that for now, if they cannot work the roads, they should not carry the woods, and that is why the woods are there. If they cannot meet up with the demands, then automatically, we will stop them from carrying the woods.
Question: What demand are you making?
Answer: We are saying they should repair the road before they can carry the woods.
Question: What mechanism are you using to stop them? If they come with their trucks to start loading, or use your own youths to load, how will you stop them?
Answer I will mobilize my community youths to stop them.
Question: But your community youths are the ones assisting them?.
Answer: No, the people who are operating here are not my community youths. They are all foreigners, like we have Ibo’s who are coming out. They are equipped, our youths cannot use equipment, those woods are heavy.
Question: But how can you not stop a foreigner who comes into your community?
Answer: We have been trying our best, it’s just that, since we are in front, most of the woods, come out from the inner villages. So, we here, are trying to see how we can use our power to stop them. And whenever we make fourth, they tell us they are not sawing the woods from our houses, but rather the inner community.
Martins Egot, the Executive Director, Development Concern (DEVCOM) when contacted on this issue said “what is happening today, for me, is amazing. It is very important for us as a state and as a nation. I see two things that is been demonstrated here. One, is a system collapse, a system failure. Faiure in the sense that what the community people are coming out here to say, is that there is a failure in the forestry sector. There is a failure in government. The government that is supposed to be responsible for forest protection in Cross River state, has failed”.
“They are demonstrating that they have seen that forests and natural resources are not been protected and the system that is supposed to be doing that, is not doing anything. And so, that is why they have come out; to shout. Another thing is that, I see that the community of Ekuri, have a whole lot of awareness. They know that they have these resources, they know that this is their life support system, and that is why they are coming out to shout, they are coming out to say ‘’look there is a whole lot that is wrong with our resources, and those who are supposed to be helping us are not helping, and so the world needs to hear us, people need to come to our rescue’’. And so, that is why they are coming out. And I want to applaud them. It is very very important that they are doing this, because if they don’t come out and shout that something is wrong with their resources, nobody will do it for them. It shows that they have a high level of awareness”.
He further said “”we know the Ekuri people. You know, they have a history of conservation. The Ekuri community is one community that the world knows, are the leaders when it comes to conservation, when it comes to forest protection, and so I’m not surprised that they are coming out to tell the world what is happening. And I want to also say that wherever this protest is going to get to, people need to stand out and support these people. The state needs to wake up. In fact, I want to re-emphasize that the state government needs to wake up, because if you go through the whole of Ekuri, wood is littered everywhere, and this is a state that as at twelve years ago, declared a moratorium on forest logging. And so, if we have a moratorium that is supposed to seize all of these illegal activities, what are we doing now, what is happening now. There is a higher degree of loss of forest, even when there is a moratorium, so what is the government doing?I Already Siba Wood Agricultural company is invading the Iyamitet flank of the Ekuri forest and nobody is stopping as they claim to have concession from government” .
He added, “and so, I want to applaud the community and I’d give them kudos for doing this. As a development person, this is something that we have been shouting for, this is something that we have been saying. And we have at different quarters, called on government, asking what is happening. This is twelve years running, that we have had a moratorium in place, we see our streets, our communities littered with wood. There is a high level of deforestation, what are they doing?. They pretend to be helpless. So if the if the state government and the forestry commission are saying they are helpless, then where do we run to? And so, that is our problem. So I want to congratulate them.”
Question: The international community, what role do they have to play to ensure that the deforestation is drastically checked?
Answer: The international community, will do their little bit, in trying to encourage communities to continue to protest. They will do their little bit to talk to the federal government of Nigeria and the state government to make them understand the danger in what they are doing. That is the most they can do because it falls on the state, who are the custodians of the forests. They are to act, and we are saying they are not acting. Also Comrade Innocent Edi, the central unit leader representing Okom Kingdomwho was not left out in the interview said the Kingdom comprises of 16 communities in Okom, ranging from Apiapun, Iyamoyong, Okuritet, Iyamitet Edondon, Okokori, Ochon, Oganban, Oyenokpon, Oyenoranghan, Isaban, Odongin and Akamogbagbuni. These are all communities in Okom kingdom, which coincidentally have a boundaries with the Ekuri people
Question: What is the experience in your own community?
Answer: Actually, we have seen a lot of exploitation. Most especially from our flora .We know that our forest is made up of homogenous species of our flora. But these days, most especially in recent times, we discovered that most of these species are almost going extinct, and the reason why they are going extinct is because they are going through too much exploitation without afforestation. And as such, in due course, we discovered that most of our children will not know most of these species with what I have discovered recently, to be frank. And for some of us, we think that the government should enact laws. Not only enact laws, but equally enforcing them at the grassroots, because, when these laws are enacted and not enforced at the grassroots, definitely, those laws are not put in place and in practice.
According to him,so, I am of the opinion that the cross river state government in conjunction with all these communities, should come out with laws to help us to reduce this illegal exploitation of our forest resources.
Question: As a youth leader, what are you doing to curb the situation ?
Answer: As youth leaders, we have been able to come up with a team, and in due course, the government is going to see us come out to demonstrate. Because, what I see my youths doing here, is what we planned to do, it’s just that they came out with their idea first. From the Okom nation, we equally planned it, and maybe in due course, they are going to see us come out to practically demonstrate in regards to this.
Question: Have you called any of the youths that have been working with this government?
Answer: Yes. We have called so many of them, and that is the more reason why. We just finished from a meeting with all the youth leaders of Okpon forest reserve, to see how they can equally go to their v2earious communities and help us to stop this illegal exploitation.. Mrs. Mary David, Women Leader in Edondon in her reaction said ” I am covering our five villages in Yakurr local government. So , I am standing here as the women leader in Edondon, telling them that we have no road again. They have spoilt all our roads, we can’t sell our things. Vehicles cannot come into our village to buy anything. We are telling them that they should stop entering our forests or come to take the woods again, so that we will have road to take. Also, they should come and repair our road which they have spoilt.
Question: Who are the people you are telling. Please mention them. Are they the government , forestry commission, loggers, do you have anyone in mind?
Answer: The government sent those people, the commission came to see the wood, they are the ones that we are telling to stop sawing the wood.
Question : And how are women affected in this issue of deforestation?
Answer: We are saying that the things we have to see; our cassava, yam, water yam. There are no vehicles entering in to buy those things. They are all unsold,
Question: Are you still exploring your forest resources like you used to?
Answer: No. We are not getting them again because they have spoilt the entire forest.
Question: Has there been anytime the women or youths have blocked the roads,telling them to not pass. If yes, what happened?
Answer: Women do not have the right to stands on the roads. It is the chiefs who have those rights. And they have asked them not to come again, but they continue to. That is why we are asking them not to come again, not to spoil our roads and forests again.
Reacting to the communities alleged “neglect and rejection” the Chairman Cross River State Forestry Commission, Chief Tony Undiandeye queried “how does the commission encourage logging? Are we in the Commission leaving in the community? Are the loggers logging for the commission ? They themselves are the ones doing the logging. The communities are the ones logging. Do people come from outside to enter your forest and you don’t know? It’s the community themselves that are doing the logging. We have gone to Ekuri over five times through that bad road to tell them not to do logging then they turn and say commission is encouraging logging. We had several meetings with them. They collect money and do the logging and they still turn to accuse the commission.
Question: What is the Commission doing against them?
Answer: The most you can do is call the communities and talk to them. Will you become a police? The police have compromised, the Army has compromised, everybody have compromised. What will the commission do, ? Are we going to build a ring round the forest?
