CALABAR — NO fewer than 249 illegally felled logs of Iroko, mahogany and other species of wood have been discovered in the rainforest of Ikom Council of Cross River State. The illegality is being blamed on a metal production company, which has since been ordered to close shop and leave the state. The discovered logs are separate from the ones that have been cut down since 1992 by the company which has operated in Cross River for 12 years.
Tracing the damage done to the forest of Cross River State by the company, chairman of the state forestry commission, Mr. Boniface Archibong said “the state has been bled very badly by the company.” Archibong who addressed the press in Calabar, yesterday, on the activities of the forestry commission recalled the many running battles it had had with the company "over its illegality and large-scale abuse of the concession rights given to the company."
He drew attention to the fact that the Asian company came into Nigeria as a metal production outfit but changed to wood processing and settled in Ogun State in the 1980s only for it to be chased out of the place because of its many alleged criminal activities.
After Ogun State, according to Archibong, the company started out in Cross River State in 1992 from where it was given rights to log and granted 541.43 km forest concession in five forests reserves such as Ikrigon, Afi River, Cross River north, Cross River South and Ukpon River.
He said this was “to meet the wood raw material needs for its factory. “As soon as the company established its factory in the state there were lots of public outcry, both locally, nationally and internationally, because the said company was perceived to have a bad track record particularly in Omo Forest Reserve in Ogun State. Because of its international recognition as a Biodiversity “Hot Spot”.
"Forestry Commission withdrew the 113.32 km2 of the company forest concession in Afi River Forest Reserves and constituted it into the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. It was requested to sign forest concession for each of the remaining four forest reserves, and was later granted an Environment Impact Statement (EIS) by FEPA for Ikrigon Forest Reserve. Wempco in 1996 signed Forest Concession agreements for Ikrigon and Cross River North Reserves.
"Despite signing forest concession agreements for the two forest reserves, and having the endorsement of FEPA to log in Ikrigon, the company has never logged directly in those forest reserves. At the commissioning of the company on May 21st, 2001, the Governor of Cross River State Mr. Donald Duke had directed the company to restrict its exploitation to its concession area instead of relying on buying logs from individual permittees.
Since then, it had continued to rely on buying logs from third parties who log on single tree basis. By this method, the company cannot be held responsible for the unsustainable logging, which has completely wiped out most of the community forests in Ikom, Etung (Northern Etung), Obubra and Boki Local Government Areas.
