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The Kogi Government has embarked on a four-day training programme for its forestry officers on afforestation and forestry mapping across the state.
The Commissioner for the Environment and Natural Resources, Mrs Rosemary Osikoya, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Wednesday.
She said that the training, which started on Monday April 10, would end with an inauguration of a Forestry Tariff Plan, approved by the State Executive Council on Wednesday.
According to her, the forestry tariff will set a protocol on how to effectively manage the state’s forests and forest reserves and the obligations of timber contractors and other forest users.
She added that the training would expose the officers to prepare and plant tree seedlings and to measure and calculate the volume of trees for prospective buyers.
She, therefore, urged the participants to pay adequate attention to the training as it would be of immense benefit to them and the state.
Mr Julius Abu, Assistant Director, Extension, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), told NAN that his team was in Kogi to give a refresher course to the state’s forest officers on afforestation.
“We are not unaware that the state is going into real afforestation as from this year, and for the state to effectively plant and manage the forest, they must have competent forestry managers.
“The training involves raising of trees from seeds into seedlings, managing them in the nurseries and then planting them out the forest as plantations.
“They will also be taught how to manage the trees they planted to ensure that they are not destroyed by fire or insects,” Abu said.
Abu told NAN that Kogi had taken the right step in the right direction by making environmental issues a priority in the state.
He, therefore, called on the citizens to support the implementation of the governor’s programmes on environment in advantage of the populace.
Credits: Stephen Adeleye | NAN
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