Fayemi: We need a management framework to evict illegal occupants from forests

Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti state, says Nigeria needs a system to manage forests across states to ensure that illegal occupants are evicted from such areas.

Fayemi said this on Friday, during an event tagged, ‘Urgent Conversations’, organised by Radio Now 95.3, in partnership with Nextier, and with the support of Channels TV.

There has been concern over the increased rate of abductions, with victims usually taken into forests.

According to the Ekiti governor, the current spate of violence in Nigeria has become an alarming cause of concern, and there is a need for the federal and state governments to address the situation in order for people to regain normalcy in their livelihoods.

“The root causes of violence are major layers of deep-seated, political, economic, social and environmental challenges that have been allowed to fester for so long to the extent that they are now able to disrupt livelihoods, cause unprecedented destruction of public and private property, and lead to unnecessary deaths,” he said. 

“Given this worrisome state of insecurity in the country, from Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflict, youth restiveness that led to #EndSARS in October 2020, militancy, and piracy, the common trend is that we are now in a season of anomie in our country.

“We do not subscribe to ethnic profiling. We believe that criminals are found all over our country; they come from virtually almost every ethnic group. 

“Our forests have now become a huge menace and a space for criminal elements to perpetrate their business. We need a forest management framework to ensure that those who don’t have business in the forests must leave the forests.

“Governors are very committed to the need to modernise grazing practices. There is a national livestock transformation plan, which should be implemented by now, so as to promote ranching and modernised livestock management practices.”

He also urged media personnel and handlers of social media accounts to exercise restraint, so as not to become instruments of insecurity.