Bauchi State government has outlawed charcoal business.
Governor Bala Mohammed hinted this in his a speech at the launching of the 2023 Tree Planting Campaign held on Thursday at the Dungal Housing Estate, Bauchi when lamenting the activities of tree fellers across the 20 local government areas of the state.
Expressing concern about the unfavourable climate change, a consequence of various activities, Mohamed said his government is determined to wage war against all contributing factors.
Speaking, the governor said, “Our commitment to survive as a people irrespective of climate change around us if we are doing things that are not good which is helping the enemy, the manifestation of drought, erosion, flooding, deforestation, hunger and so on are all attributed to climate change.
“Unfortunately, we are the unwilling messengers of collaborators. We have to work on our ecosystem. It is a harmonious call. It is an organism, and we are all part of the universe. The universe is devastated by our activities and we know that it is not a laughing matter, it is a fact. We appear to be overwhelmed by the activities of criminals, those who don’t want to listen, and those who disobey and cause problems for all of us.
“Our trees are being felled, charcoal business has become the order of the day. We have been arresting them every day and somehow, our neighbours have stopped but we have willing collaborators in our leaders, political leaders like you and me.
“We are here in this estate to show you that tree planting is the way to go for sustainable development. We need to come together and fight for our survival, we need to take back our environment. We need to assure our future generations that we have to live and that humanity is here to thrive.
“We have to go by legislation by persuasion and enforcement, we will not close our eyes and leave anybody no matter how highly placed they are to diversify our society and our environment.
“From today, we have declared war against charcoal business in Bauchi and those felling trees anyhow. Sometimes, as I move on the road, we’ll see people with machines felling trees and when you ask, they’ll tell you that they have been given permission by the Director of Forestry either in the state or the local government. We have to be very aggressive.”
