Wednesday, July 9, 2025

SouthWest leaders back NEC on forest management

On herdsmen crisis, Mr. Akeredolu appealed that journalists had a duty, more than any other person, to carry news as they are.

• February 20, 2021
Rotimi Akeredolu
Ondo State governor Rotimi Akeredolu (Credit: Twitter)

Governors from the SouthWest zone of the country and some first class rulers on Saturday okayed the decision of the National Economic Council (NEC) for each state in Nigeria to manage its forest.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that this took place at a closed-door meeting which was held at the executive chamber of the Oyo state governor’s office, Agodi in Ibadan.

Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state, who also is the chairman, SouthWest Governors Forum, said that the governors and traditional rulers supported the decision of NEC about forest management.

“We believe that all the states should be in position to manage their forest and that will give the respective state governments power to determine who and who are in the forest and for what purpose.

“And where we have people that are illegally in the forest the state should be able to take some steps so that we can preserve the forest.

“So all of us, including the traditional rulers, supported the decision of NEC on forest management,” Mr. Akeredolu stated.

The Ondo state governor further said that they observed that the SouthWest states’ borders had become too porous and that they needed to do something urgently “to prevent foreign herdsmen coming into the country without any form of caution.

“We noted that a number of these foreign herders with their herds and cows are already in the country and what they do is something of concern to all of us and we believe our borders need to be tied.”

According to Akeredolu, the meeting also discussed the need for the government to support cattle breeding just as “we have been supporting other areas of farming.

“One of the areas we can support cattle breeding is to change the way and means cattle breeders are adopting now.

“This can be done by finding a designated area where cattle can graze, no need of trekking far with cattle but this issue of open grazing in this modern time must be looked at.”

He, therefore, called on the states  and federal government in particular, to look into areas of support as much as they could, for the cattle breeders.

He concluded with an appeal to the media on the need to assist the country in curbing the issue of fake news, saying journalists had a duty more than any other person, in carrying news as they are.

NAN reports that the meeting was to be attended by the Chief of Staff (CoS) to President Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Gambari; Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu and Director-General of the DSS Yusuf Bishi but they could not make the journey due to bad weather.

According to Akeredolu, the meeting was called by Mr. Gambari, but unfortunately, the CoS and the two security heads were at the Abuja airport for long “but had to cancel because the weather could not allow them to fly.

“They contacted us and apologised but because we were here already we felt we should discuss a few things.”

(NAN)

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

Abubakar Kyari

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Malnutrition

Health

Malnutrition: Red Cross urges northern govs to declare state of emergency in health sector

Aminu Abdullahi, the acting director of healthcare at NRCS, stated that malnutrition remained one of the most underreported health issues in the country.

Nigerian Senate

Education

Bill to establish varsity of science in Gombe scales second reading

Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau commended the sponsor of the bill on his passion for the educational development of Gombe State and the North-East in general.

African Democratic Party (ADC)

Politics

2027: Opposition coalition in Gombe adopts ADC

Idris Umar, a former Minister of Transportation, said the coalition aimed to rescue Gombe from hardship.

Dangote Refinery

Economy

Dangote Refinery reduces ex-depot price of fuel to N820 per litre

It would be recalled that the company last week reduced its ex-depot price from N880 to N840 per litre.

Nigerian International Passport

NationWide

FG launches passport front office for senior public officials

Mr Tunji-Ojo said the office has a specialised facility designated to facilitate a timely and seamless passport process.

Ahmad Salisu

Kano

EFCC quizzes man over undeclared $420,900, £5,825, CFA3.95 million cash

Mr Oyewale said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as the investigation was concluded.