Kefas Bans Logging of African Rosewood in Taraba

Wole Ayodele in Jalingo

Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, has imposed a total ban on the logging of African Rosewood popularly called Madrid in the state.

In a statement released in Jalingo, the state capital, yesterday and signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Yusuf Sanda, Governor Kefas also directed the Task Force on the Suspension of Mining Activities in the State to enforce the ban.

Besides banning the felling of the trees, the governor extended the ban to the processing and sales of the highly sought after wood in the state.

The statement in part said, “The Executive Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas has imposed an immediate total ban on the felling, processing, and sales of the African Rosewood, popularly called Madrid in the state.

“The Task Force on the Suspension of Mining Activities in Taraba State has been charged with the responsibility of enforcing the ban as one of its terms of reference.”

The governor, however, enjoined the good people of the state to support and cooperate with the Task Force in enforcing the ban in order to save the fragile habitat of the state from unregulated over exploitation and destruction.

Over the years, environmentalists have been raising the alarm over the degradation being caused to the environment by the massive felling of the African Rosewood in Taraba State.

Thousands of the trees have been reportedly felled in the state in the past eight years while a big chunk of the revenue generated from the trade ends in private pockets rather than government coffers.

Meanwhile, the state is already witnessing the negative implications of the Madrid business as windstor ms and thunderstorms have continued to wreak havoc in several parts of the state with attendant loss of lives and property.