Birnin Gwari: Wwhere logging is turning people from farming

From Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area (LGA) to Pole-wire and Kwaga in Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna State, the only flourishing business is logging. Villagers in these areas rely mainly on tree felling to meet their daily needs. They see it as a goldmine.  Unlike farming, logging is an all year-round business; although it […]

From Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area (LGA) to Pole-wire and Kwaga in Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna State, the only flourishing business is logging.

Villagers in these areas rely mainly on tree felling to meet their daily needs. They see it as a goldmine.  Unlike farming, logging is an all year-round business; although it thrives more during the dry season because roads to the logging areas become bad during the rainy season. Operators of the logging business are in three categories: the loggers, the sellers and the loaders.

Patrons of the Birnin Gwari logging markets are motorists coming from the southern part of the country to the northern states. Chiefly among them are tankers and truck drivers as every day, over 100 tanker drivers patronize the market. They buy the firewood and load it on their tankers. A pick-up load of firewood goes for 3,500 naira at Kuriga firewood market.

Speaking to our correspondent, the chairman of the Kuriga Firewood Sellers Association, Dangude Gwari, said over 150 people are under him and that villagers are daily venturing into the business because it is lucrative.

“I started this business about 10 years ago and I was the only one but now, a lot of people have joined me. As at the last count, we were over 150.  Through this business, we are all seeing to the needs of our families. I have two wives and 13 children. I’m seeing to their educational needs, both Islamic and western, through this trade,” he said.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

On their mode of operation, Dangude Gwari said they work under a tripartite arrangement. “The loggers are in the bush; they cut the trees and sell to us. The transporters take them to our stands near the road while we on our part, sell it to the end users,” he explained.

He told Sunday Trust that on an average day they are engaged in their business activities from 5.am to 8.pm, in the course of which at least, 50 trucks load from their centre. He said they make sales of between 150,000 and 200,000 naira each day.

He disclosed that they pay 5,000 naira to the state government monthly as tax. “Government is aware of our business because we pay taxes to them every month, and at the end of every year, we also pay another tax to the state government. Everybody is benefiting from our business directly or indirectly. Our business is not causing any harm to the society because our loggers don’t remove trees from their roots, they only cut them around the trunk above the roots, in which case the trees would sprout up again after sometime,’’ he said.

Like in Kuriga, patrons of Pole-wire firewood market are mainly tanker drivers.  Speaking on the business, a retired logger, Amiru Sale, described the business as very profitable. He said he started the business as a logger 10 years ago but that after raising enough money, he stopped logging.

“I have enough capital now and this is why I stopped going to the bush. What I do is to buy the firewood here and resell it to the tanker drivers. It is from this business I’m seeing to the needs of my two wives and 10 children. Daily, I make between 3,000 and 5,000 naira profit depending on the market,’’ he said.

He also said they are doing the business with the consent of government officials. “Environmental officers from the government come here every month to collect their share of the business. We give them 5,000 naira monthly willingly because we don’t want them to stop us from doing our business,’’ he said.

‘THIS BUSNIESS IS EVERYTHING TO ME’

At the Kwaga firewood market, villagers were making brisk business when our correspondent visited there.  Musa Ibn Musa, 42, said the business is a source of livelihood for the people of the community.

“Anybody who attempts to stop the business wants to kill me and my three wives and 17 children because this business is everything to me. It was with it I went to school in Zaria to study Arabic Education. After my education, I was employed as a teacher in the Local Education Authority (LEA) but teaching cannot take logging from me because it pays well,” he said.

According to him, logging has raised the standard of living of the village and has drastically reduced youth restiveness and other societal vices. “Cases of burglary or stealing are on the decrease in this village because anybody who needs money will just rush to the bush to fetch some firewood. The market is flourishing,” Musa said.

When contacted, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr Zakariya J. Shamaki, referred our correspondent to the ministry’s director of forestry resources, Mr Anthony Kachiro.

GOVT HAS NO CAPACITY TO STOP LOGGING

Speaking on the activities of the loggers, Anthony Kachiro said his ministry had been mandated to manage and sustain the natural resources in the environment but the challenges of manpower and mobility are weighing them down from discharging their responsibility.

Kachiro, while dispelling the claims of the loggers that they are carrying out the logging with the blessing of the state government, challenged the loggers to produce any evidence to back their claims and to prove that they are paying taxes to the state government.

“Trees are natural endowments. We are not saying that they should not be tapped but it must be done judiciously in accordance with the ethics. We all know that trees are meant to check environmental problems like erosion, desertification, among others. If they say they are paying us for the logging, then they should make receipts available to back their allegations but I know it is not true. Anybody committing crime will always find a way to exonerate himself,” he said.

He lamented, however, that the laws regulating tree felling are obsolete, saying that arrangements are on for the review of the laws to reflect current realities.

“Any person caught felling trees would be charged to court in line with an ordinance of the ministry.  According to it, it is illegal to torch or cut even a branch of any tree especially the ones that are in forest reserves. The ability to even catch the loggers doing their illegal act is our main problem because of the vastness of our land. We have started the process of cleaning up the forestry ordinance because most parts of it are outdated because they were put together in the 1950s and 1960s. We have passed it to the state ministry of justice. When they finish updating it, they will send it to the governor who will in turn send it to the state Assembly,” he said.

HOW LOGGING AID GLOBAL WARMING

He added that climate and global warming are partly a result of the activities of loggers. “You know, trees protect the environment against desertification. It protects the environment against diseases. It protects the environment against erosion and clean up the air around us. In all, trees contribute a lot to healthy living. Thus, trees must be protected and preserved,” Kachiro said.

Urging local government areas in the country to assist protect the natural resources in the country, Kachiro said for sustainable development, there is urgent need to involve all stakeholders in the preservation of natural resources.