Niger pushes jail, N500,000 fine for tree felling

Niger state government has instituted jail time or N500,000 fine for indiscriminate tree felling throughout the state. Governor Abubakar Bello says existing legislation banning tree felling remains in force. He gave the warning at Mashegu local government during a midterm inspection tour of the 25 councils of the state over the weekend. He said with […]

Niger state government has instituted jail time or N500,000 fine for indiscriminate tree felling throughout the state.

Governor Abubakar Bello says existing legislation banning tree felling remains in force.

He gave the warning at Mashegu local government during a midterm inspection tour of the 25 councils of the state over the weekend.

He said with colossal number of lives and property lost every year across flood prone areas in the state as well as threat of global warming necessitated stringent measures against deforestation. 

He promised to assist enforcement agencies with necessary logistics to enable them tackle the menace, while also liaising with the federal government to make the forest reserve safer.

The governor promised to establish a General Hospital in Mashegu to address the health challenges of the people of the area, while also pledging facility upgrade of some junior secondary schools and raising their status to Senior Secondary schools.

In Mokwa, Governor Bello expressed disappointment over the quality of food given to students and directed an investigation into the matter even as promised additional transformers to boost power supply in across the local government area.