The National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW) has raised an alarm over the unchecked felling of immature trees across Nigeria, warning that it poses a grave threat to the nation’s ecological and developmental future.
The NUCECFWW President, Mr Stephen Okoro, spoke on the sidelines of the 7th National Quadrennial Delegates Conference, with the theme “Building Trade Unions’ Future through Strategic Organising and Investments.”
Okoro noted that during the British colonial rule, forestry was a lucrative venture and one of the country’s leading sources of foreign exchange.
“What is the position of the nation’s plywood industries today?
“Why should the government stand arms-akimbo when these industries were going down until they finally collapse, causing massive unemployment and increase in importation of furniture and wood materials?
“Many nations in the world have forest reserves with strict regulations on tree felling, but today in Nigeria, people are felling premature trees with impunity without Government policy to regulate it.
“We are using this address to call on government agencies in charge of Forestry to act fast on this menace”.
Okoro called on relevant bodies to save Nigerians the agony of constructing infrastructures with premature woods that could lead to disaster in times of adverse climate change.
He said that with abundance of natural resources at the nation’s disposal, the government and private investors could still revive Nigeria’s forests through aggressive tree planting and preservation.
Speaking on the state of the nation, the president appealed to the government to do something urgent about the well-being of Nigerians.
He explained that fuel subsidy removal and other measures of economic reforms set up by our present day government reflected on the price of transportation, goods and services.
This, he said, affected junior working class people in the country, adding that inflation had rendered workers’ take home pay useless.
He added that the security situation in the country was still worrisome.
Okoro said that the union condemned the state of general insecurity in the country especially the influx of light and heavy fire arms.
He, therefore, called on all security agencies in the country to device new strategies of combating crimes and stop politicking with security issues.
He also called on Local Governments administrators, traditional rulers, and law enforcement agencies to work in synergy in combating crimes.
Okoro said there was also need to curb corruption in the nation.
“Corruption is endemic in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large but it’s assuming a new dimension in high and low places in Nigeria.
“Something urgent needs to be done in this regard as most youths in the country have abandoned legitimate work to practise yahoo,” he said.
Okoro said the union called on all relevant anti-corruption agencies to wake up to the fight against corruption, to reduce the hardship that Nigerians were going through.