In a bid to protect and preserve the Nigerian environment, the Federal Government has introduced a N50,000 fee on every container of wood for export.
MMS Plus exclusively gathered that the measure was also meant to control the export of wood and arrest the rate of deforestation that had caused so much damage to the nation’s forest.
Disclosing this to MMS Plus yesterday, Philip Bankole, Director of Forestry, Department Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment told MMS Plus that the Government was doing everything possible to ensure that everything that has to do with environment was done within the law to protect it.
Bankole also disclosed that if these measures were not put in place, Nigeria as a wood exporting country risk the chance of being sanctioned by some international organizations responsible for the regulation of wood export.
The Ministry boss also said that the implementation of the policy had commenced.
He explained that Nigerian wood exporters must meet international standards when exporting their wood product adding that In general, the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures 15 (ISPM15), as this is the standard most commonly used around the world.
Sources close to the Tropical Wood Exporters Association of Nigeria, TWEAN, told MMS Plus that the group welcomed the development adding that it was for the re-generation of the nation’s forestry.
