The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said data collection exercise has been completed in three local government areas of the state, adding that the exercise is being intensified in other council areas to fast-track development planning.
The governor disclosed this at a two-day workshop on mainstreaming green growth strategy in Edo State Economic Planning and Budget Processes.
“We are focusing on obtaining data and information which will be used for planning for development. This has led us to prioritize the DATA for MEGA project. I am glad to inform you that we have completed three local government areas and the data received will be important in planning for years ahead,” he said.
On efforts to regenerate the state’s forest reserve, he said: “We did an extensive forest audit with the assistance of Pro-Forest to know how much of our forest is left. We found that our forest has been so badly degraded. We have decimated about 150,000 hectares of land, making it unavailable for the growth of oil palm and those to benefit from it must help with reforestation.
“For every company which has been allocated land to grow oil palm, they must help with growing the forest. For any 4 hectares of land given to a company to grow oil palm, that company is given the responsibility to grow one hectare of the forest. It will help our reforestation initiative. It will also help us to get investment into our forest,” the governor said.
He added: “We are working with various organizations and partners in oil palm plantation development to help us put together a strategy to restart the oil palm industry in the state. In the past, we had over 680,000 hectares of reserve used as forest which also helped sustain livelihoods. But today, we barely have 150,000 hectares left.”
