INVESTIGATION: Despite massive tree felling, Osun, Oyo forestry contribute little to IGR in 5 years

Across the world, illegal deforestation threatens revenue earnings and environmental sustainability. Nonetheless, Osun and Oyo document illegal deforestation as just one of the many threats. Boundary disputes, lack of required technical expertise, underfunding and low level of government’s commitment, absence of requisite infrastructure, poaching, and tax evasion foreshadows danger to the forest industry in these states. Beyond these, the sector is still very closed. Data are mostly unavailable, near obsolete, or conflicting. Little is known of the framework for forest resource governance in Nigeria. In this report, DATAPHYTE’s reporter, Paul Adeyeye, reveals his findings as he explores the forest sector in two southwestern states.