Date: 2020-03-03

The Kwara State Government has announced the closure of its forests for all activities except farming for three months with effect from March 2nd to May 31st, 2020.

The government has also banned street begging in some major areas of Ilorin, the state capital.

Addressing a press conference in Ilorin on Monday, the state Commissioner for Environment, Aliyu Saifudeen, said the government was worried that indiscriminate activities going on in the forests were fast disrupting the state's ecosystem and exposing it to severe effects of climate change.

He said, "Accordingly, the ministry has taken a painful decision to 'close the forests' for all kinds of activities for a minimum period of one month and maximum of three beginning from the March 2 to May 31, 2020. This will enable us take stock of what is left of that natural endowment for further action and the inventory of what goes on therein. Consequently, all economic activities except farming are hereby suspended within the period forthwith with offenders liable to prosecution," he said.

Saifudeen said the government would embark on massive tree planting to be flagged off by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Minister of Environment, Mahmood Abubakar later in May, a step he asserted was needed to address the question of deforestation and climate change.

The commissioner said the government would also embark on enforcement of the law banning obstruction of traffic flow through indiscriminate trading on roadsides and median and street begging.

He lamented that such practices constitute serious threats to millions of people.

"I want to use this opportunity to call on road users to adhere to the traffic rules and to our traders to desist forthwith from displaying their wares, including firewood on the roads especially on the pedestrian walk ways," he said.