The Minister of Environment, Balarebe Lawal, has assured Nigerians that President Bola Tinubu’s government will improve security to recover Nigerian forests.
The minister gave the assurance at a top management retreat held in Kaduna, on Thursday.
The retreat has as its theme: ‘Policy Embodiment and Prioritization of Key Action for a Renewed Hope in Environmental Management’.
Lawal maintained that the forest has become a safe place for criminal activities, adding that this has impacted negatively on the country, according to Daily Post.
The Minister said, “The nation’s wealth is threatened through the forest from oil theft, illegal mining activities and slowing the Great Green Wall Project of controlling desertification.
“The government in support of the president is working on measures to get security forces, and forest guards to flush them out while ensuring community engagement, and international collaboration.”
He explained that the retreat was necessary to collectively brainstorm strategies to address pressing issues about the operations of the Ministry now and in the coming years.
“We have signed a performance bond with Mr. President on 18-point deliverables in the priority areas that relate to our mandates so, most of our deliberations would be centred around the deliverables which is also in line with the 8-point Agenda of this Administration.”