Kenny Folarin, Abuja
Nigeria, one of the developing nations in the globe has witnessed exponential growth since independence in all sectors ranging from economy, health, education, information and communication technology (ICT) and Agriculture to mention but a few.
With over 200 million inhabitants of the country, the nation still battles with issues of insecurity, quest for political power, poor educational system and a host of others.
Meanwhile, the issue of housing in the country is of greater worry due to rising cases of building collapses that is always recorded on yearly basis especially during the raining season, despite interventions by the federal government and regulatory bodies to nip this to the bud, the story still remain the same.
The federal government in a bid to ensure decent shelter began housing policy as a measure aimed purposely at solving the housing problems in Nigeria, like other policies, it has its specific goals and how they can be achieved. In this regard, the main goal of the national housing policy is to make decent shelter available and affordable to all Nigerians.
State governments, Financial Institutions, Non-governmental Organizations are not left in this housing mirage as many of them birthed programs to ensure that all Nigerians have a decent shelter.
To achieve this especially in major cities like Lagos, Abuja and Porthacourt, estate developers are are contracted to deliver on housing units that would suit the financial statuses of Nigerians with different payment options available to choose from.
However, a fast growing city like Abuja is now the center of attraction for estate developers as almost every nooks and corners of the city is littered with one estate development or another, would this be one of the master plan of the city?
Whilst the city and many others witness this growth, Nigeria has thrown caution to the wind as trees falling (deforestation) has now become the order of the day, the annual rate of deforestation in Nigeria is 3.5%, approximately 350,000-400,000 hectares per year.
According to a report by reuters, from 2001 to 2021, Nigeria lost 1.14 million hectares of tree cover, equivalent to a 11% decrease in tree cover since 2000 and equal to 587 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to Global Forest Watch, a platform that provides data and monitors forests.
Consequently, President Muhammadu Buhari told a COP15 meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on May 9 that Nigeria had established a national forestry trust fund to help regenerate the country’s forests.
“That may not be enough as the country loses forests at a faster pace”.
Nigeria has lost 96 per cent of its forest due to deforestation, according to the Director-General, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano.
He said the country currently has only four per cent of its original forest cover.
“About 96 per cent of our original forest have been lost; it is catastrophic.
“It is sad that we are losing vegetation cover and there is absolute need to make concerted effort to grow more trees because the more the merrier not only in Lagos but across the country”.
The impact of tree cutting on climate change is overwhelming,
Sustainable Development Goal 13 is about climate action and is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015
with the official mission statement of this goal is to “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”.
Whilst trees in their millions are fallen for estates to be built especially in city like the federal capital territory and other major cities in Nigeria, none of the trees are being replanted for replacement.
Of greater worry is the high cost of renting and purchasing of these houses which makes many of them vacant for years and others uncompleted due to lack of financial resources.
Every year in Nigeria, despite early warning signal from Nigerian Meteorological Agency and other weather forecast agencies, the numbers of houses ravaged with flood with properties and lives lost is alarming, “We are now acustom to the fact that despite early warning signal, flood will ravage some parts of the country”.
To finally nip this to the bud, it is time Federal Government of Nigeria sit up and stop the falling of trees, sensitization in this area is key and regulatory bodies should man up to punish offenders who violate this rule, until this is done, Nigeria is yet to know what has befallen her and should be ready to face the negative impact of climate change vis-a-vis tree falling.