Ghraizi and Partners, an International NGO, has appealed to Nigerians to avoid felling trees for financial gain as it is a crime against nature.
The Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Mohammed Ghraizi, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday while speaking on the 2016 World Earth Day.
He said that because climate change was real, the government must begin to implement “policies that have been put in place to help preserve the environment for our future generations’’.
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“It is a crime to cut a tree because you want to use it for financial gain; it is a crime against nature.
“Before you even have to think about cutting down a tree why don’t you just take a good look at it and ask why it is there?
“Because I have seen some trees maybe hundreds of years old and if I had that in my home land I would preserve it.
“So why would you cut such a tree down? Try not to cut the tree down in the first place.
“We hope it would not fall on deaf ears and someone in the right authority, government stand will actually try and implement the policies that have been put there to help preserve the environment for our future generations.
“Global warming and climate change is real, so wake up people, wake up.’’
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He also urged home owners to make provision for gardens and tress in their housing plans.
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“It is really sad to see that land owners and home owners at the end of the day want to develop their land and they will maximise it, put the whole structure without allocating part of it for a nice garden and trees.
“The land is 700 square meters; they will build on 650 square meters, not even a parking lot, not even a flower. It’s such a sad thing.
“This is Africa; why don’t you integrate Africa into your living style; why can’t we be original in this, because what we have here in Africa nobody in the world has.’’
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According to Ghraizi, Nigeria has the capacity to become one of the world’s best tourist destinations given the natural resources it has.
Also speaking to NAN, Rosaline Agiamoh, the Co-founder of the organisation, said that there were more sustainable and cost effective ways of producing furniture without having to log trees.
Agiamoh spoke of the need to sensitise the public to the need to recycle furniture.
According to her, the recycling of furniture is better than cutting down trees and using the wood to produce furniture.
She said: “If you really have to log a tree, it has to be for a very unique job, not just let’s just log a tree to provide roofing.
“ It is sad when you see such trees being cut down for very mere purpose and you could use other sustainable materials.
“The whole world is pushing for more sustainability. There are a lot of other materials that do not cost us as much in terms of our environment and could be used in housing, construction and so on.
“So having policies that also support that, I think is important.’’
NAN reports that Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22, with events organised worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
This year’s theme is `Trees for the Earth’.
(NAN)