The Federal Government has approved the verification of commercial forests of all charcoal exporters in Nigeria.
In a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Association, Mr Adesola Idowu on Thursday, he stated that the approval was communicated via a letter dated 9th February 2022, issued by the Federal Department of Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment themed: Re: Verification of Status of Our Commercial Forests in Commencing Our 2022 Reforestation As Pledged.
He further added that the verification will be done in 5 states namely FCT Abuja, Oyo, Ogun, Kwara, Kogi between the 22nd February 2022 and 28th February 2022.
Earlier, the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria has assigned minimum of 50,000 units of Eucalyptus seedlings for the Reforestation exercise of Charcoal Exporters who have a goal to plant 100,000 seedling in 2022 alone in furtherance of their information and action Memo presented to and approved by the 15th National Council on Environment which was registered on page 66 of the Report of the Council.
The statement urged all charcoal exporters who wish to participate in the verification exercise to contact the legal representative of the Charcoal Export Legality & Compliance Group of Independent Companies, Florence Omolola Jones Idowu, for more clarification on the verification exercise.
Charcoal exporters have also presented their application for certification to the Federal Government pursuant to the National Environmental (Control of Charcoal Production and Export) Regulation 2014 being the law in force.