NEWS

Govt Should Do More To Protect Our Forests From Illegal Hewing Of Trees By Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi

<p><strong>Professor <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi<&sol;a> is a Professor of Safety &amp&semi; Environment from TBU Global Extension&comma; New York&comma; USA&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>He is equally a Lecturer and a Safety &amp&semi; Environmental Specialist in the oil and gas industry for about three decades and above&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuis<&sol;a>i is a sound environmentalist whose research paper on Global climate change &amp&semi; Greenhouse gases won another award during the last African Cleanup Initiatives conference &lpar; ACI&rpar; at Transcorp Hilton hotel in Calabar&comma; Cross River State&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>In this interview&comma; the Professor of Safety &amp&semi; Environment bares his mind about the continuous depletion of our forests &amp&semi; falling of trees in Nigeria&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;17269" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-17269" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-17269" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;10&sol;IMG-20221005-WA0012-300x200&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"200" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-17269" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><strong>Openlife Nigeria&colon; What&&num;8217&semi;s your opinion on Government&&num;8217&semi;s intervention by the regulation to protect trees and plants&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi&colon; <&sol;strong>Government intervention is not felt in this part of our clime with regards to forest preservation and protection&period;Though Nigeria is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Climate change agreement&comma; but the govt has not been living up to expectations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We have regulatory agencies or bodies saddled with the responsibilities of protecting the Environment and forests&comma; but you can hardly feel their impact these days&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In the late seventies and eighties&comma; we used to have Forest guards and Environmental Inspectors that used to guide against falling of trees or messing up the Environment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But they have gone extinct somehow&period; Those days&comma; if you fall a tree&comma; the forest guards would arrest you and prosecute you&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;But these days&comma; wood loggers are on the rampage &comma; falling trees in the forests with reckless abandon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The regulatory agencies saddled with this responsibility&comma; should up their game&period; They have offices and go to work just to sign attendance log book and receive salary at the end of the month&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Openlife Nigeria&colon; What&&num;8217&semi;s your rating of the enforcement knowing that making laws is one thing&comma; enforcing them is another thing&quest;<&sol;strong><strong>What&&num;8217&semi;s your idea or solutions towards ensuring enforcement of the laws&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi&colon;<&sol;strong> As a matter of fact&comma; enforcement of the laws are less than adequate&period; Govt is not really enforcing the laws as it should be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;the-story-of-my-life-by-prof-okeke-gerald-ndubuisi&sol;">READ ALSO&colon; The Story Of My Life By Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi <&sol;a><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Govt should do more in this respect so that our forests and bio diversity would not go extinct&period; We are gradually seeing loss of bio diversity sequel to forest depletion by way of continuous wood logging activities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition&comma; the laws against illegal wood logging are there&comma; but the Wood or Forest Inspectors are not living up to expectations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>How many persons have been prosecuted for illegal wood logging in this country&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But illegal wood logging is an ongoing activity today in this country&period; We have lost a lot of our rain forests in this nation sequel to activities of illegal wood loggers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The govt should be up and doing&comma; by prosecuting illegal wood loggers and that would serve as a deterrent to others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;17270" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-17270" style&equals;"width&colon; 225px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-17270" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;10&sol;IMG-20221005-WA0009-225x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"225" height&equals;"300" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-17270" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi And Wife Dr&period; Mrs Vera Ngozi Gift Okeke<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><strong>Openlife Nigeria&colon;<&sol;strong> <strong>What&&num;8217&semi;s your suggestions to the government to be up and doing &quest; Assuming you are in government&comma; how would you push it&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi&colon; <&sol;strong>For it to work&comma; get educated and highly qualified Nigerians to take up leadership positions that would be devoid of sentiments&comma; but strictly on merit&period; One of the bane of our national development is the appointment of mediocrity against meritocracy &lpar; merit&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Secondly&comma; set tasks and targets for employees of these National agencies&comma; and promote them as at when due&comma; if they actually merit promotion&comma; not because of his catchment area or other reasons&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thirdly&comma; govt should equally draw up training programs for them&comma; both on the job and off the job training&period; If there is a training that requires some of the employees to be sent abroad&comma; govt should not hesitate to do it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition&comma; the welfare packages of the workers should be encouraging&comma; especially their families accessing good medical facilities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We have seen cases of retirees giving up the ghost while waiting for their entitlements or pensions to be paid to them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Motivation does a lot of magic and I am of the view that workers in these Federal agencies should be properly motivated to enable them rise up to the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The policy of hire and fire should be implemented accordingly&period; There should be no sacred cows or &&num;8221&semi; this is the Minister&&num;8217&semi;s cousin or brother&&num;8221&semi; &comma; etc&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Openlife Nigeria&colon;<&sol;strong> <strong>Prof&comma; I have been hearing about soot&period; What exactly is soot&quest; And how dangerous is it to the health of citizens&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi&colon; <&sol;strong> Soot is an unburned hydrocarbons&period; Soot is pervading the whole atmosphere around the Niger Delta axis&comma; especially&comma; in Portharcourt in Rivers State&period; Soot are those black substances that you would see on the floor of your house or roof of a building&period; You can feel their impact when you wash cloths&comma; especially&comma; white cloths inside your compound&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During the evening time&comma; you would see all the black substances hanging loosely on your cloths or even vehicles&period; It is a very lethal substance that is cancernogenic in nature&period; That means that it could cause cancer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>You equally see a very dangerous substance in soot called Benzene&period; Benzene is substance that is usually seen during processing or refining of crude oil&period; It is measured in parts per million &lpar; PPM&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>15 PPM of Benzene is not good&comma; but during the production of soot&comma; you get close to 900 to 1000 PPM of Benzene&period; This is what some people within those endangered areas breath on daily basis&comma; during the activities of artisanal refinery &lpar;kpofire&rpar; crude oil thefts around the Niger Delta axis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I am seriously worried that people living around those soot prone areas could be referred as endangered species&period; People are likely going to manifest signs and symptoms of cancer&comma; skin dermatitis&comma; difficulty in breathing&comma;etc&comma; years to come if care is not taken&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That&&num;8217&semi;s why I always appreciate Gov Nyesom Wike of River State for the bold steps he took earlier this year to nip the activities of illegal bunkerers in the bud&comma; which has considerably reduced the level of soot production around Portharcourt in particular&comma; and Rivers State in general&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Openlife Nigeria&colon; Prof&comma; we would like to know more about your school- TBU Global Extension University&quest; You keep on mentioning TBU Global Extension while answering questions&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi&colon;<&sol;strong> Triune Biblical University Global Extension&comma; New York in USA &comma; is one of the best online Universities in the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The school has one of the best curriculum in the world&comma; with close to 2 billion books in the library&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The quality of education from TBU Global Extension is second to none&period; You can go and verify what I am saying&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We have seasoned Professors and researchers at your beck and call as a student&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The program is designed in a way that you study at your pace and meet up with the required credit points and hours as stipulated by the school authority&comma; starting from HND&comma; Degree&comma; Master&&num;8217&semi;s and Doctorate degree programs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Many Universities and Polytechnics in Nigeria are affiliated to our school&comma; such as Lagos State University&comma; Taraba State University&comma; University of Medical Sciences&comma; Ijanikin&comma; and a host of other tertiary Institutions in Nigeria in particular&comma; Africa in general&period; The school has satellite campuses all over the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Chancellor of the University is a Nigerian &lpar; Prof Adeleke Daniel Durojaiye&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;17263" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-17263" style&equals;"width&colon; 225px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-17263" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;10&sol;IMG-20221005-WA0003-225x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"225" height&equals;"300" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-17263" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Prof Adeleke Daniel Durojaiye&comma; Chancellor of Triune Biblical University&comma; Global Extension&comma; New York&comma; USA<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>He has made education cheaper and affordable to Nigerians in particular&period; That is the reason why you would see the tuition fee for Nigeria students is highly subsidized or reduced&comma; compared to other parts of the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I am so proud of this school&comma; cause they gave me real baptism of fire in education as a student years back&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I would honestly advise parents and guardians to enroll their wards in our school&period; In addition to this&comma; students from our school do attend NYSC scheme on completing their first degree program&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We have seasoned and erudite Professors like &comma; Prof Biodun Akinkpelu&comma; Prof Mercy Davies &comma; Prof Dosumu and Professor Valentine&comma; etc&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;17265" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-17265" style&equals;"width&colon; 222px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"wp-image-17265 size-medium" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;10&sol;IMG-20221005-WA0015&lowbar;1-222x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"222" height&equals;"300" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-17265" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Prof Biodun Akinpelu&comma; Adjunct VC TBU Global Extension University&comma; Africa<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Our school equally offer short term courses for all professionals of various fields&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Openlife Nigeria&colon; Prof&comma; what&&num;8217&semi;s your parting shot as we draw this interview to an end&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Prof Okeke Gerald Ndubuisi&colon;<&sol;strong> My parting shot is that Govt should pick up the concern which I have expressed above and do something humanly possible to protect our forests and discourage deforestation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Afforestation should be encouraged now that climate change is staring us in the face&period; We should plant more trees around our Environment to help generate fresh and unpolluted oxygen for our own consumption&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s a great pleasure talking to you my erudite Journalist plenipotentiary&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thanks a lot and remain blessed always&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Openlife Reporter

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