OUTCOME OF NFP IMPLEMENTATION.

Changes in the condition of forest resources.

 It is important to state that TFAP in Nigeria did not proceed beyond the planning phase, which culminated in the production of the Nigerian Forestry Action Programme waiting for implementation.  Consequently, the impacts are more glaring in the creation of conducive environment for the actualisation of reforms suggested in the NFAP.

In other words, changes in the condition of Forest Resources are not as clear as in the areas of policy, legislation and enlightenment.

Similarly, the impacts on supply of goods and services would better be appreciated when the implementation of NFAP is on course.

Policy and Institutional Reforms.

Policy.

Prior to the commencement of the National Forestry Action Programme (NFAP), the Forestry sector did not have a separate policy. What obtained was an encapsulation of the National Forest Policy within an overall “Agricultural Policy for Nigeria”, which was published in 1988 under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

The major objective of this policy was to achieve national self-sufficiency in wood products through the use of sound management techniques. Summarily, this policy aimed at:

With the advent of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1985 and other related government macro-economic policies, the implications for the redesigning of a holistic forest policy becomes evident. Of specific emphasis is the 1995 Federal Government Economic Policy Guidelines, which was aimed at promoting economic growth through a free market economy to encourage greater private sector participation and investment.

These broad economic policy reforms, during the NFAP formulation in Nigeria, provided a wider perspective for taking a critical look at the existing forest policy viz- a-viz emerging world trends in the management of forest resources.

In a review of forestry and related sector policies (Working Group 1) the NFAP identified the following problems associated with the existing policies and practice:

To address the identified gaps, the NFAP Report highlighted the need for a review of the existing forest policy in order to provide an enabling environment for sustainable forestry management and development in the country. To achieve this, it set out broad strategies for review to include:

The Report further stated that the new National Forest Policy must be complemented by state policies and should put in place appropriate mechanisms to arrest unrestrained resource flow as well as ensuring the means for implementing sustainable management.  Particularly, the mandatory duties of the FDF, SFDs and LGAs would need to be delineated while the role of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and incentives to private forestry would be institutionalised.

Arising from this, the Federal Government set up two committees viz the National Committee on Review of Forestry and Wildlife Legislation; and the National Forest Policy Review Committee in 1998. These two Committees would be concluding their assignments before the end of the Year 2001.

The National Forest Policy Review Committee is being supported by the Ford Foundation and salient considerations being made for incorporation in the proposed National Forest Policy include the following:

Decentralisation:  the need for government to give up more power and authority to institutions below federal and state levels i.e. local governments and possibly ward levels. This presumes the inclusion of community institutions, where they exist e.g. Community Based Organisations (CBOs). This is informed by the realisation that state governments do not have enough financial and human resources to effectively manage and control what happens at the lower levels. Aside from the international clamour for democratic reforms and decentralisation, another important consideration is that natural resources are best controlled and managed by the people using them and living closest to them.

Peoples’ Participation: increased participation of  “producer communities” in natural resource management and more active articulation and representation of their interests, is deemed critical to the overall success of any policy reform process. This would result in increased responsibility for community mobilisation to ensure sustainable management of resources in the country. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) should be mandatory for any development activity, as this would address the need for social research to determine some of the limitations to sustainable natural resources management.

Partnerships: Government should promote the establishment of partnerships between implementing organisations, the private sector, NGOs, CBOs and International Aid Agencies. This would enable government to concentrate its resources on policy, legislation and natural resources management.

Financial and Economic Frameworks: locally available financial incentives directly influence natural resources management strategies (Rihoy et al, 1999). The National and Local political and economic factors influencing such incentives need to be reviewed and revised to ensure that a significant share of benefits generated from natural resources based enterprises are returned directly to the “producer communities”

Institutional Reforms: although there exists a need to decentralise and delegate management responsibility and control over natural resources, such transfer of authority needs to be accompanied by institutional reforms at all levels. Also required is institutional support at the local government and community levels, with capacity required in governance, natural resources management, marketing and administration. This will provide communities with the requisite technical skills for natural resources management.

Diversification Strategies: the success of sustainable natural resource management depends largely on the ability of such strategies to financially out perform alternative land use strategies at a lower cost to the natural resource base (Scott, 1998). This also depends on optimising income from the consumptive and non-consumptive use of the full range of locally available natural resources, which will align them with household management strategies.

State of the Environment Reporting: the framework of policy review process should be a State of the Environment Report, which should be done on a regular basis.

Land Reforms: Land Use Classification should be undertaken to ensure optimal utilisation of land. This would aid the revision of the 1978 Land Use Decree to empower communities in playing more beneficial, active and traditional roles in natural resources management. The proposed reforms are also to cover clearly defined usufructuary and tenurial right and conservation of fragile ecosystems, amongst others.

The committee has conducted study tours to Southern Africa and Malaysia, as a means of experience sharing and learning from other countries’ policy formulation process. The last phase of the study tours is to visit Ghana, after which its report would be distributed to stakeholders for deliberation at a National Workshop. Thus the NFAP can be said to have successfully engineered the review of Nigerian Forest Policy

Institutional.

The NFAP clearly identified existing institutional weaknesses in the forestry sector, assessed prospects for enhancement and proffered suggestions.  Institutional arrangement has been a major problem in addressing forestry and environmental issues in the country. Lack of personnel and/or placement of personnel with requisite skills, administrative misallocation, ineffective coordination and linkages between relevant agencies have always dogged this sector. For example, the nucleus of the defunct Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) moved round six ministries in twenty years before it was created as an agency and put under the Presidency in 1998.

Administration

Recognising the reason(s) for the ineffective and inefficient discharge of responsibilities on forestry and environmental issues, the NFAP called for the need to set up a National Council on Environment (NCE) which is to serve as the apex policy formulation organ for environmental issues in the country. In Nigeria, National Councils on various sectors are coordinated by the Federal Ministry with responsibility for that sector. These National Councils are made up of the state Ministries in charge of the specific sector, the Federal Ministry and related Federal establishment and the Federal Minister chairs it.  Tacitly put, the call for the National Council for Environment provided the impetus for the call for the creation of a Federal Ministry of Environment. The eventual creation of the Federal Ministry of Environment was a realisation of one of the pivots of the NFAP’s recommendation on institutional reforms.

The Ministry is the apex organ for coordinating environmental forestry development activities in the country and the Minister is the Chairman of the National Council on Environment. This Council is responsible for policy making, coordination and harmonisation of environmental management efforts across the nation. It is made up of all the technical departments and parastatals in the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Ecological fund and States Ministries of Environment.  The NFDC still remains a subsidiary of this Council and retains its functions with the same membership, except for the inclusion of the Directors of the two newly created departments i.e. Environmental Conservation and Drought and Desertification Amelioration.

Research 

There is no direct impact of the NFAP on Research. However, the indirect outcome of the NFAP process in Research could be gleaned from the changing perspective for the need to conduct Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA) as a tool to ascertaining areas of research needs of the populace. It is worth mentioning that in appreciation of the importance of research in preservation and conservation of genetic resources, the NFAP report identified the need to set up a National Herbarium and rehabilitate existing ones. One of the notable herbaria in the country, Forest Herbarium, Ibadan (FHI) at the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) is being rehabilitated. Although this is as much an outcome of NFAP as it is in the day to day administration of the FHI.

Education

The NFAP under a Human Resources Development and Capacity Building project identified in its Institutional Strengthening programme emphasised the need for strengthening education and training in forestry and natural resources management. It also recommended the development of appropriate curriculum, in tune with modern trends in forestry development, to be introduced at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education. This would have been more obvious if implementation of the NFAP had commenced.

Extension.

Prior to the commencement of the NFAP, forestry extension was being delivered under the overall framework of the Unified Agricultural Extension System (UAES). The essence of the UAES was that an extension worker would be adequately equipped to handle the dissemination of information on all aspects of agricultural production. However, in practice, delivery of forestry extension was being pushed to the background. The NFAP was able to influence the placing of priority on agroforestry practices through its technical committees at the state level. Available empirical evidence suggests that a number of communities, especially in the North are now engaged in on-farm tree planting. 
 

Legislative.

Forest legislation is an indispensable tool for the implementation of forest policies because it provides the structural framework within which National Forest Policies are set and in turn reflects their objectives and priorities (Adeyoju, 1994). 

From pre-colonial times to the early sixties, Nigeria has not been short of legislation in the forestry sector. However, most of these legislation are obsolete and are not in conformity with present developmental trends. Equally, most of these laws were drafted under the regional government arrangements (Northern, Western and eastern Administrative Regions) which still subsist till today, except for some few states e.g. Kebbi and Cross River, that have enacted new legislation as state properties. A prominent feature of these legislation is that the states laws are largely modifications of the regional laws, which were in turn modifications of the 1938 Forestry Law (Bada, 1995), with the following common features:

Generally, emphasis was placed on the elaboration of appropriate set of regulations with regard to:

After an assessment of the existing legislation, the NFAP identified the following problems that need to be addressed:

The National Committee on the Review of Forestry and Wildlife Legislation produced a draft decree in 1999. With the support of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), a two-day consultative workshop – involving the relevant stakeholders, was held in August of 1999. The key elements of the draft National Forestry Legislation are:

The draft is to be prepared as a bill to be forwarded for consideration by the National Assembly. When this process is completed, the NFAP would have succeeded in providing the enabling legislation for sustainable management of Nigeria’s forest resources.

Related Sector Policy and Institutional Responses:

Agriculture: The NFAP did not influence any policy change in the agricultural sector, since the 1988 Agricultural policy has not been reviewed based on any recommendation in the NFAP. Suffice it to mention that the NFAP did not mention the need for any policy review in this sector. It however, called for a re-orientation in agricultural programmes, incentives and practices that contribute to deforestation, and to remove institutional overlaps in the management of natural resources.  It is in this light that it might be stated that the agricultural sector responded to the NFAP through institutional change as regards the scrapping of the Nigerian Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) in 1998.

NALDA was created by Decree 92 of 1992 with the mandate for land development; agricultural production, environmental protection, land use planning and management; extension and Agro-services. In the implementation of this mandate, one of the major activities carried by the Agency was bush clearing of large tracts of contiguous land, each with a minimum size of 1000 hectares. Of course, these large tracts are obviously forest areas and the continual existence of such a body negates whatever attempts are made in the forestry sector to increase the country’s forest cover.

It was the need to address these issues, amongst others, that informed the setting up of a Presidential Committee in 1996 to look into the activities of NALDA. The Committee reported that NALDA lacked the capacity in terms of physical infrastructure and personnel to perform its functions (FMANR, 1996). Besides, its creation had resulted into making some departments dormant in the then Federal Ministry of Agriculture. It was thus scrapped and absorbed into the Department of Rural Development of the Ministry.  The scrapping of the Agency with a blanket mandate to clearly deforest the scanty forest estate of the country definitely reduced government endorsed sources of deforestation. 

Energy:     

Surprisingly, Nigeria does not have an approved Omnibus Energy Policy. What obtain are components of the policy intent as captured by related sectors e.g. Petroleum, Power and Steel etc. However, a draft Energy policy was enunciated in 1988 and in 2001, an Inter-Ministerial Committee was set up to review the draft and produce an Energy Policy for the Country. The Committee concluded its assignment in April 2001 and the policy is awaiting the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The NFAP Working Group 7 report, (Fuelwood) averred that energy policy issues in relation to fuelwood should ensure that the energy needs for sustainable development paths are met in the most cost-effective and Environmentally friendly manner (Amaza, 1995). The major recommendation of this report was the reduction in demand for fuelwood through effective demand management strategies such as substitution with alternative fuels especially renewable.

Salient strategies in the Draft Energy Policy resulting from the NFAP exercise include massive afforestation schemes for development of community woodlots, diversification of energy mix, promotion of the use of renewable energy sources, and research into existing methods of energy generation to reduce the demand on fuelwood. Most importantly, the key elements in the draft National Energy Policy, that could be indirectly, if not directly linked to the NFAP, on the development and application of renewable energy and its technologies are:  

Telecommunications:    

An appreciable proportion of the demand for poles in Nigeria’s forest resources is made by the telecommunications and energy sectors for the provision of transmission poles for erecting telephone lines and distribution of electricity. The National telecommunications Policy, 2000, is anchored on the shift from analogue to digital and modern telecommunication facilities. In the policy, the transmission network consists of terrestrial microwave, optical fibre, cable and satellite. The implication of this on Nigeria’s forest resources is that the local demand for poles would considerably reduce, thereby allowing for a more vibrant export potential for the poles. It is worth mentioning that in as much as this is not a direct outcome of the NFAP, it would contribute to reducing the pressure on the country’s forest resources.

Industry:

The only industry that the NFAP influenced is the wood-based industry, probably because it is closely related to the forestry sector. Although available information to substantiate this influence are only qualitative because of the dearth of quantitative data.

Social and Economic Policy.

The NFAP did not specifically address major issues in the social and economic policy aspects of the Nigerian polity directly. However, there are certain programmes being pursued that could be seen to contribute to reducing the pressures on existing forest resources. Examples of these include the Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP) and the Poverty Eradication Programme (PEP). The focus of these programmes are to empower the rural communities in engaging in small and medium scale business enterprises that would divert their attention from the inordinate exploitation of forest resources as a means of livelihood.

The Obasanjo’s Economic Direction 1999 – 2003, report averred that there is a need for policy reversal to reduce the number of Nigerians in the poverty range from 67.1 million in 1999 to internationally acceptable levels.  In this wise, measures planned to address the twin problems of low economic growth and high poverty incidence by the current administration include the provision of 5 million jobs which also involves the training and settlement of at least 50% of tertiary institutions graduates. A return to agricultural based programme and its modernisation with adequate consideration for the environment.

Overall Impact of Policy and Institutional Changes:

It is obvious, from the fore-going, that the NFAP has facilitated some changes in policy, legislation and institutions and this is being internalised with the continual interaction of policy makers that appreciate the importance of the NFAP approach. It is worth mentioning, that it would take a much longer time to actually ascertain the level to which these changes have been imbibed because the NFAP did not proceed further than the planning phase.

New Policy Tool:

The most important policy tool created as a result of the NFAP process is the use of bottom-up approach and dialoguing amongst the relevant stakeholders in enunciating policies. This tool ensures the incorporation of the various interests of the relevant stakeholders in the forestry sector. It is in this wise that the present policy being formulated by the National Forest Policy Review Committee; with members drawn from the NGO community, Private sector and Public sector; would be subjected to a stakeholders review workshop before finalising.

Another tool worth mentioning is the state of the environment report as the basis for periodic reviews of the forest policy. The NFAP anchored its recommendations on the review of the forest policy on periodic assessment of the conditions of the forests to provide a clear understanding of the response of the sector to whatever policy that is prevailing. This would then dictate the direction of any proposed review.

Consideration of Forestry in the Economy:

Prior to the commencement of the NFAP exercise in Nigeria, forestry was not considered, in its entirety, as having much impact on the economy. For example, forestry was said to have contributed about 2% to the GDP and this estimate is based purely on timber exploitation. It is thus obvious that the aesthetic, health and recreational values of forestry are not taken into consideration in the computation of national accounting. In order to address this, the NFAP set up a working group on “Development of a range of economic/financial indicators which will allow for a more accurate measurement of the impact of economic policies on the environment”. The report contained recommendations for the implementation phase of the NFAP, which if followed would really capture the major part of forestry’s contribution to the economy.

Perception of  Forestry by Policy makers and Planners:

With the background presented in 2.3, it is obvious that policy makers and planners perceived forestry as not contributing much to the economy, perhaps this could partly explain the low priority accorded the sector. However, with the NFAP, some of these perceptions changed because of the awareness creation targeted at the policy makers, at least in the related sector, through their membership of various NFAP committees.

Table 2.1 Consideration of the implications of related sectors policies/ on forestry.

Source: Field Survey, 2001.

1 - Not at all, 2  -     Occasionally, 3  -  Frequently, 4  - Religiously.

The responses on whether these sectors take into account the implications of the forest policy on their policies and programmes also followed the same pattern as above.

The above table shows that it is only the Energy sector that religiously takes into account the implications of forest policy in the design and implementation of their policy and programmes. This is not unconnected with the fact that forestry and the Energy Commission of Nigeria have a long history of collaboration from the 1980s, when they both worked on the National Fuelwood substitution programme.

However, the perception in the Petroleum industry that they take into account the implications of their plans on the forestry sector need be viewed with caution. This is so because if they do, the restiveness in the Niger Delta; as a result of massive loss of vegetation leading to less land for agriculture and pollution of water bodies; might not be at the prevailing high tension levels. It is, however, a positive sign that, at least, all the sector related to forestry consider the sector in enunciating their policies and programmes.

Stakeholder Involvement:

The NFAP was able to mobilise the rural communities to take part in forestry activities and this was more prevalent in the Northern states, where the participatory involvement of local communities was highlighted in the Second Forestry Project that was running concurrently with the NFAP. This was made possible by the fact that it was FORMECU that was coordinating the two programmes, therefore, at every opportunity where forestry is being discussed, the NFAP concept was propagated. Most importantly, the World Bank that was the Executing agency for the Nigerian NFAP also provided the funds for the second forestry project and at every supervisory mission, the level of NFAP integration into the second forestry project was assessed. This was principally because the World Bank made the successful integration of the NFAP as a pre-condition for providing financial assistance for the then proposed Third Forestry Project for Nigeria.

In spite of these efforts at the local level, no new interest group emerged as a result of the NFAP process. However, some NGOs that were already existing incorporated forestry activities into their regular mandates.  Although many NGOs concerned with the environment have emerged in Nigeria, it can not be said that they were as a result of the NFAP, because their focus is mainly on the environment in its entirety. Most of them also blossomed during the Military dictatorship when the international community deserted Government related activities but embraced the civil society especially the NGOs.

 Similarly, no new women organisations were formed but the existing ones incorporated tree planting as part of their activities, e.g. Women in Agriculture (WIA),

The fore-going discussion shows that, in as much as the NFAP did not lead to the formation of new organisations, the existing ones were encouraged to be more involved in promoting forestry activities.

With specific reference to the private sector, very little was achieved by the NFAP. This is very much connected with the fact that participation of this sector is anchored on the assurance of deriving profits from investments and the economic situation in Nigeria as at when the NFAP planning phase was on-stream was very dismal. As a matter of fact, a number of private firms involved in forestry activities, especially saw-milling, were known to have closed-down during this period because of low returns on investments. 

Investments in the Forestry Sector: 

Current level of investment as compared with the situation prior to the Commencement of NFP.

The sources and level of funding for forestry development programmes are exhaustively discussed in 3.3. The budgetary allocation to the SFDs and FDF are shown in Tables 3.10 and 3.8 respectively. The major financial input to SFDs that can be directly linked to NFP process was the N100,000 (US$10,000) requested annually of each state government to contribute towards the TFAP. This amount was expected to be released to SFDs as a special grant or built into their annual budgetary provision. Most states obliged and made the money available between 1992 and 1996, while Lagos, Delta and Jigawa states exceeded the target. Lagos State released the sum of N2million (US$200,000) annually, while Delta State and Benue State budgeted the sum of N300,000(US$30,000) and N500,000 (US$50,000) respectively. Apart from the above, there has not been significant improvement on the level of funding of forestry programmes by the state governments. The Federal Government, on the other hand, provided the sum of N1.862 million (US$186,200) to support the TFAP process. This amount was essentially utilised for data collection and to support the activities of the NCU and RCU.

Programmes/areas that have received attention on account of the NFP process.

The inherent deficiencies in the current National Forest Policy and inadequate legislative provisions were highlighted in 2.2. Concerted efforts made at addressing these areas include the setting up of a National Forest Policy Review Committee as noted in 2.2.2. More than ever before, greater emphasis is now placed on community participation in forest management. As an addendum to the Environmental management Programme (EMP-Forestry node) sponsored by the World Bank, a Participatory Forest Reserve management Programme (PFRMP) hinged on community participation was executed in 3 out of the proposed 5 forest reserves located in different parts of the country, as a representation of the different ecological zones in Nigeria.

The project, which has been successfully executed, engendered the interest and participation of the local stakeholders. The President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, shortly after assumption of office noted with dismay the precarious state of the country’s forest resources and therefore directed the forestry department to bring up a comprehensive scheme to abate the situation. This led to the development and approval of the blue print on National Forestry Programmes to run from the year 2000 to 2003. This scheme was essentially derived from the NFAP and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the budgeted estimate of N11.25billion (US$112.5 Million) to execute the programme. It is, however, hoped that funds would be released whenever required to run the programme.

Sources of Investment in Forestry since the commencement of the NFP.

Funding of forestry programmes comes primarily from federal and state governments and the international community. The budgetary allocation to SFDs and FDF are discussed in Chapter 3. The specific allocations to TFAP by the states and federal government were also noted in 2.4. Between 1991 and 1997, the UNDP provided the sum of N695.5million (US$695,500) for the TFAP process. In 1994, FAO funded a Neem Disease eradication project in the Northern states with a sum of US$155,000. The World Bank gave a grant of US$3.5million for the execution of the EMP, which lasted between 1992 and 1997.

Other internationally funded programmes are:

i.          ADB Forest Resources Study for the sum of US$4million;

      ii.    ADB Forestry Development Project for US$140million;

      iii.   Global Environment Facility (GEF) National Parks Management for US$8.3million;

      iv.   Funding of the Review of Forest Policy by Ford Foundation.

The dividends of NFP in terms of resources mobilisation at the National level have not been substantiated. However, every state has in place a State Forestry Action Plan awaiting implementation. Also, reactions from the international community are encouraging. The efforts of Ford Foundation and World Bank on Forest Policy review and forest reserve management respectively have earlier been discussed. The Federal Government is currently negotiating with the World Bank for a project on Micro-Watershed and Environmental Management Programme (MEMP). This project which is expected to cost about US$100million will be multi-sectoral and community based with strong forestry component. Already, the GEF Governing Council has approved the sum of US$8.3 million for the Biodiversity Component of the programme as earlier noted. The investment in forestry development is summarised in Appendix 10.

Measures taken to promote private sector investment in Forestry:

Several factors have been militating against private investment in Nigeria.  Paramount are insecurity of land and tree tenure, long gestation period of trees and inadequate information on tree silviculture.  Several steps have therefore, been taken to encourage more people to invest in forestry in the country.  These include

a.         Federal Government incentive to private participation in forestry.

The Federal Government of Nigeria in its annual budget release for 1998 introduced a lending initiative specifically targeted at the participation of the private sector in forest establishment. The lending initiative guarantees fixed lending rates of up to 80% and varying repayment schedules dependent on the forest product envisaged. These include 15 to 20 years for timber, 8 to 10 years for fuelwood and 5 years for the establishment of fruit trees.

b.         Distribution of forestry inputs.

Another important incentive for private sector participation is the distribution of tree seedlings, at no cost to the recipient, by the Federal and State governments. This provided tremendous encouragement to the rural dwellers, especially farmers, who plant the seedlings on their farmlands.  More than 197,000 contact farmers benefited from such scheme under the second forestry project (World Bank, 1997). This led to the establishment of about 4,882 ha of private woodlots in the northern part of the country. This seedling distribution was further complemented by the award of monetary rewards to the outstanding farmers and communities.

Capacity Development.

 Human Resources.

Table 2.2:         Manpower Disposition at the Federal Department of Forestry. Pre-NFAP

   Source: Federal Department of Forestry, 1999.

The manpower disposition shown above depicts the situation before the commencement of the NFAP at the Federal level. It is worth mentioning that the low level of professionals is not indicative of unavailability of trained professionals. This assertion is further supported by the ensuing Table 2.3, which shows that 210 members of staff have degree qualifications, while 135 possess Higher national Diplomas. The reason for this disparity is that the 170 were employed into the Federal Department and placed on the officer cadre while others who had degrees were equally employed but due to lack of vacancy in the professional cadre, they were recruited under the technical cadre.

Table 2.3:       Manpower Disposition at The FDF by Academic qualification.

Source: Federal Department of Forestry, 1999.

At the state level, the manpower disposition for the existing 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory as at then, is shown in Table 2.4 below.

Table 2.4:       Manpower Disposition of the states’ forestry departments. Pre- NFAP. 

Source: FORMECU, 1996

Table 2.5: Manpower Disposition at the Federal Department of Forestry. Post NFAP

Source: Field Survey, 2001.

The reduction in the manpower strength in the Federal Department of Forestry was due to retirements (8), deaths (4) and transfer to other departments with the creation of the Federal Ministry of Environment. It is important to note that there has been no employment into the professional and technical cadre since 1990 because of the embargo placed on employment by the Federal Government of Nigeria. However, the creation of the new ministry is expected to lead to more employment.

Table 2.6:       Manpower Disposition of the states’ forestry departments.

Post-NFAP

Field Survey, 2001.

At the state level, it was difficult to get quantitative information for all the states on manpower disposition. However, for the states where information was retrieved, there were slight improvements over the figures shown in Table 2.6. The situation at the state level as depicted above showed an improvement. This could probably be due to the political dispensation in which most of the parties promised job creation. It is important to note that this increase in number has not translated to improved management of forest resources at the state level because the new staff employed have not been exposed to real forestry duties, due to the poor funding and facilities.

It must be mentioned that the forestry sector in the country lacks the effective capacity to carry out its statutory responsibilities. This is more obvious at the state level where there is little or no attention to capacity development except for the occasional attempts by the Federal Government through foreign funded programmes. At the Federal level, however, the situation is better but not sufficient especially with relation to evolving global trends in forestry development.

In fact, in a response to a questionnaire by the African Academy of Science on NFP in 1999, the Federal Department of Forestry stated that the forestry sector in Nigeria require training in almost all the areas of Forest Resources management and also the use of modern information and communication technology in forest resources management. In prioritising the training needs, the following were considered paramount:

It is thus obvious that forestry sector in Nigeria suffers from inadequate personnel and modern technologies and concepts of forest management. This is further buttressed by the fact that some of the participatory approaches to forestry development being adopted now are not using effective means of eliciting the full participation of the rural populace.

Infrastructural Resources:

In appreciation of the obvious dearth of infrastructural resources replete in the forestry sector, the NFAP highlighted the need for providing basic infrastructural capacity. Unfortunately, since the NFAP has not been implemented, the sector still suffers from a serious lack of equipment and facilities. Presently, most SFDs do not have any functional vehicle, neither do they have equipment to conduct inventories, surveys, etc. This invariably accounts for the low information generation in the sector.

 Plan Conceptualisation:

The NFAP has contributed immensely to conceptualisation of plans for the forestry sector and has increased the capacity of the sector to plan for forestry development. At the Federal level, this has manifested in the production of a Forestry development programme for the country, which is discussed in details in Chapter 4. Equally, at the state level, the experiences gained during the planning phase of the NFAP is the framework being used for development of forestry programmes as affirmed by the Directors of Forestry consulted during the study. However, the capacity to implement the programmes as designed could be suspect.

Research and Technology:

The NFAP highlighted key issues that would require attention through research for use in the development of the forestry sector.  Prominent amongst which was the establishment of a National Herbarium/Arboretum to facilitate the conservation of the diverse gene pool in the country. Also, a research agenda to include research and development of Non-Timber Forest products (NTFPs) to strengthen their production, utilisation and marketing, research into forest diseases control especially neem infestation, introducing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) etc. was also identified. However, since the NFAP did not proceed further than the planning phase, a clear assessment of this can not be made. Suffice it to mention that the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, which has the mandate for forestry research in the country, is still pursuing the areas of research that were highlighted in the early parts of this chapter. Thus, it is apparent that there have not been appreciable advances in forestry research as a result of the NFAP.

With regard to technology, the situation is a little better than the commencement of the NFAP. Although this situation is not a function of the exercise but rather a reflection of the dysfunctionality apparent in every facet of the Nigerian economy before the advent of the present democratic setting.  It is relevant to mention that the NFAP recommended the need for the use of modern facilities in articulating forest management practices.  Of note is the fact that the most advanced technology in the sector in Nigeria was acquired by FORMECU in the course of the various programmes it has coordinated. This includes an array of sophisticated c omputers for word processing, statistical analysis, remote sensing and GIS. Some states also acquired computers to assist in the implementation of externally funded projects.

Stakeholder Capacity:

Except for farmers in very few communities, especially in the North, and some community members that were part of the series of Regional NFAP workshops held in the four geographical regions of Nigeria (see Appendix 11), capacity of the other stakeholders to pursue forestry activities was not enhanced. Unfortunately, the DFID fund for the Country Capacity Project did not materialise. The CCP contained a series of capacity building programme for the private sector, communities and the NGO communities. This would have contributed to increasing their capacity in pursuing forestry activities.

Intersectoral Discussion and Integrated Planning 

A very prominent achievement of the NFAP in Nigeria was the championing of intersectoral discuss as a major plank of enunciating development programmes in the forestry sector. The establishment of technical committees and Advisory Councils as earlier explained in Chapter 1 was the main vehicle through which this was achieved. The NFAP also brought to the fore the realization that most of the problems in the forestry sector were caused by several overbearing externalities and as such, addressing them must incorporate all the relevant interests. The sustainability of this approach is evident in the fact that most of the states have imbibed the need for integrated planning in the management of their forest resources.

Adaptability of the NFP

As variously mentioned earlier, the NFAP did not proceed further than the planning phase, as a result, it has not been modified. However, in the context of other national forest programmes as enumerated in Chapter 1, important factors that necessitated the modification of their approach in subsequent programmes include the following:

With regard to the capacity to regularly update the national forest programmes, it could be said that the forestry sector has developed the capability, in spite of glaring constraints. This capacity is enhanced by the existence of various internationally funded programmes in the country, that most often have capacity building as a major component.

By and large, the forestry sector especially at the Federal level has been responding promptly to demand for new forestry development initiatives, as in the case of the recent presidential call for a fast tract forest development programme for Nigeria.

Integration of NFP

The NFAP has been completely integrated into the overall national planning process with its incorporation in the national rolling plan. It is worth re-iterating that the NFAP gave rise to the Forestry Development Programme, which at the moment is the major aspiration of the forestry sector in Nigeria. Most importantly, the NFAP report is the basis for the enunciation of other forestry-related programmes at the state level as well.

Capacity to review NFP

The capacity to periodically revise the NFAP exists in the forestry sector, especially as most of the key players that formulated the plan are still in the forestry sector. On the other hand, those that are no longer in the sector are still very much involved in the NFAP discuss. 

ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF NATIONAL FOREST PROGRAMMES

Current level of production of goods and services. 

Industrial wood production.

FORMECU(1994) gives the main industrial wood products to include sawnwood, particleboard, pulp/paper and poles. Most of the sawnwood is derived from the high forest areas of the southern part of the country through the 1470 sawmills. Species sawn include Milicia excelsa, Enthradophragma Spp, Khaya Spp, Triplochiton scleroxylon, to mention a few.

There are eight integrated plymills deriving their raw materials from the natural forests and plantations. Nigeria has 3 pulp and paper mills, publicly owned but presently not functional. The mills are designed to use plantation species namely Gmelina arborea, Pine and Eucalyptus Species. Poles come solely from plantations and woodlands.

Information on the actual level of wood production from the forests is scanty and of low reliability. The most authentic attempt at documenting the level of wood production on a national scale was the projection made by FORMECU (1994). Table 3.1 shows the projected production of industrial wood between 1990 and 2010.

Table3.1:        Production of Industrial wood by product classes (‘000m³ roundwood equivalent).

Source: FORMECU, (1994)

The proportion of product classes by forest types is shown in Table 3.2 below.

Table 3.2:       Production of Product Classes by Forest Types (%).

  Source: FORMCEU (1994)

As at the time of this projection, the only area data available for the computation was the land use and vegetation data for Nigeria (Allen, 1981). A dereservation rate of 1.2% was assumed for the forest reserves, while the deforestation rate of 2.6% was taken for the free areas. However, these assumptions are not in conformity with the FAO assessments for 1980 and 1990 indicating a rate of deforestation of about 3.5%. The plantation areas were rightly based on the actual areas established.

Fuelwood Production.

Fuelwood constitutes the major source of energy for the rural people to meet their needs for cooking and heating. It has been asserted that fuelwood together with charcoal and other biomass resources account for over 50% of national primary energy consumption (FORMECU, 1996). As with the industrial wood production, statistics on fuelwood production have been derived from projections but using forest areas, Mean Annual Increments (MAI) and deforestation rate as variables.  World Bank (1991) put fuelwood production in 1990 at 85 million m³ decreasing to 74 and 65 million m³ for the years 2000 and 2010 respectively. The most recent projection on a national scale was done by FORMECU in 1994 and shows a consistent decline in production from 1994 to 2010 (Table 3.3).

Table 3.3:       Production of fuelwood by ecological regions in Nigeria

(‘000M³).

Source: FORMECU (1994)

Expectedly as seen clearly from the projections that the greatest percentage of fuelwood in Nigeria comes from the High Forest, while the Sudan savanna with its scanty vegetation and low regeneration rate produces the least.

NTFPs.

A comprehensive assessment of the production and consumption of NTFPs was hitherto lacking until FORMECU (Okafor et al, 1994) commissioned a study to evaluate the collection, processing and marketing of NTFPs in Nigeria. The study came out with an estimate of annual rates of extraction, consumption and market sales of NTFPs by individual households in the country (Table 3.4). The report, which attests clearly to the importance of NTFPs in Nigeria equally provides a succinct picture of the common NTFPs, their distribution and uses.

Table 3.4:       Estimate of Annual Rates of Extraction, Consumption and Market Sales of NTFPs by Ecological Zones.

Source: Okafor et al, (1994)

Ecological Services.

The Nigerian Forests have been acknowledged to provide numerous ecological and environmental services, which support sustainable economic development. The environmental values of forests are noticeable in the regulation of climate and mitigation of natural disasters including desertification.

Some of the economic values of forests in Nigeria can be estimated by their opportunity costs. Okojie, (1994), reports that the environmental problems resulting from deforestation is causing about US$5 billion of damage per annum. He concluded that the amount could be taken as part of the economic values of the country’s forests.

Long Term Sustainability of Production of Forest Goods and Services.

The long-term sustainability of production of forest goods and services could be viewed from two angles. The first option is to relate demand with production and assess if they match. On the other hand, the actual yield from the forests could signify their inherent potential to cope with demand. However, the second option might not be feasible in the present circumstances, due to the unreliable or non-existent aggregate values for the country.

TABLE 3.5:            COMPARISON OF PRODUCTION AND DEMAND OF INDUSTRIAL WOOD IN NIGERIA (‘000M3 ROUNDWOOD VOLUME) 

Table 3.5 gives a comparison between production and demand of industrial wood as projected by FORMECU (1994). It is glaring from this Table that demand far outstrips production except in the case of pulp and paper which reflects deficit for year 2010 only. The surplus recorded for this product in 1990 and 2000 is not surprising given the fact that the existing mills are currently dormant. The deficit recorded for the other wood types have far reaching implications, not only on sustainable production of goods and services but also on the nation’s forests. As demand exacerbates, more pressure would be mounted on the existing forest resources, to the extent that the forest estates might not be able to cope. It is apparent, therefore, that deforestation would increase exponentially to the detriment of thenvironment.

The picture is similar with the fuelwood as i ndicated in Table 3.6.  It is noticed that aggregate production at the national level shows surplus over demand up till 1995. However, deficit sets in from year 2000, increasing appreciably over time. Furthermore, the deficit is more obvious in the Sudan and Guinea Savanna, which currently experience shortfalls because of low production.  Unfortunately several studies have shown that it is not economically viable to transport fuelwood over a distance of 80Km from its primary source.  This makes it unattractive for marketers to transport fuelwood from the South to these zones.

Table 3.6: Comparison of production and demand of fuelwood in Nigeria (000m³). 

Source: FORMECU, (1994) 

The unsustainable level of production of fuelwood in Nigeria is likely to continue for some time as long as the energy crisis facing the country remains unresolved. The country still witnesses erratic supply of petroleum products (Kerosene and Gas), and when available the prices are beyond the reach of ordinary people. The implication is not far fetched, as more people will resort to fuelwood, which is already in short supply.

As noted before, there is no systematic study of the yield and consumption of NTFPs in Nigeria. However, FORMECU (1996) reports that there are shortages of NTFPs resulting from a combination of several factors including deforestation, uncontrolled exploitation by an expanding population and unsustainable harvesting.

The long term ecological services rendered by the forests will definitely be hampered by the low priority given to their management and valuation. The full effects on forest destruction are usually not realised until the short-term benefits of their destructive use have been fully enjoyed and of course, the environment would be worse off in the long run.

Resource requirements to manage forests sustainably to generate goods and services at the current level.

It is imperative from the discussion in 3.1.4 that the current level of production of goods and services from the country’s forests is not sustainable. It will, therefore, be irrational to think of the resource requirements to maintain that status quo. On the other hand, FORMECU (1996) in the National Forests Action Programme (NFAP) proposed for the country computed a reasonable level of resources that would be required for the different programme areas needed to achieve sustainable forestry development in Nigeria.

Table 3.7 gives an investment outlay required for a sustainable forestry development in Nigeria, over a period of 5 years. It is anticipated that at such levels of investment, which is expected to involve both the private and public sectors, the sustainable level of production from Nigeria’s forest resources could be reversed from the projected deficit to a sufficiency level. The proposal in Table 3.7 has apportioned more responsibility to the Federal Government, especially over the State Governments. This is understandable, given the present revenue earning capacity, which is considerably in favour of the Central Government, which takes about 58% of the country’s total revenue.

Table 3.7:       Estimated investment requirements for forestry development in Nigeria (US$Million).

Source: FORMECU (1996)

The private sector is construed to include entrepreneurs, NGOs and financing institutions, whose support might not necessarily be loan-related. Private sector involvement would be critical in three areas, namely:

(I)    tree planting on agricultural lands, communal lands, fuelwood production and development of  woodlots;

(ii). Industrial entrepreneurs investing in plantations for timber production; and

(iii) Large scale commercial companies investing in the expansion of their wood processing factories. The contribution of the communities is expected to be mostly in kind. This can come in the form of labour and resources to plant trees on farms, degraded lands, hillside protection, plantations and woodlots.

Current level of Inputs to Forestry development in Nigeria.

Governments.

Like other development sectors, forestry in Nigeria is funded through the normal annual budgetary allocations by the various tiers of Government. As noted in Chapter 1, the forests are held in trust by the states and local government councils for the communities. However, forest management per se is carried out by the state governments who have access to limited funds and personnel required for forestry development. Greater emphasis will, therefore, be placed on funding of forestry operations at the state level.

The SFDs are not always forthcoming in providing information on their budgetary allocations (Federal Department of Forestry, 2000). Their response to questionnaires on budgetary allocations points to the fact that SFDs are hardly considered for Capital allocation by the state governments. The funds provided are usually to cover salaries and wages plus a few miscellaneous activities. The most comprehensive data available on budgetary allocation was given by FORMECU (1996) for 1992. The data is nonetheless indicative of the level of funding of SFDs in the country.

It is clear from Table 3.10 that not more than 1% of funds proposed for forestry programmes are actually released to the SFDs. Most of this “real” budget is also devoted to payment of salaries and wages. Consequently, vehicles are left abandoned. It is not surprising, therefore, to notice very low activities in most states, resulting in dwindling staff morale.

The Federal Department of Forestry has not fared better with respect to funding. Table 3.8: shows the Federal allocation to FDF between 1989 – 1999. On the average, budgetary allocation to the department is only about 3.45% of the total allocation to the supervising ministry. The allocation could barely meet the cost of staff salaries and some essential services. Consequently, there has been low funding of the field offices, which have no facilities to carry out their normal duties. Most of the infrastructures, including the Sawmill Training Centre, Benin-City and the Manpower Development Centre at Oluwa, are already decaying. FORMECU that used to enjoy buoyant financial resources is equally cash-strapped since most of the programmes it monitors have been concluded. The overall implication is that FDF and its organs have been incapacitated by lack of funds to effectively discharge its statutory roles despite the availability of skilled personnel.

Table 3.8:       Federal allocation to Federal Department of Forestry, 1989 –

                        1999.

Source: FDF (2000)

Forestry at the local government level is seen as a revenue-generating venture and as such, not given any consideration in routine budgetary allocation.

International Funding Agencies.

The precarious financial situation hampering forestry development in Nigeria has drawn the attention of International Funding agencies since the 1980s. A list of forestry programmes financed by external donors is shown in Table 3.9 most of this financial support, which was secured through the Federal Government (FDF/FORMECU), are to address areas of serious deficiency in forestry development in the country. It is interesting to note the correlation between external funding (Appendix 8) and Budgetary allocation by states (Appendix 7). The states that enjoy external funding are those with substantial allocation, most cases as counterpart funding, which they are compelled to contribute before they could benefit from external assistance.

Private funding:

The low level of private participation in forestry development was noted in Chapter 1. The long gestation period of forest goods has been a serious dis-incentive to private participation in Nigeria. This is further compounded by issues relating to land tenure, which constrict land into strict ownership structure. Private financial input to forestry development in Nigeria had, therefore, been very low and in most cases geared towards small plantations to meet local consumption. Inputs to community forests are normally not in strict financial terms but in communal labour and support. The NGOs are mostly involved in forestry extension and advocacy, but less concerned with direct financing of forestry development programmes.

Current level of outputs and services generated:

The sources of revenue generated by SFDs vary from the south to the North. Timber and related exploitation account for more than 70% of revenue accruing to the southern SFDs. These are mainly charges such as stumpage, Out Turn Volume (OTV)^*, registration of sawmills and property hammers. Others include chainsaws permit and penalty from offences.

OTV involves fixing the price of timber at specific rates per unit volume and species. The buyer under OTV system pays a fee, which is determined by the rate per unit volume and based on the actual timber extracted.

TABLE 3.11:    ANNUAL TOTAL REVENUE GENERATED BY STATES IN NAIRA (N).

Source: FDF (2000)   * - Northern States            Field survey (2001)

The Northern SFDs due to the prevailing scanty vegetation, derive their revenue mainly from NTFPs, especially fuelwood, poles, Gum Arabic, fruits, oil, locust beans, game hunting, tannin, among others. Table 3.11 gives a picture of the annual revenue generated by SFDs between 1990 and 1999, while Table 3.12 reflects the average percentage contribution of the forest products group to annual forest revenue. It is instructive to note that the level of revenue generated by states depends on their forest resources endowment, the prevailing management system, the tariff in operation and general revenue drive. It can be seen from Table 3.11, however, that the forest-rich south generates more revenue than the dry North. The ecological services provided by the forests are not quantified in monetary terms, thus giving the erroneous impression that revenue generation from forestry sector is insignificant.

TABLE 3.12:  PERCENTAGE CONTRIBUTION OF THE FOREST PRODUCTS

                                    GROUP TO ANNUAL FOREST REVENUE.

SOURCE: FORMECU (1996)

Extent of cross-sectoral resource transfers and subsidization:

SFDs operate under a consolidated accounting system, whereby the revenue generated by each state forestry department are deposited in the state’s central treasury. Funding of all sectoral developments is through this central treasury under routine budgetary allocations. The low level of revenue generation by SFDs was noted in 3.4. Unfortunately, it is apparent that sectoral funding by government has a lot of bearing on the actual financial output from each sector. It was noted also that the ecological services, which if translated into Naira would run into billions, are not recognized as part of the financial output from the forests. This scenario should, therefore, naturally call for subsidization of forestry development programme in the country but this has not been the case. The existing sources of funding and leverages to support forestry development programmes outside the annual budgetary provisions are discussed below:

Forestry Trust Fund:

The Federal Department of Forestry was desirous of creating a situation whereby part of revenue generated from the forests is ploughed back for forestry development. The FDF, through the NFDC, therefore, impressed it on the Federal Government to issue a directive to SFDs to create Forestry Trust Fund (FTF), where a percentage of royalties collected is deposited.  FTF is expected to act as a vehicle that would ensure re-investment in the forest resource base, most especially in forest regeneration. Since the directive was issued in 1993, only six states had complied (Table….). It is seen that most northern states have shown apathy to the fund. This might not be unconnected with the dual ownership status on forest resources in the northern states. While the SFDs manage the forest estate, the local government collects the bulk of revenues accruing from the forests.

Ironically, FDF (2000) reports that some of the states with FTF have not judiciously utilized the funds. This was prevalent during the Military Era, when the funds were expended on other purposes e.g. payment of salaries and other non-forestry related development projects.

Table 3.13: Contribution to Forestry Trust Funds.

 STATE                       Allocation to FTF as a Percentage of Total Annual Revenue. (%)      

EDO                                            20

ONDO                                         25

EKITI                                           25

OYO                                            25

OSUN                                         25

OGUN                                         25

Source: Federal Department of Forestry, (2000).

Ecological Fund:

The Federal Government in 1981 in an attempt to address the growing inability of conventional funding sources to solve pressing ecological problems established the Ecological Fund (EF).

At inception, the fund attracted 1% of the total revenue generated by the country but this figure was raised to 2% in 1992. 

The fund is managed by the National Committee on Ecological problems and can be applied to solve problems in the following areas:

The forestry sector benefited indirectly from the allocations to (a) and (b) since the intervention in these areas entails forestry operations especially tree establishment by SFDs.

Sustainability of National Forest Programmes at Current Level of Inputs and Outputs.

An analogy of budgetary allocation (input) and revenue generated (output) by SFDs can be made between Tables 3.10 and 3.11.  From whatever angle it might be viewed, it is apparent that the current level of inputs and outputs can not sustain a virile National Forest Programme in Nigeria. As noted before, states with fairly substantial allocations are those benefiting from externally funded projects, first as a pre-condition to secure the funds and secondly to meet the cost of salaries and wages. An insignificant part of the allocations goes for actual forestry operations.  The revenue generated and budgetary allocation put together fall far below the projected resources required for sustainable forestry development in Nigeria (Table 3.7).

It is foolhardy to state that the revenue generated from the forests is optimal, as some issues are compelling:

(a)        Inappropriate pricing of forest products. Olabode (1994) observes that increase in the price of forest products in Nigeria has been sluggish when compared with non-renewable resources (especially petroleum) and the devaluation of the country’s currency. The situation is even more glaring with the stump prices charged by the states. Table 3.14 shows the trend of OTV charges between 1962 - 2000

Table 3.14: Trend in OTV Charges in Nigeria between 1962 and 2000 (Charges in US$/Cu Ft).

            Source: Federal Department of Forestry, 2000.

        Note: (a)   Grade 1 Spp     -   Highly priced.

                         Grade 2 Spp          -    Medium priced Spp

                         Grade 3 Spp          -    Low priced Spp

                 (b) Exchange rate of Naira to Dollar

1980:      N7.98   to 1 Dollar

1995:      N83:00 to 1 Dollar

2000:      N113:00 to 1 Dollar.

In general, the rates payable by wood extractors are low and do not reflect the status of available resources. Similarly, the prices of timber products in the timber market have no relationship with what the tree exploiters pay the government. Rather, they reflect the level of demand for the particular species.

In a study conducted by Geomatics (1997), it was revealed that the sawmillers are the main beneficiary of the proceeds of the forests since the price at which they purchase the timber from the state (stump price) is less than 10% of the price of the end product. When the total input including labour is considered, the sawmillers make more than 400% gain. There is, therefore, no gainsaying the fact that the low prices of forest products tend to encourage waste leading to further deforestation and minimal revenue from the sector.

(b)  Undervaluation of forests: In Nigeria, state governments see the worth of the forests from the view point of the actual revenue generated by SFDs through royalties. Little consideration is given to the more crucial role of the forests in sustaining the ecological and environmental integrity of the country.

As noted by Gregersen et al (1995), it is crucial for policy makers, interest groups and the public to obtain reliable information on the environmental, social and financial values of the forests in order to move towards optimum use and conservation of forests. Viability of national forest programmes would remain in question so long as forests are viewed from narrow economic standpoint.

(c) Non-Transparent Actors in Revenue Generation: Both the government officials and forest exploiters have been indicted for the low level of revenue generation from the forests (FDF, 2000). Frequently, the forestry field staff colludes with the forest exploiters to avoid payment of appropriate fees for resources harvested. In addition, the forestry staff responsible for monitoring forest exploitation lacks the necessary facilities and equipment to carry out their duties. It is not uncommon for the rural communities bordering the forest estate to exploit the forests free of charge. On the whole, it is viewed that less than 50% of forest exploitation generates revenue to government coffers.

The inherent lapses in forest revenue system have far reaching implications on sustainable forest management in the country. The low prices of forest products tend to encourage waste and further accentuate the rate of deforestation. The huge profit accruing to the forest exploiters has equally encouraged the rise in their number leading to further incursion on the dwindling forest resources. The low revenue generated and value ascribed to the forests attract low funding to the sector. Consequently, forestry development in the country is at its low ebb and might be hitting the rocks if urgent redressive steps are not taken.