…Warns against indiscriminate tree fellings
By Farouk Isa Musa
Kano state government have decried the alarming rate of deforestation and issued a strong warning to defaulters to desist from indiscriminate felling of trees at Falgore Game Reserve.
The warning was issued by Hon. Sadiq Kura Mohammed, the Managing Director, Kano Zoological and Wildlife Management Agency while briefing newsmen at his office.
The MD said that he visited the game reserve on Wednesday together with members of the management of KAZOWMA. While touring the forest they caught six illegal loggers red-handed and confiscated 10 motorcycles, two chainsaws and many axes used by the suspects.
Kano State government, under the leadership of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, is taking all the necessary actions to checkmate further enchroment at Falgore Game Reserve, reiterating that the state government will do everything possible to put a stop to the menace.
In this regard, the state government is working round the clock to put appropriate measures in place to safeguard the forest, warning that if felling of trees continue, the forest reserve will be no more. As a source of River Kano, if the forest was completely destroyed, Tiga dam will dry up, meaning that irrigation farming will become history in that part of the state, he warned.
Hon. Kura Mohammed also said, as the MD, his top priorities are improving the welfare of rangers, safeguarding the game reserve and its organisms, namely plants and animals.
“At this juncture, I want to use this opportunity to warned those who are in the habit of indiscriminately cutting down the trees for whatever reason and those who are settling down with their families in the forest to desist from that, otherwise the government will not spare anyone found wanting.
“I was appointed as the Managing Director of KAZOWMA by His Excellency, Kano State Governor Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf to help him serve the good people of the state. Safeguarding Falgore Game Reserve, as the only remaining forest in the state, is one of my priorities. The game reserve is of utmost important to me,” he reiterated.
Speaking on the Zoo, the MD lamented how some of the visitors are of the habit of indiscriminately discarding waste, especially polythene, such as sachet water nylon and plastic bottles at the premises of the Zoo, advising them to desist because if the polythene nylon flew into the animals’ cages, they might swallow it which in turn may lead to their death.
