Daud Olatunji, Abeokuta

The Ogun State government has vowed that it would soon start combing its forest reserve to arrest and prosecute illegal occupants.

The State Commissioner for Forestry, Tunji Akinosi, said this on Monday while fielding questions from newsmen in Abeokuta, the state capital.

Akinosi said the government had written letters to the traditional rulers in the areas asking them to tell the illegal occupants to leave or be arrested.

He said, “We have asked those that are illegally occupying our lands to leave, and now we are moving to the second stage of combing the areas ourselves and arresting those that are still residents in the reserve.”

The Commissioner, while speaking on the depleted condition of the forest reserve, said, “In the last 18 months, this administration has taken the bull by the horn in getting the Imeko and Aworo Forest Reserves back and running.

“Unfortunately, the depletion did not start right now, it has been there and government this year alone had met twice with the Iledotun project coordinators and had taken 108,000 hectares of the forest reserve in Imeko and Aworo for regeneration.

“We call it LND project, Land Degradation Neutrality project where you bring people of diverse nations to regenerate that place, and I am sure that between now and the next few months, you will see the work that would start there in reclaiming all the land that is there.”(The Punch)