Given our love for exotic furniture it is a crime against humanity that Nigeria is not a major producer and exporter. We simply have to correct this anomaly immediately

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Given that 45% of Nigerian timber exports are rosewood, a highly prized wood used for the production of luxurious furniture we need to ban its export immediately. Nigeria must only export finished products from henceforth

[2] We need to set ourselves a basic target of matching Brazil’s production of 11bn kg of timber production annually

[3] In each of our 36 states, there must be at least five pulp, laminated wood, sawmill, plywood, furniture or paper mill factories. We have all these forestry products and are doing nothing to tap into the resource

[4] Chile generates at least $2bn a year from timber products. Nigeria must seek to match that by 2030. By 2035, we should aim to become the number one exporter of timber products globally

[5] Nigeria’s federal government needs to establish a Nigerian River Basin Authority that will dredge of all of the country’s waterways to enable them transport logs

[6] Then the National Assembly needs to pass a bill making it mandatory they for every tree that is felled, three must be planted to replace it

[7] Every one of our 36 states must declare a green belt within its territory where lumbering is restricted. This is to enable our tree population grow

[8] All towns and cities with a forestry products facility will be linked by a railway network

[9] All the world’s major furniture manufacturers will be invited to come and open shop in Nigeria. They will be given five year tax holidays and 99 year land leases to open plantations, processing plants and factories that manufacture finished products

[10] A special forestry products bank will be opened to advance loans to any local carpenter who wants to use his innovative skills to start factories or the production of special products

ayoakinfe@gmail.com

www.ayoakinfe.com