Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said the penalty for any tree cut in the territory without authorization is a fine of N100,000, even as the administration is planning to increase the fine in line with what is obtainable in Southern Nigeria.
The deputy director in the Department of Parks and Recreation, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Charles Okpe disclosed this during the planting of additional 1,000 trees in the territory by Purplehands Empowerment Initiative in commemoration of the 2022 World Environment Day.
Okpe called on the residents to endeavour to at least plant a tree and resist the temptation of cutting them down, adding that the FCTA will no longer tolerate the indiscriminate cutting of trees in the FCT, as there will be a penalty if anybody is caught cutting down trees in the territory.
“If any person cut down a tree without permission it is the duty of the department to arrest the person. Presently, for any tree cut down without our consent, the person will pay a fine of N100,000. But we want to increase the fine as is obtainable in one of the Southern States,” he said.
The founder and president of Purplehands Empowerment Initiative, a nongovernmental organisation, Brenda Max-Nduaguibe who led the planting of 1,000 trees at a new location, Namadi Sambo way in the Karmo district of Abuja, said that the planting of trees was a communal affair with the involvement of the residents, and in partnership with FCTA Department of Parks and Recreation and will be sustained.
“All the people in the estates around the area are in support of what we have been doing. We have been planting trees across the territory in partnership with the Department of Parks and Recreation for the last six years, it started in 2016.”
“We planted the trees all over the FCT, in Bwari, Karmo, GSS Kuchingoro, GSS Durumi, and GSS Karmo. This is to ensure that the trees we have planted survive.
“We are working closely with relevant stakeholders targeting the children by forming environmental clubs in schools, presently, we are in three schools. This reiterates the need for eco-conservation, all over there are change agents that are preaching the message to people,” she said.
