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Nigerians
have had to resort to fuelwood due to the increase in price of petroleum
products
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When
the Nigerian government on June 20 suddenly increased the prices of petroleum
products such as petrol, diesel and the commonly used
kerosene by about 50 percent, it was obvious that it was a decision with far
reaching effects.
Nigerian
environmental groups say that massive deforestation of the nation’s severely
depleted forest may follow if the fuel price increase is not reversed.
"There
is no doubt that the new price regime will bring pain, misery and despair to the
Nigerian masses," says Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of Environmental
Rights Agency (ERA). "We are particularly worried that those who can no
longer afford gas and kerosene would resort to felling trees to get fuelwood.
This would lead to massive deforestation, biodiversity and habitat loss,
including siltation of streams due to land cover clearing."
A Drastic Shift Towards Fuelwood
In
Nigeria, kerosene and gas are the major cooking fuel. The majority of the people
however rely on kerosene stoves for domestic cooking while only a few use gas
and electric cookers. From past experiences, increases in the price of kerosene
have often forced rural dwellers and the urban poor to abandon their kerosene
stoves in favor of the comparatively cheaper fuelwood, which is seen as a
substitute source of energy.
The
result is that felling of trees tends to become rampant, as the fuelwood
business thrives any time there is a sharp increase in demand fuelled by the
high cost of kerosene.
Local
activists say that with the increase in the prices of kerosene and other locally
consumed petroleum products, more people who are currently using kerosene stoves
may abandon their stoves for fuelwood.
Past
experiences justify the activists’ fears. Since the 1980s, successive Nigerian
governments embarked on a series of fuel price hikes compelling the urban poor
and rural dwellers to put aside their kerosene stoves, leading to unprecedented
demands for fuelwood.
The
situation is worsened by the large-scale racket in the Nigerian oil industry.
Even now that the official price of kerosene per liter is around 32 US cents per
liter, profiteers will ensure that it gets to the final consumer at a higher
price. This has been going on for years with the government unable to do
anything about it.
An Angry Outcry
Petrol,
which had been previously selling for about 22 US cents (26 naira) per liter,
was hiked to about 35 US cents (N40). A liter of kerosene jumped from about 19
US cents (N24) to about 32 US cents (N38). Diesel also moved from about 20 US
cents to 32 US cents.
As
expected, the announcement aroused a bitter public outcry from an irritated
citizenry, who feared the inflationary implications of the decision. The fuel
price increase pitted the Nigerian Labor movement against the Government, which
resulted in a violent nationwide strike when Labor and Government could not
reach a compromise on the appropriate prices for the petroleum products.
But
after 10 days, the two parties reached a truce on July 8. The price of petrol
was pegged at about 30 cents (N34) per liter. Diesel and kerosene were also
adjusted downward a little to pacify the Labor Party.
President
Olusegun Obasanjo justified the increase, arguing that "the federal
government could not continue to subsidize the petroleum sector to the tune of
more than $200 million per annum and still be able to fulfill its social
responsibilities."
He also argued that it was necessary to increase fuel prices to curb the
large-scale smuggling of Nigeria's relatively cheaper petroleum products to
neighboring countries.
Devastating Effects on Nigeria’s Forests
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The fuelwood
business has been thriving
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"The consequence of the price hike on forest depletion is
predictable," says ERA, one of Nigeria’s leading environmental NGOs
opposed to the proposed fuel price hike. "Kerosene has become a luxury item
and only few Nigerians can afford to use it now for cooking. The bulk of the
people are turning to fuelwood.”
ERA
explains that, "only five per cent of Nigeria’s prime forest is left.
Faced with the spate of uncontrolled, and outright illegal logging of our
forest, it has often been estimated that our forest resource would be almost
totally exhausted in the next 10 years."
Nigeria’s
original natural forest cover used to span over 600,000 square kilometers at the
beginning of the 20th century. Acute deforestation driven by uncontrolled demand
for wood, mostly for fuelwood, and also for export, has within a century reduced
the country’s forest cover to less than 38,620 square kilometers, less than
five per cent of its original size.
"Between
1976 and 1970, deforestation proceeded at an average rate of 400,000 hectares
per annum," says a recent government study tagged Vision 2010 report.
"In 1981 – 1990 it was 3.57 per cent, including some forest reserves. FAO
concluded that if this rate were maintained, the remaining forest area in
Nigeria would disappear by the year 2020."
Today,
the situation is so bad that the US-based Rain Forest Action Network estimates
that deforestation in Nigeria takes place at an alarming rate of 14.3 per cent
annually.
The
World Bank estimates show that losses to Nigeria in sustainable production of
timber and fuelwood from forest resources is a staggering US $750 million
annually as a result of deforestation.
The
loss in terms of destruction of biodiversity is probably worse. Currently, more
than 484 plant species in the country are believed to be threatened with
extinction, while deforestation has also decimated several species of the
country’s wildlife.
"Nigeria’s
wildlife is rapidly declining due to habitat loss and increased pressure from
hunters, poachers and bush burning," says the Vision 2010 report
commissioned by the Nigerian government a few years ago.
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The
pygmy hippopotamus has disappeared from Nigeria’s forests
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"Animals that have disappeared from Nigeria include the cheetah, the pygmy
hippopotamus, the giraffe, the black rhinoceros and the giant eland. About 10
– 12 species of primates including the white – throated guenon species of
primates and sclater’s guenon are under threat due to habitat loss and
deforestation."
Some
local experts contend that indiscriminate felling of trees is already affecting
Nigeria’s climate. Illegal felling of trees leading to deforestation is
responsible for desert encroachment in the north, coastal erosion in the south
and the harsh weather in the central belt of the country," says Dr.
Olaniran Yaya, national technical coordinator of the National Tree Nursery
Development Committee.
Despite
the gloomy predictions that the fuel price hike portends for Nigerian forest and
wildlife, it is unlikely that the Obasanjo administration will have a change of
mind over the recent fuel price hike, even if it will among other things, be at
the expense of the country’s fragile environment.
Abiodun
Raufu is a Nigerian journalist with 17 years of experience and holds a
Master’s Degree in political science. Your emails will be forwarded to
him by contacting the editor at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
