Following the increasing activities of illegal loggers in the Ekuri Forest in Akampka Local Government Area of Cross River State, Ekuri women have petitioned the State House of Assembly to take urgent actions to curb the trend that is affecting them adversely.
The petition, which is captioned: Illegal Logging in Ekuri and Environs Impacting Negatively on Women, Forest and Biodiversity, was jointly signed by the Women Leader of Ekuri, Mrs. Lawrencia Agbor, Imelda Offiong Oyi, Theresa Benedicta Akamo, Agatha Egot, Lucy Abel, Esther Atim Jerome, Akamo Mary Godwin, and Mrs. Freda Francis.
Addressed to the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem, the petition articulated the concerns of the women which included harassment and the depletion of Ekuri forest resources, which have cumulatively led to food security concerns.
They lamented the fact that the ban on illegal logging by the state government has not been enforced and illegal logging had gone unchecked for years despite the outcry of Ekuri people who depend on the forest for their livelihood and sustenance.
The text of the petition read: “Honourable Speaker, every day more than 200 truckloads of timber and other exotic wood leave Ekuri forest and efforts by our people to halt this practice are met with harassment and intimidation by security personnel hired by the logging merchants.”
“Aside the harassment we face, the trucks belonging to the loggers continue to worsen the already bad state of the only access road to old and new Ekuri. Sometimes they break down in the middle of the road and remain there for days, making access by our people totally impossible”.
They referenced recent statistics which showed that aside biodiversity loss, an estimated 91,000 tons of timber leave Cross River State annually due to illegal logging activities, and further reinforced their argument with the recent Global Forest Watch report which alerted that illegal logging activities has cost Ekuri and environs the loss of more than 540 square miles of its tree cover as at 2024.
The petition captured the fact that women in Ekuri are mainly farmers who depend on the forest resources for food and medicine but are now unable to access the forest for basic needs. Continuing, they said that when it is inevitable, women wander far into the forest in search of fuel wood, medicinal plants and other necessities to take care of their families.
They frowned at the fact that despite forming the largest population that suffer the socio-economic situation in Ekuri, in the decision-making processes concerning the forest they are hardly mentioned or consulted.
To address this gap, they urged the House to make it mandatory that key government ministries, especially Women Affairs and Youth Development, actively engage women and youths in Ekuri, to foster inclusivity and participation.
Their prayers included urging the government to work with conservation groups to embark on a reforestation exercise to repopulate forest areas depleted due to logging and other unsustainable practices.
They urged the government to create a framework that would properly define what constitutes legal logging and how it can be operationalized in the context of Ekuri forest.
They equally encouraged the Speaker to use his good office to weigh in on the matter and stop the illegal forest practices that have made life difficult for them.
In a reaction to the development, the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) said that the step taken by the Ekuri women is in the right direction and represents the first major effort of women in the community to take their destinies in their hands.
RDI Project Officer, Linda Amadi said that, “we anticipate that the Cross River State House of Assembly will handle this issue with the seriousness it deserves. The forest sustains the Ekuri people and no one understands this better than the women. They have asked for environmental justice and that is what they deserve. Anything short of this is unacceptable”.