By Chukwinonso Obiora, SJ | North-West Africa Province
[From “Jesuits 2024 - The Society of Jesus in the world”]

The experience of Jesuits “fighting” timber poaching in Nigeria by encouraging and supporting agricultural development.

Ogbere is located in the forest reserve area in the eastern part of Ogun state, Nigeria. There, and as in other parts of the country, illegal logging abounds. The rate at which such activities are conducted is disheartening and worrisome. Regrettably, this happens daily, on vastly different scales, throughout the seasons.

The indigenous people of Ogbere need more ecological awareness. Only a few of them know that tree poaching causes climate change, desertification, soil erosion, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and an unprecedented host of other problems. The question is, when will “enough be enough,” considering that the tree poaching habit amongst the people of Ogbere is seen as a means of livelihood?

Preying on timbers at Ogbere

In September 2022, my face-to-face encounter with two young men poaching timbers on the land belonging to Xavier Jesuit Institute in Eregun village, Ogbere, left me with utter consternation. It was scary seeing them with machetes and other machine tools. They looked famished and malnourished.

At first, I thought that by seeing me with other priests they would stop and run away, but to the contrary. The youngest asked us in their local Pidgin English, “Fathers, what are you doing in this part of the bush? Did you bring us something? We are hungry, we don’t have any money, and we need the wood for our houses and to earn a little money.”

Fr Patrick Ajewole, the parish priest, asked them to stop and listen to us. In our interaction with them, we realized that they had been illegally poaching on the land for a week. One of them said, “We were not aware about the effects and consequences of our action because nobody ever told us.” They were sympathetic and expressed sincere apology for poaching the trees, but insisted that they did this in order to have some money for food.

After enlightening them on the ecological impact of their action, they packed their machine tools and left because we assured them of a means of livelihood if they stopped poaching. Three months later, we invited them to join other workers clearing and preparing the land for farming.

According to Ogbere Forest Reserve officials, timber poaching is a big problem in every forest area. Illegal loggers run the whole range of cutting down small tender trees to large-scale devastation of entire groves. Because of poverty, poachers here do not consider the long-term effect and consequences of their actions. When they learn about it and are given other opportunities to earn their living, they could change their mind. They are then enlightened and encouraged to intervene in the ecosystem dynamics, stability, productivity, and nutrient balance through healthy agricultural practices. With the cultivation of over 100 hectares of land with organic cassava, maize, plantain, and banana, Xavier Jesuit Institute aims at grassroots sensitization, education, and synergy with the youths and rural women in view of eradicating timber poaching.

We are committed to making farming an attractive and viable source of income for these people who complain of a lack of financial resources to meet their daily needs. Through our workshops, lectures, seminars, and training, we hope to encourage people to start up their own agro-business. We believe that agro-training and accompaniment can help them become eco-sensitive citizens who creatively work for the common good, irrespective of their religion, culture, or economic status.

Since the population is mostly poor and hardly knows the effects of indiscriminate deforestation, the rich business people who profit from poaching continue to use different tactics to lure people into the activity. The rich go as far as recruiting and bribing officials to allow youths to poach trees illegally. Our goal is to reduce inconsiderate attacks on the natural environment in Ogbere. The salient point here is that timber poaching can be minimized if, by encouraging organic farming, we can show that poverty is surmountable through other ways.

For the Xavier Jesuit Institute, organic farming as an empowerment strategy becomes a necessary tool for stopping the poaching of timbers in Ogbere. Yes, “enough will be enough” when the Ogbere people are empowered and convinced that organic farming can serve as an alternative source of livelihood. This is our task: sensitization and education for people to understand the perennial and devastating effect of timber poaching.

[Photos: The young people who were illegally poaching trees are now working to prepare the land for farming]