Reaction has trailed a move by Adamawa State House of Assembly to enact laws against the use of firewood or charcoal as cooking fuel in the state
The state Assembly, adopted a bill banning tree felling with stipulated prison terms depending on the weight of the offence.
This is coming in a state where the majority of households who are predominantly subsistent farmers cannot afford modern cooking systems.
In Adamawa state, millions of people, mostly living in rural areas, use firewood for cooking. Indeed, a large percentage of the population do not have gas cookers, let alone know how to use one.
In essence, news of the bill which is at the final stage of passage has been negatively received by people in the firewood and charcoal industry, as well as consumers.
Before last week, a pickup van load of firewood, which used to cost between N12,000 and N15,000 was sold for N3,000 at the time of filing this report.
Arabo Garbel, a firewood vendor, told SaharaReporters that “there can be no government as insensitive as this one”.
“These people (politicians) are not in touch with the bitter reality ordinary people are faced with.
“The majority of our people live in rural areas; how on earth would anyone contemplate a law that prohibits using firewood for cooking?
“Because they are stealing our commonwealth, they don’t understand that the majority of the citizens are living from hand to mouth,” he said.
For Mrs Jummai Magaji, “it is absurd!”
“A 4-litre gallon of kerosene is N4,000, just as a 12-kilogramme of cooking gas is N8,500; how do these people want us to live?
“This is a show of insensitivity to the people’s plight. You cannot promote laws of this nature, without providing affordable alternative cooking fuel for the poor,” she said.
However, the lawmakers say the bill is being pushed to preserve the environment through the control of desertification.
The bill seen by SaharaReporters states in parts, “Recommendations as contained therein and passing it will check the destruction of forest which is seriously exposing the society to danger.
“The society is currently feeling the effects of climate change due to the rate at which citizens cut down trees without making proportionate effect at planting others.
“The merit of the legislation is to ensure trees are conserved, protected and managed in a manner that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the rights of the future generation by safeguarding the ecological benefits that accrue from tree planting.”
Therefore, the Assembly prescribed a three-month jail term or N20, 000 fine on anyone who cuts down a single tree.
It equally stipulated a six-month jail term or N80, 000 fine or both on any person who without a valid permit, uproots, burns, strips of the bark or leaves of a tree; sets fire on any tree or shrub or damages in any way or destroys a tree.
