The House of Representatives has urged the Minister of Environment to present to the house an action plan that will reduce the high rate of deforestation in the country.
The resolution followed a motion by Rep. Patrick Ikhariale (PDP-Edo), which was adopted without debate when put to vote by the Speaker, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, in Abuja on Thursday.
The motion is entitled: “Urgent need to call on the Executive arm of Government to address the high rate of deforestation in the country’’.
Ikhariale, while moving the motion, said that the essence of the motion was to take care of the environment.
He said the ability of any nation to protect and preserve its physical environment from degradation would determine how well it would protect the well being of its citizens.
“What the body is to the human being is what the physical environment is to the soul of a nation,’’ he said.
The lawmaker noted that deforestation had led to environmental issued such as desertification, erosion, flooding, and earth warming, among others.
He said that the passive interest given to the issues of deforestation by states and local governments left much to be desired.
Ikhariale said that the Federal Government could not carry out the fight against deforestation without support of the other two tiers of government.
He urged the house to look into the matter so that the environment would be protected against degradation.
