Africa-Press – Nigeria. Women from Ekuri community in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State have raised alarm over the devastating impact of illegal logging, warning that the unchecked plundering of their forests is pushing families into hunger, poverty and insecurity.
The women spoke in Calabar during a one-day training programme for journalists and Ekuri women representatives, where they recounted how years of community-led forest conservation are being eroded by relentless logging activities.
A community representative, Mrs. Agatha Egot, said Ekuri women had for decades preserved over 33,600 hectares of communal forest through strict traditional practices, but economic hardship has weakened local resistance, with some youths now drawn into illegal logging for survival.
She lamented that forest degradation has drastically reduced access to food crops, medicinal plants and other non-timber forest products vital to household sustenance.
According to her, items such as afang, editan, atama and ogbono, once readily available, have become scarce, forcing women to travel longer distances under unsafe conditions to gather them.
Egot added that declining farm yields and loss of forest produce have worsened poverty, making it increasingly difficult for families to feed and educate their children.
Assistant Secretary of Ekuri Women’s Forum, Freda Francis, said the presence of loggers and unfamiliar armed men in the forests has heightened insecurity, restricting women’s access to farms and increasing cases of intimidation, with some loggers allegedly claiming ownership of parts of the forest.
She further noted that logging activities have disrupted natural water systems, leaving streams either dried up or polluted due to environmental damage.
The women also alleged that over 200 truckloads of timber are evacuated daily from Ekuri, while efforts to resist the activities are often met with harassment and threats.
They decried the destruction of the community’s only access road by heavy-duty trucks, saying the damage has isolated Ekuri and compounded economic hardship, with cocoa farmers also reporting losses as plantations are destroyed and transport costs rise.
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