The forest policies of Nigeria: a cursory analysis

In an attempt to achieve sustainable forest management, Nigeria has developed two streams of forest policies, with the latter National Forest Policy 2006, being a reviewed version of the former National Forest Policy 1988, as observed during desk investigation. The antecedents, starting from the colonial era to the global International Forest Regimes, which were based on sustain able development principles, contributed to the spate of forestry development in Nigeria. However, the challenges of forestry development still remain, calling for greater in depth into some aspects of forest policy development that will, amongst others, encourage meaningful forestry research, address poverty alleviation and food security, noting the gamut of non timber forest products available for development from the Nigerian forests. This invariably will be achieved with greater participation in forestry development including the vulnerable groups. In addition, it is pertinent to state that more robust national forest policies can be achieved through periodic reviews and should therefore be ensured.