EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FOREST PROTECTION LAWS ON ILLEGAL FELLING ACTIVITIES IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study focused on the effectiveness of forest law on felling activities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected with the aid of semi-structured questionnaire. Two sets of questionnaires were used. The first set was administered on forest community dwellers and the other set was administered on forestry personnel in the State Forestry Department. For the first set of questionnaire four forest reserves in the study area were randomly selected. Forty questionnaires were administered in each four forest reserve. This makes total of one hundred and sixty questionnaires. The second set of questionnaire was administered on 10 forestry personnel in each of the selected forest reserve. Secondary data on the arrest and fine collected from forest offender were collected from Ekiti state forestry commission. The data were collected from reports and narrows and were between 2015 and 2020. The result from this study revealed that there are many illegal activities perpetrated by member of the forest community which ranged from conversion of forested land to farming. This was evident in the destruction of forest trees while some erected permanent structures inside the forest reserves. Majority of the forest dweller hunt and kill some of the wild animals and illegal logging were common. The result of the research were collated and subjected to descriptive statistics while chi-square was used to test the stated Hypotheses. The result of the Chi-Square test (p>0.05), shows that the level of education of the respondents has no significant association with their compliance with forest laws of Ekiti state. This study revealed that in all the sampled forest, respondents have no association with their compliance with forest laws.