Nigeria's forests are vanishing -- and with them, the backbone of entire industries. Beneath the radar of public attention, charcoal exports have become the silent axe cutting down Nigeria's economic trees and its future.
Across the southern belt and north-central states, trees such as shea, locust bean, mahogany, iroko, and cashew -- species vital for food, medicine, timber, and export value chains -- are being felled at alarming rates and converted into charcoal bags bound for Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
The Frightening Numbers
* Nigeria loses over 350,000 hectares of forest every year.
* In some states, more than 60% of economic trees are already gone.
* The country exports over 400,000 tons of charcoal annually.
* Producing a single ton of charcoal requires 7-10 mature trees.
Do the math: millions of trees are vanishing into smoke each year. Worse still, charcoal producers deliberately target economic trees like shea and mahogany because they burn hotter and last longer -- fetching higher prices abroad. A shea tree that takes 20 years to mature can be destroyed in one night for profit.
This is not just deforestation. It is the slow destruction of billion-naira value chains. Shea butter, cashew, locust bean, and mahogany industries that could generate jobs, foreign exchange, and sustainable growth are being burnt away in charcoal kilns.
The Wider Cost
The crisis is not merely ecological -- it is economic, social, and generational.
* Ecological: Deforestation accelerates desertification, reduces rainfall, and wipes out biodiversity.
* Economic: Entire downstream industries -- cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, timber, food processing -- are weakened or destroyed.
* Social: Rural livelihoods collapse, forcing migration and worsening poverty.
Nigeria is effectively exporting its environmental capital in bags of charcoal while sacrificing long-term prosperity.
What Must Be Done
Experts argue that Nigeria cannot afford to continue down this path. While a total ban on charcoal exports may not be practical, strict regulation, certification, and protection of economic trees must be enforced.
Government agencies -- from forestry commissions to customs -- must act decisively. Media platforms must keep this story alive until policymakers are forced to protect Nigeria's forests.
This is no longer just about trees.
It is about the slow burning of Nigeria's environment, industries, and economic future.
If urgent steps are not taken, the country may one day wake up to find its forests gone, its industries crippled, and its generational wealth reduced to ashes in bags of charcoal.