President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed an executive order prohibiting the export of wood and its allied products from Nigeria.
The prohibition was announced by the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, during the 18th meeting of the National Council on Environment held in Katsina State.
According to the Minister, in conjunction with the Katsina State Government, launched the prohibition order and explained that the policy is intended to promote sustainable forest management and safeguard the nation’s environment.
The conference, with the theme ‘Tackling the triple planet crisis – Biodiversity; Loss and Pollution for sustainable development’, which brings together representatives from all northern states, development partners such as UNDP, FAO, UNIDO and Dangote Group, is reexamining the challenges of the nation’s environment and the ways to tackle them.
The Minister, said widespread environmental degradation across the country has made urgent action necessary, citing indiscriminate tree felling for firewood in the North, gully erosion in the southeast and pollution in the Southwest as major challenges threatening the nation’s ecosystem.
He said, “The environment sector is no longer a peripheral concern; it is central to national development, economic stability and social well-being, strengthening climate resilience, enforcing environmental regulations, promoting clean energy, restoring degraded ecosystems, and driving sustainable waste management, which are not just policy choices; they are national imperatives that demand bold and United action.”
The minister explained that the policy is intended to curb illegal logging and slow the rapid loss of forest resources across the country.
He noted that Nigeria has recorded sustained deforestation in recent decades, largely due to commercial logging, agricultural expansion and the widespread use of firewood.
The executive order was published in the Extraordinary Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette No. 180, Vol. 112 of 16 October 2025.
It cites Sections 17(2) and 20 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which place responsibility on the state to protect the environment and natural resources.
Under the executive order, security agencies and relevant government ministries have been directed to enforce the ban and take action against illegal logging activities across the country.
Declaring the meeting Open, Katsina State Deputy Governor, Malam Faruk Lawal Jobe, said addressing environmental challenges requires coordination between the federal and state governments. He highlighted ongoing efforts by the state to tackle desertification and land degradation.
The deputy governor added that the state government has so far distributed 7 million seedlings to communities for transplanting, as part of its measures to curb desertification.
Jobe said the State Assembly is currently in the process of enacting a law prohibiting indiscriminate felling of trees.
Meanwhile, the UNDP National Project Coordinator in Nigeria, Mrs Ibironke Olubamise, disclosed that the agency is implementing several programs in Katsina State aimed at promoting environmental conservation and sustainable practices.
“We are at the moment in 3 local governments comprising of Jibia, Batsari and Ssfana, training the women and youth how to make use of the local resources without making damage to the environment,” she said.
The ban is expected to affect exporters and timber traders, particularly in forest-producing states, though the government has yet to outline enforcement mechanisms, penalties, or whether exemptions will apply to processed wood products.
