President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has issued an executive order banning the exportation of wood and its allied products out of the country.
The prohibition was announced by the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, at the 18th meeting of the National Council on Environment in Katsina.
The Minister, in conjunction with the Katsina State Government, launched the prohibition order and said it's part of the measures the government is taking to 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.
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The Minister, in his speech, said indiscriminate felling of trees in the north for firewood, gully erosion in the southeast and pollution in the Southwest have done great damage to the environment, and that's why action must be taken to save the situation.
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 said the move was aimed at addressing illegal logging and the rapid loss of forest cover across the country.
He said, Nigeria has recorded sustained deforestation in recent decades, driven by commercial logging, agricultural expansion and firewood use.
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 order, security agencies and relevant government ministries have been directed to enforce the ban and take action against illegal logging activities nationwide.
Declaring the meeting Open, Katsina State Deputy Governor, Malam Faruk Lawal Jobe, said environmental challenges required coordination between the federal and state governments. He referenced the state's efforts to address desertification and land degradation.
He said the state government was up and doing while announcing that it has so far distributed 7 million seedlings to communities for transplanting as part of its efforts to control desertification.
Jobe said the State Assembly is now in the process of enacting a law banning indiscriminate felling of trees.
In an effort to provide alternative ways of conserving the environment, the UNDP national project's coordinator in Nigeria, Mrs Ibironke Olubamise, disclosed the numerous programs they are implementing in Katsina State.
"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.