The conservation of our nation’s and the continent’s biodiversity and ecosystem is a priority. We must ensure the existence of legislative framework, enforcement mechanisms and sustainable practices.
“Thus, the Senate Committee on Environment and the Nigerian Senate will continue to support FRIN in its bids to tackle environmental malaise within the purview of its mandates.”
These were the words of Senator Oluremi Tinubu in her goodwill message when Forestry Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) hosted the fifth General Assembly of the UNESCO-AFRIMAB, recently.
“Part of this support is the ongoing process to enact the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria Bill, which seeks to position the Institute appropriately to effectively carry out its mandates,” said Senator Tinubu.
She added that, “We are also committed to enacting new legislations and where necessary amending extant laws towards ensuring that every spectre of the environment is legislated for and protected.”
The Executive Director/CEO of FRIN, Dr Adeshola Adepoju, stated that the FRIN Bill when enacted will reposition the institute for international collaboration on environment among other benefits.
Speaking on the essence of the Bill, Dr Adepoju told Ecoscope that “The important thing is that if you have to get global support, funding, cooperation agreement, and recognition, you must have a law that establishes you, that the international community can look at and see that when working with you, supporting you or doing whatever they need to do, they know they are protected.
“There wasn’t any law before that specifically mentioned the institute as an entity to liaise with or get support from. But the Bill will give the institute an identity of its own, and that also will stabilise the system. When you have any issue that is industrial or labour-related and it is not well spelt out in any law, then it becomes an ambiguous issue for anybody to handle.”
The executive director said, “When passed into law, it will enable the institute to do the business of government by the reason of its mandate.”
The bill has passed through the Senate Committee on Environment, chaired by Senator Oluremi Tinubu and the House Committee on Environment, headed by Honourable Obinna Chidoka.