Crisis hits Cross River community as bandits plunder forest reserve
• Streams dry up, harvests shrink on account of illegal loggings • Mothers battle hardship as economic trees, medicinal plants go into extinction • Wild animals scared by noise of
• Streams dry up, harvests shrink on account of illegal loggings
• Mothers battle hardship as economic trees, medicinal plants go into extinction
• Wild animals scared by noise of chainsaw flee habitats, invade communities
For many years, the people of Ekuri in Akampa Local Government Area of Cross River State conserved and managed the Ekuri Forest Reserve to maintain its biodiversity and provide sustainable livelihoods.But the forest has since been plundered and subjected to severe environmental crisis by illegal loggers. Women who depended on non-timber forest products to take care of their children no longer have access to them. Now they avoid their farms for fear of being harmed by illegal loggers and wild animals fleeing the forest, INNOCENT DURU reports.
Women in Ekuri have been economically emasculated and plunged into debilitating hardship.
Before now, they happily made good harvests from tilling the soil and also earned income selling non-timber forest products they picked from the forest reserve sitting on 33,600 hectares of land.
But they have lost it all to the invasion of illegal loggers whose activities have stripped the forest of its virginity and natural ambience and exposed it to a severe climate crisis.
“There is an ongoing unlicensed logging activity in Ekuri Forest. We have tried by all means to stop them from logging but all they do is to harass us,” Agatha Egot, a member of the community, told The Nation.
“The forest was conserved over the years. Just between last year and this year, the Ekuri forest is becoming desolate and it is really affecting us. Ekuri women are basically farmers and forest gatherers," she added.
Egot noted that most of the non-timber forest products “we used to gather from the bush to take care of our children we can no longer see. Even to gather firewood for cooking, the women will have to walk about five kilometres away from the community.
“There are vegetables we get from the forest, sell and make a lot of money to train our children. Right now, we can no longer get them because of these illegal logging activities.”
Continuing, she said: "Another issue that is troubling us is that our food crops no longer grow well. The climate crisis caused by illegal logging has affected our crops’ growth.
"Our harvest is so poor that we can barely feed. I have suffered from it a great deal.
"We used to have bees. When you plant your crops, they do what is known as cross-pollination. Right now, the bees have flown very far away because of the logging activities.
"It is the same thing with butterflies. They are not close again because of the illegal logging.
"The sun is heating up seriously on the crops that they become stunted.
“The illegal logging is also exposing the soil to erosion. Washing away the nutrients of the soil is also affecting our crops.
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"I plant cocoa, plantain and banana. Before now, when you cut like five bunches of plantain, you would make up to N30,000. But now, a bunch of plantain goes for a paltry N2,000.
"We now buy and eat preserved food that is not really good for our health because climate change has affected our food crops a great deal.”
Another native of the community, who gave her name as Mary Godwin, lamented that the activities of the illegal loggers have “terribly affected my income as a farmer. I used to plant cocoa. The illegal loggers fell some trees recently and destroyed my cocoa plants. Now I have to start doing replacements.”
With emotions written all over her, Godwin said: “Life is quite difficult now because our sources of income have been affected.
"I used to pluck salad from the trees, but that is no longer possible.
"The salad used to grow on trees and you could pluck between 20 and 25 bundles from a tree, but that is no longer possible.
"We also don’t have hot leaf seeds anymore. Ogbono too is affected. We normally don’t plant ogbono here; it grows naturally.”
For Jerome Esther, the magnitude of economic losses is so overwhelming that she has lost interest in farming. “I plant cassava, yams, okro and corn, among others.
"My crops, yams in particular, are not yielding good results. The sizes that are coming out now are not encouraging.
"When you plant yam worth N100,000, you will not be able to get N30,000 from the sales at the end of the season.
“It is discouraging us from investing more money on our farms because of the illegal logging that is happening in our community.
"We don’t use fertilizer in our community. When we clear our bush, we just burn it and start planting.”
She further lamented that “ogbono trees which many women harvest and sell to train their children are no longer available. All the trees that we have are no longer yielding fruits.
"Shear nuts and hot leaf seeds which we used to have are no longer there. Hot seed leaves are used by people making local dishes. It is very rich, but it is no longer available.”
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Also bemoaning the sorry state of the community, Lucy Abel recalled how her parents saw her through university education using the proceeds from their farm.
Today, she regrets that “there are no more good harvests like we used to have.
"Before now, my mother could harvest cucumbers that would fill many bags. Same with okro and other farm produce. We would sell them and have plenty left to eat at home.
"They used the proceeds to pay my tuition fees and those of my other siblings.
“This time around, the harvest is so abysmally poor that we can’t even get enough to eat, let alone having to sell. All this is because of the illegal logging and the attendant climate challenges.”
Women battle water crisis as streams dry up
Another environmental crisis that the activities of the illegal loggers have caused for the people is uneasy access to water, especially around their farms. The environment surrounded by water is fast becoming a parched land.
According to the women, their streams are drying up, causing untold hardship.
Egot said: “In Ekuri, we don't have boreholes; we drink from the streams. But most of our streams have dried up as a result of logging activities.
"Some of the trees around the streams have been cut off. Once a tree is cut down, it brings down over 10 trees around it. The streams are consequently exposed to sunlight which dries them up.
"So a number of our streams are dried up now, especially the ones we drink from in the farm areas.”
Godwin also decried the rising challenge they have accessing water.
She said: “Illegal logging has caused the stream in my farm area to dry up. Now we trek a long distance before we can get water.
"The colour of the water is also changing. The leaves that fall from the trees used to give energy to the water.
"Because of the illegal logging, the streams have dried up and we are having challenges getting water.”
Before now, she said, “if other places are hot, it would be very cold in New Ekuri because of the trees. Unfortunately, the story has changed. We are now battling with terrible heat.”
Asked how close her farm is to her house, she said: “Our farm is very far. When we go on a Monday, we return on Friday. We built a shade there to stay.
"The water that is close to my shade has dried up. Now I trek long distances to go and get water, and it is affecting me.
“We have water in my residential area but it is no longer good because of the cutting down of the trees.
"We are surrounded by water but the exposure to sunlight is posing danger to the water. The water is still there, but it is not like before.”
Chainsaw’s noise scare animals out of habitats
Following the violation of the natural state of the forest reserve, the natives said wild animals have started fleeing their habitats and invading the community.
Mary recalled how her relation escaped being killed by a wild animal, saying:
“There is a buffalo that is roaming the community. It attacked one of my cousins. The noise from the engine used by the illegal loggers is scaring the animals out of their natural habitats. They are now looking for another place to hide.”
Also recalling her experience, Jerome Esther said: “One day, I was coming back from Akamkpa and I saw two guys running, leaving their bikes behind.
"They said they encountered two elephants in the forest and ran for dear lives.
"Each time those wild animals hear the sound of the engine used for cutting timber, they will feel threatened and run out of their natural habitats.
"They are now coming close to our dwellings, and that is not safe for us.”
Egot said the incidence of elephants roaming about happened two weeks ago around a community known as Okukuri.
“Those things we see are as a result of the human activities going on in the forest.
"The animals themselves no longer feel safe. Their habitat has been destroyed and they are now running to where they can be safe.
"They are running into the community and we too are running away from them.
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"Wild animals are very dangerous. The elephant is a very dangerous animal that can kill if you mistakenly run into it.
"So they are a threat to us.”
Health crisis looms as medicinal herbs vanish
The women told our correspondent that they depend on traditional medicine for treating every sickness but are in a fix now that the illegal logging activities have made the herbs difficult to get.
Mary told our correspondent that “the illegal logging has destroyed the medicinal plants. Those herbs that we usually use to treat ourselves and for pregnant mothers are no longer there.
“There is no hospital in our community. Most pregnant women visit traditional birth attendants to give birth.
“There is an old traditional birth attendant that many women patronise. She is of age now and can no longer trek long distances to get those herbs.
"The herbs were within her reach before now.”
She added: “We don’t go to the hospital here except we are outside the community. It is the women that use herbs to attend to expectant mothers, and we have always delivered without complications.”
Corroborating her, Egot said: “In Ekuri, we don't have a hospital. The only thing we have is a health centre. But we have so many herbalists. Once anyone is sick, you go to the bush and get some herbs.
"We don't believe in taking orthodox medicine. We have so many pain reliving herbs. But right now, we cannot get them around again.
“Even when children are stooling, dysentery, diarrhea, we had herbs we used to treat them. But right now, we no longer see the herbs. Now, before you get them, you have to trek a very far distance.
"Our old women can no longer go far to get those herbs. It is affecting our people. They now depend on orthodox drugs, which they believe are not as potent as the herbs we are used to.”
Women, girls shun farms for fear of sexual harassment
The Nation also gathered that many women and girls are beginning to shun the farms to avoid being sexually harassed by the strangers plundering their forest.
Esther told our correspondent how a pregnant lady suffered miscarriage after narrowly escaping sexual assault by randy men involved in the illegal logging.
Her words: “Our people have been sexually harassed. There was a case of two ladies who were molested. What saved them was that they know the route very well. They ran into the community and told the youth leader, who sent boys to the forest. But before they got there, the people had left.
“The ladies were taken to the hospital. One of them, who was at an early stage of pregnancy, suffered miscarriage because of the traumatic experience she had at the hands of those people.
“We don’t have any other job than farming. Unfortunately, it is under serious threat. We don’t know what else we can be doing to earn a living.
"It’s sad we can no longer go to the farm on our own as females, because whenever we go to the farms, we are scared that the hard looking illegal loggers may harm us.
"They always threaten us in the bush. We are afraid of going to the farm and getting raped or killed in the bush.”
Egot also said: “The children can no longer go to the farm to get food because of the illegal loggers. They are scared they may be harassed sexually or otherwise.
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"Prior to this time, we used to send our children of 10, 15 or 18 years to the farm on their own to bring farm produce back home.
"But right now, we, the women of Ekuri, are no longer comfortable with releasing our children to go into the bush because of those strangers.”
Illegal loggers damage only road
Aside from the incalculable damage they have done to their forest reserve and economy, the women also alleged, the illegal loggers are also destroying the only road they have.
Lucy Abel said: “We don’t have any good road because of the illegal loggers. Those people used to carry their timbers out on the only road we have and thereby worsen the already bad road.
“Cost of transportation has skyrocketed. Women can no longer go outside the community to get their goods. What they were buying for about N200 is now N1,000 because our road is very horrible.
"It is a huge sacrifice for anyone to transport a passenger in or outside the community.”
Women petition state House of Assembly
The embattled women have petitioned the Cross River State House of Assembly on the activities of illegal loggers in the Ekuri Forest affecting them adversely.
The petition which is captioned: Illegal Logging in Ekuri and Environs Impacting Negatively on Women, Forest and Biodiversity, is dated 26 March 2026 and was jointly signed by the Women Leader of Ekuri, Mrs. Lawrencia Agbor, Imelda Offiong Oyi, Theresa Benedicta Akamo, Agatha Egot, Lucy Abel, Esther Atim Jerome, Akamo Mary Godwin, and Mrs. Freda Francis.
Addressed to the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem, the petition articulated the concerns of the women which included harassment and the depletion of Ekuri forest resources, which have cumulatively led to food security concerns.
They lamented the fact that the ban on illegal logging by the state government has not been enforced and illegal logging had gone unchecked for years despite the outcry of Ekuri people who depend on the forest for their livelihood and sustenance.
The text of the petition read: “Honourable Speaker, every day more than 200 truckloads of timber and other exotic wood leave Ekuri forest and efforts by our people to halt this practice are met with harassment and intimidation by security personnel hired by the logging merchants.”
“Aside the harassment we face, the trucks belonging to the loggers continue to worsen the already bad state of the only access road to old and new Ekuri. Sometimes they break down in the middle of the road and remain there for days, making access by our people totally impossible”.
They referenced recent statistics which showed that aside biodiversity loss, an estimated 91,000 tons of timber leave Cross River State annually due to illegal logging activities, and further reinforced their argument with the recent Global Forest Watch report which alerted that illegal logging activities has cost Ekuri and environs the loss of more than 540 square miles of its tree cover as at 2024.
The petition captured the fact that women in Ekuri are mainly farmers who depend on the forest resources for food and medicine but are now unable to access the forest for basic needs. Continuing, they said that when it is inevitable, women wander far into the forest in search of fuel wood, medicinal plants and other necessities to take care of their families.
They frowned at the fact that despite forming the largest population that suffer the socio-economic situation in Ekuri, in the decision-making processes concerning the forest they are hardly mentioned or consulted.
To address this gap, they urged the House to make it mandatory that key government ministries, especially Women Affairs and Youth Development, actively engage women and youths in Ekuri, to foster inclusivity and participation.
Their prayers included urging the government to work with conservation groups to embark on a reforestation exercise to repopulate forest areas depleted due to logging and other unsustainable practices.
They urged the government to create a framework that would properly define what constitutes legal logging and how it can be operationalized in the context of Ekuri forest.
They equally encouraged the Speaker to use his good office to weigh in on the matter and stop the illegal forest practices that have made life difficult for them.
Govt declines comment
Contacted, the state Commissioner for the Environment, Moses Osogi declined comment on the ground that he had resigned his appointment because of his political ambition.
