posted on 2024-09-05, 20:55authored byGiovanni Occhiali, Michael Falade
Forests are important socio-economic assets in many low-income countries. However, they
are often over-exploited as governments do not sufficiently valorise them, including by taxing
them inefficiently. This is the case across Nigeria, where forest management and taxation
has been effectively decentralised from the federal government to individual states.
In this paper we assess the current forestry tax regime in Ekiti State, one of the eight
Nigerian states where forests represent more than 50 per cent of land area, and where forest
revenue has been historically relevant. Based on 16 interviews with government state
officials, forest officers and actors from the industry, as well as data from the Forestry
Commission, our analysis suggests that the ongoing depletion of forest resources in the state
seems to be partially connected to an excessive focus on their capacity to generate revenue.
The conceptualisation of the Ekiti State Forestry Commission as a revenue-raising agency
rather than a management one, a continuous drive to extract revenue from the sector
through outdated tax rates, and a view of the industry potential disconnected from the
existing stock, all perversely led to a lower contribution from forestry to the state budget.
While there is potential to reform both the structure of forestry taxes and their method of
administration, evidence from our interviews suggests that priority should be given to
enforcing a ban on forest exploitation for a period that is long enough to allow for its regrowth,
at least in government reserves. This will require substantial sensitisation and
engagement with actors in the sector, as well as increasing the monitoring capacity of the
Forestry Commission. The Forestry Commission does not currently have enough staff to
guarantee the enforcement of existing legislation, let alone a ban on all forest activities.
Funding
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
History
Publisher
Institute of Development Studies
Citation
Occhiali , G. and Falade, M. (2023) Missing the Forest for the Trees: Ekiti State’s Quest for Forestry Revenue and its Impact on Forest Management, ICTD Working Paper 170, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/ICTD.2023.039