Ogun State To Convert Sawdust To Energy

The Ogun State Commissioner of Forestry, Chief Kolawole Lawal, during a visit to sawmills in Ijebu-Igbo, Ijebu-East Local Government Area of the state, stated that the Ogun State Government plans to generate electricity from sawdust as part of it’s contribution towards increasing power supply in the country.

Lawal said the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and Energy Commission of Nigeria, in collaboration with the state government, are working together to come up with a technology that would generate electricity from sawdust. He also encouraged the saw millers to conserve sawdust as they would soon become a raw material for energy generation.

“The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, Electricity Commission of Nigeria and the State Government are on a project now that will convert sawdust to energy,” he said.

Lawal also said the state government had established three new forest ranges in addition to the existing ones as part of its efforts to curb illegal logging activities in its forest reserves.

He also noted that creating new ranges in areas such as Ijebu Igbo, Ago Iwoye and Molafara is vital in order to forestall illegal felling of trees and to ensure proper policing of the forest reserves so as to stop the illegal exploitation of the state’s forest resources.

Lawal said “It became imperative to create or establish some new forest ranges as the majority of our trees are being illegally exploited and taken to neighbouring states”