Ibadan — Wife of the Oyo state governor, Oluwakemi Alao-Akala, has stressed the need for aggressive tree planting to replace the ones removed in order to safe the environment from going bald.

Akala's wife, founder of the Community Link Advancement Programme (CLAP), called for enabling laws from appropriate authorities against indiscriminate felling of trees. The CLAP founder spoke at the third plantation of the foundation in the state in collaboration with British American Tobacco Nigeria {BATN}.

She said such law should make it compulsory that when a tree must of necessity be felled, at least five to 10 times the number of the trees so felled should be planted; depending on the climate, soil conditions and the geographical layout of the area.

The governor's wife urged authorities of local governments to take active interest in awareness creation about trees and to pay more attention to tree planting.

Speaking at the inauguration, BATN Executive Director, Mr. Gbenga Ibikunle, said the parlous state of environment called for concerted efforts by both the government and other stakeholders to address environmental degradation, pollution, depletion of the ozone layer, desert encroachment and deforestation among others.

He disclosed that since the inception of the programme in 2008, two 10-hectare Teak tree plantations have been established in Shaki West Local Government Area and Jabata community in Surulere LGA.

He said that each of the two plantations was revisited this year and two hectares each of teak plantation were re-established in order to enhance their development.

Ibikunle said the foundation believed that the annual tree planting campaign would go a long way in creating awareness about the global environmental problems and also encourage tree planting as a way of solving some of the problems.

He added that apart from the annual tree planting collaboration with CLAP in the state, the foundation had established tree plantations in Katsina, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Jigawa and Yobe States, while one is nearing completion in Kano State.

In his welcome address, the local government chairman, Alhaji Ismail Adedeji, said the project was a wake up call to the people of the area towards the imminent disaster due to people's insensitivity to the environment.

He frowned at a situation where his people fell trees indiscriminately but found it extremely difficult to plant one even in their compounds. The plantation was a five-hectare Teak plantation in Ologede Village in Atisbo Local Government Area of the state.