Okomu Oil Palm is one of Nigeria’s leading oil palm companies listed on the Nigeria Exchange. It has a plantation that covers an area of 33, 112 hectares, of which 18, 879 hectares currently has oil palm trees and 7,335 hectares has rubber trees.
In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the company’s Managing Director, Graham Hefer, highlights how the activities of illegal loggers near its plantation are affecting the company’s operations and depleting Nigeria’s forest cover. He speaks on ongoing efforts and strategies adopted to check unsustainable environmental practices by people he described as “hoodlums”.
He said illegal loggers do not just do illegal logging but also steal the company’s products (palm fruits and rubber). Mr Hefer said over 10 officials of the company have been killed by the intruders in the last five years.
