Nigeria is embarking on an ambitious drive to unlock $2 billion from its forest economy, a strategy designed to combat deforestation, stimulate job creation, and enhance greater financial inclusion across the nation. The initiative comes as Vice-President Kashim Shettima issued a warning on Monday that over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s original forest cover has been lost, reflecting environmental degradation.
Speaking at the 2025 Nigeria Forest Economy Summit in Abuja, themed ‘Sustainability of Nigeria’s Forests: Unlocking the $2 Billion Potentials for Economic and Financial Inclusion,’ Vice-President Shettima, represented by Ibrahim Hadejia, his deputy chief of Staff, underscored the urgency of the situation. He revealed that more than 400,000 hectares of forest disappear annually, characterising this loss as both an environmental crisis and an economic emergency. Shettima stressed that Nigeria must urgently prioritise sustainable forest management or risk being marginalised in the rapidly evolving global green economy.
The summit, organised by the presidential committee on economic and financial inclusion (PreCEFI) secretariat, served as a platform to discuss the vast, yet largely untapped, potential residing within Nigeria’s natural assets. “Our forests are a treasure trove of biodiversity, timber, medicinal plants, and other valuable products that support agriculture, health, trade, climate resilience, and finance,” Shettima stated. This untapped potential, he argued, presents a significant economic opportunity that Nigeria can no longer afford to overlook.
He highlighted Vietnam’s annual earnings of over $15 billion from forest exports, Brazil’s Amazon contributing 15 per cent to its Gross Domestic Product, and Ethiopia’s success in creating 350,000 jobs through reforestation efforts. “Nigeria should not only replicate these but lead Africa’s forest industrialisation,” Shettima asserted.
A critical aspect of the government’s strategy is to mitigate the impact of stringent new European Union regulations, which are set to ban imports of goods sourced from deforested lands. Shettima warned that failure to act decisively could jeopardise Nigeria’s access to crucial global markets.
Moreover, the initiative is designed with a strong focus on inclusivity. The vice-president noted that over 70 per cent of collectors in the non-timber forest product value chain are women and young people. Supporting cooperatives and forest-based enterprises, he argued, has the potential to lift millions out of poverty, fostering economic empowerment at the grassroots level.
“Let us turn trees into trillions and forests into futures,” Shettima stated. In a practical demonstration of this commitment, the government said it is actively working to align more than 1,100 forest reserves and national parks with strategic investments, projecting an unlocking of up to $3 billion in value. This holistic approach aims to integrate conservation with economic development, ensuring that ecological preservation directly translates into tangible benefits for local communities and the national economy.
Technological innovation is also central to the strategy. Sadiq Sani, founder and CEO of Netzence Sustainability Limited, announced his company’s deployment of technology to help Nigeria accurately measure and monetise greenhouse gas emissions from its forests. To this end, Netzence is collaborating with the presidency and key ministries, including livestock development and environment, to bolster carbon financing initiatives. “Our aim is to build models that accurately estimate carbon credit potential from Nigeria’s forestry assets,” Sani explained.
The inter-ministerial dimension of the strategy was further highlighted by Idi Maiha, minister of livestock development. Maiha stressed that sustainable forest and rangeland management is crucial for improving water quality, reducing perennial conflicts over grazing resources, and promoting climate-resilient livestock systems. He added that the creation of his ministry a year ago was a strategic move aligned with the vice-president’s forest economy agenda, designed to unlock the economic potential of the livestock sector.
Maiha called for comprehensive policy integration across forestry, land use, and livestock, advocating for wider adoption of digital tools for monitoring, early warning systems, and productivity enhancement. “To drive growth, we need access to climate finance, carbon markets, insurance, and credit tailored for small-scale farmers,” Maiha asserted.
Nurudeen Zauro, technical adviser to the president on economic and financial Inclusion and Secretary of PreCEFI, contextualised the summit within President Bola Tinubu’s broader target of a $1 trillion economy. He explained that the initiative aims to unlock underutilised sectors, with the $2 billion figure specifically referring to the immediate potential within Nigeria’s forest sector. Zauro also drew attention to the critical role of border communities, which he described as a significant, untapped economic base. “Partnering with the Border Community Development Agency gives us access to 21 states. These communities can’t be left behind,” he stated.
Despite the immense potential, a major barrier remains low public awareness regarding the forest economy’s value. George Kelly, executive secretary of the Border Communities Development Agency, noted that Nigeria possesses over 10.6 million hectares of forest that could be monetised through carbon financing. He estimated that with proper management, this could generate between $5.3 billion and $10.5 billion annually, with even a conservative $2 billion equating to N3 trillion, a sum exceeding the annual budget of most Nigerian states.
Danny Sokari, chairman of WEN Synergies Nigeria Limited, likened the current situation to owning a diamond mine without knowing its location or value. He argued that the $2 billion figure is modest, and the real potential could be significantly higher if Nigeria embraces forest industrialisation at scale. “People don’t realise how much they can earn from forestry. We need to raise that consciousness,” Sokari said.
