By Osa Mbonu-Amadi

Two renowned environmentalists, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, Founder and Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, an ecological think tank and advocacy organisation based in Nigeria, and Professor of Anthropology, Aderemi Suleiman Ajala of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan, have advised ministries of environment, botanists, arborists and other relevant authorities in Nigeria to start paying attention to health of trees.

The two naturalists gave the advice last weekend while speaking to Vanguard in reaction to last week’s tragic incident in Awhum community, Udi LGA, Enugu State, where a massive ancestral tree known as Ukwu Akpu Awhum, revered by locals for its spiritual significance and over 100 years old, collapsed during heavy rainfall and strong winds, crushing two parked commercial vehicles and killing 11 people, mostly women passengers.

Dr. Nnimmo Bassey said: “A tree that is more than a hundred years old would clearly require that relevant authorities, both the community leadership and the ministry of environment and that of agriculture, and those in charge of urban and community planning, should pay attention to the health of the tree, to the quality of the tree, and to check especially to see what are the dangers; are the branches going to fall off when there’s high wind? Are the trees being eaten by termites or other insects? How safely can people stay under such a tree without being exposed to harm?

“So I think if people had watched closely the health and quality of the tree, it could have either been trimmed, or over the years they could have found a way of keeping people away from sitting or standing or parking vehicles under this kind of old tree.

Also weighing in on the matter, Prof Ajala said “The tree that fell on people could be accidental, and the fall largely due to the old age of the tree.  In other societies, mostly the developed countries, the age of the tree will be known and recorded. Botanists know the life span of different trees, and before their expiration, those trees would be cut down or trimmed, and another one is planted to replace the old trees.”

Speaking on the need to balance tree preservation with the safety of humans, Dr Bassey said, “We do need to preserve trees in our cities, in our villages, and of course in our forests, because trees play very critical roles in our environment and in our culture. Apart from providing shade for human beings and other species, trees have economic values and cultural values, such as the kind of ideas that people in this community do have regarding this tree that fell down.

On the claim by members of the village that the tree was a spirit, Dr. Bassey said he does not think there’s anything spiritual about the tree. “It’s just a simple thing of keeping watch over the quality of our environment. This is the way I see that situation. Trees do get old; they do fall when there’s high winds; they do fall when there are cracks that were not noticed and it will just get to a point that they have to fall. Unfortunately, people happened to be under the tree at that time when this incident occurred.

“So, it’s a wakeup call for the relevant authorities to be conscious of the fact that anything could happen to trees in our urban areas, trees along the streets, and trees in people’s compounds. So they need to be constantly examined to be sure they are safe and not going to create problems of this nature.”

Speaking even before fresh information on the cultural significance of the fallen tree emerged, Professor Ajala rightly predicted that the tree could be connected with some socio-cultural values of the society. “For that particular tree no cultural significance is known yet. It is also not known if the tree is connected with any socio-cultural values of the society, with community history, identity, or any other community values. So, it may not be a cultural heritage. To ascertain all those, a thorough community interview needs to be conducted.”

The tree fell around 8:45 pm on February 17 at Ukwu Akpu, a bustling market square and bus stop, onto a Toyota Hiace bus and Sienna minivan carrying passengers from Enugu’s Old Park to nearby villages. Eyewitnesses and police reports confirm internal decay weakened the tree, exacerbated by the storm.