By Ike Uchechukwu, CALABAR

CALABAR — In a fresh crackdown against the men and machinery ravaging the Cross River rainforest, park authorities have arrested more than 80 suspected illegal loggers, miners and farm encroachers in the state.

The arrest Vanguard learned was carried out between January and July 2026, with over 60 per cent already convicted and prosecuted a signal that the war against forest destruction is finally gaining ground.

The Conservator of the Cross River National Park, Mr. Joseph Ntui, disclosed this weekend , at a stakeholders’ meeting on forest conservation in Calabar, even as he linked the state’s recurring flood disasters directly to the accelerating loss of forest cover.

According to him, about 14,000 hectares wiped out in 2025 alone, releasing an estimated eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Ntui said the arrests, carried out by the park’s 250 armed rangers, targeted individuals identified as major drivers of the deforestation crisis threatening one of Africa’s most biodiverse rainforests.

“Over 60 per cent of those arrested had already been prosecuted, while others were either undergoing trial or had paid fines where the law permitted such options,” he said.

In a related breakthrough, the conservator confirmed that security agencies recently rescued several protected wildlife species that were allegedly being kept illegally at a residential facility in Ekorinim , in CalabarMunicipality LGA of the state

“They have confiscated the primates and other protected species being kept without authorisation from the Federal Department of Forestry.

Some arrests have been made, while investigations are ongoing,” Ntui said, stressing that the operation was still unfolding.

But even as enforcement intensifies, the conservator painted a grim picture of a forest under siege — and a state paying the price.

He said the destruction of the Cross River rainforest, home to the critically endangered Cross River gorilla, Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, forest elephants and pangolins, was stripping the ecosystem of its natural ability to regulate water flow, worsening the flooding now devastating communities across the state.

“It is important to sympathise with families who have lost lives and property to flooding, but that alone will not solve the problem.

“We must collectively review our actions, take responsibility for our forests and work together to prevent the total destruction of the Cross River rainforest,” he said.

Ntui also faulted the Cross River State Forestry Commission for prioritising revenue over restoration.

“Most of the emphasis appears to be on revenue generation,if you visit the Forestry Commission, you hardly see nurseries established for restoring degraded forest areas,” he bemoaned.

He further called for urgent, deliberate investment in reforestation before the next disaster strikes.