#TechTakeOver: Ogun State To Generate Electricity From Sawdust

 The Ogun State Government says it plans to generate electricity from sawdust as part of its contribution towards increasing power supply in the country.

The Commissioner for Forestry, Chief Kolawole Lawal, stated this during a visit to sawmills in Ijebu-Igbo, Ijebu-East Local Government Area of the state.

Lawal was quoted as saying that the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and Energy Commission of Nigeria, in collaboration with the state government, were working together to come up with a technology that would generate electricity from sawdust.

“The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, Electricity Commission of Nigeria and the state government are on a project now that will convert sawdust to energy,” he said.

The commissioner stated that the state government was currently carrying out a feasibility study on the project.

Lawal also called on the saw millers not to waste sawdust, adding that even though it was seen as a waste product, it would soon become a raw material for energy generation.

He also said the state government had established three new forest ranges in addition to the existing ones as part of its efforts to curb illegal logging activities in its forest reserves.

The commissioner noted that creating new ranges in areas such as Ijebu Igbo, Ago Iwoye and Molafara became imperative in order to forestall illegal felling of trees and to ensure proper policing of the forest reserves so as to stop the illegal exploitation of the state’s forest resources.

Lawal said, “It became imperative to create or establish some new forest ranges as majority of our trees are being illegally exploited and taken to neighbouring states.”