Some timber exporters
in Lagos, on Thursday, blamed the high cost of timber on bad roads.
The exporters told newsmen that it was becoming an herculean task to transact timber business because of deplorable state of the roads.
The Kirikiri Sector Acting Chairman, Timber Exporters Association, Chief Albert Ogbonna that is yet to be inaugurated, said that members were just in the business to survive.
“Hauling of logs from the hinterland to the ports is really difficult because the feeder roads are bad and trucks have continued to fall while transporting the logs.
“With its attendant trans loading cost, it has become very hard to engage drivers and transporters,” Ogbonna said.
Also speaking, Alhaji Salisu Dogo, a timber trader, said it was difficult transporting logs from Adamawa forest to Shagamu and Ogere processing plants.
Dogo called on the Federal Government to address the challenges by assisting investors in the sector to establish processing plants near the sources of logs.
Contributing, Mr Emeka Okoroafor, a driver, called for better roads that would facilitate the trade.
Okoroafor said that the high cost of transporting empty cargoes to processing plants for loading and back to ports for onward export, depended on the roads.
According to him, if the roads are good, the cost of transporting logs to processing plant will be minimal.