Akewa: The Nigerian Company Breaking Liberia’s Logging Laws Unpunished

Jan 25, 2022 | Emmanuel Sherman and James Harding Giahyue, The DayLight
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In 2019, Gola Konneh Community Forest signed a logging agreement with Akewa Group of Companies. The parties agreed that the company would log in the community forest for 15 years and pay the community fees for the use of the land and felling of timbers. The company promised to build schools, clinics and roads. But nearly three years after, the deal has not worked as the community had expected. None of the projects have been conducted despite it felling over 4,615 cubic meters of logs in the 49,179-hectare forest, according to a leak we obtained. Akewa owes the villagers US$86,081 in land rental and log-harvesting fees.