Evaluation of Staff Strength of Forestry Personnel, Edo State, Nigeria, from 1986-2008

Edo State forest estates are managed by professional, technical uniformed staff and task force members. This study was conducted to determine the staff strength, employment trend and wage policies of the forest workers. Secondary data were collected from the records and annual reports on forestry activities in the departments of conservation and utilization in the Ministry of environment, Edo State. The results showed that there were significant difference (p<0.05) among the categories of personnel and employment trend among them during the period under review. Uniformed staff dominated other categories in the above cases. Investigation revealed that Ovia South East and Benin city had dominant staff strength of 10 personnel based on empirical norm applied in the study. While, 1 personnel each was recorded in Egor and Eguben locations. It was also revealed that the distribution of monthly salary among the workers increased from unskilled to professional staff, while task force members wage did not follow the same trend. Forest workers are bed rock of forest conservation. It is recommended that they should be in full strength of labour, right categories and adequately remunerated so as to dissuade them from corruption and sharp practices, while executing their jobs.