SIR: It is no longer news that 104 participants including Nigeria have given their words at the COP26 World Summit on climate change in Glasgow of Scotland to put an end to sweeping deforestation by 2030 in their countries and achieve a net-zero target by 2060.
This pledge by the world leaders reminded me of the words of the British former model, media personality, businesswoman, and activist, Heather Anne Mills who once said,” Eighty per cent of global warming comes from livestock and deforestation”. Prince Charles, who is the British Queen’s eldest son, also once said,” Forests are the world’s air-conditioning system, the lungs of the planet and we are on the verge of switching it off”.
According to the European Space Agency, 25 to 35 percent of climate-changing greenhouse gases come from biomass burning that mostly occurs in the African continent. Some activists have also pointed out that tree-planting may not be the ultimate solution for vehement fight against desertification and climate change in Africa unless authorities provide cheapest clean-burning fuels to the pernicious firewood, kerosene and charcoal for the poorest people of the continent.
If one traverses across the continent, he will definitely witness men inside its captivating forests demolishing trees that purify our earth’s environments and atmospheres. These trees are burned to make charcoal and sold to illegal charcoal traders here and abroad. African leaders should not pretend to be committed to applying themselves to combating global warming earnestly when majority of their penniless citizens and rural communities are decimating their continent’s most gorgeous forests for domestic fuels and illegal charcoal export. So, what sorts of effort are African leaders making to end deforestation and bring alternative to fossil fuels, charcoal and fire-woods?
Read Also: COP26: Buhari pledges net zero emissions by 2060
President Buhari-led administration should be commended on the provision of the CBN’s N250 billion Intervention Fund for the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) to finance the establishment of gas processing plants, gas cylinder manufacturing plants, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), CNG primary and secondary compression stations, micro distribution outlets, LPG wholesale outlets and service centres of LPG sales with a view to providing choice for the fuel of transportation, power generation making LPG as the fuel for domestic cooking.
The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) popularly known as cooking gas is considered as the superlative cleanest green form of energy or clean-burning fuel compared to the perilous far-reaching fuels. I was in high spirits when Nigeria’s government had announced that its LPG’s expansion programme will reach 30 million households by 2025.
Nigeria is blessed with a number of hydro-dam projects with huge potential for hydroelectric power generation across the country. These are major sources of renewable energy but are unfortunately neglected. These abandoned hydropower dams include Kafin-Zaki dam, Mambilla dam, Jebba dam, Kiri dam, Oyan River dam, Ikere Gorge dam, Shiroro dam, Dadin-kowa dam, Tiga dam, Challawa Gorge dam, Goronyo dam, Zobe dam, Jebi dam, Obudu dam, Guau dam, Jibiya dam, Bakolori dam, Omi-Kampe dam, to name but a few. When completed, these overlooked multipurpose hydroelectric dams will definitely rejuvenate Nigeria’s electricity and galvanise low-income households to migrate from firewood to electric stoves.
Nigeria should accelerate the projects of its National Agency of the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) in affected 11 states of the northern part that includes Adamawa, Borno, Kano, Jigawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto and Yobe. The NAGGW was created to halt climate change, reverse land degradation or desertification in those states by 2025. The restoration is expected to cover 1,500km square across those affected 11 states in the North.
I call on African leaders to create special corps to fight against illegal tree logging in the forests to rescue them from shrinking. Nigeria should lift taxes on the LPG and strive to make it an available and cheapest commodity for impoverished people across the country. As pledged by President Buhari, the abandoned hydro-dam projects should be completed on the spot with a view to invigorating electricity and migrating to electric stoves.
- Mustapha Baba,
Azare, Bauchi State.
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