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Tag: climate change

  • Going Green: Climate Change Innovators to the rescue

    In 2013, Joy Egbe, 26, lost her aunt who was seven-month pregnant to indoor air pollution caused by fumes from generator — a signature product for every household in Nigeria due to the poor electricity supply.

    That heartbroken experience forced Egbe to pay attention to the acrid emissions coming from millions of diesel and gasoline generators, fueling her fears of the stark reality that awaits Nigeria and the world, if the smoke continues to cloud the African breathing space, with more PM 2.5 particles pumped into the already polluted air.

    “For the first time in my life, the reality of greenhouse gas emissions dawned on. Firstly, I started researching about indoor pollution,” said Egbe, a 300-level Geology student of the University of Benin. “But more importantly, it stirred up in me some forms of climate action advocacy. Even as I learned more, I became so concerned about the course that I began to speak out in support of climate action in my community. At a point, I started adjusting my diet to that of a vegetarian.”

    With heavy reliance on fossil fuel as an energy source for Africans and much of nearly 200 million Nigerians, Egbe’s campaign to get people in some communities in Edo — in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region — to stop its usage and contribution to global warming did not achieve much due to lack of better alternatives.

    “People started asking me: if I stop using fossil fuel to cook, how do I cook? How do I stop using my generator when there is no light? Then I realized I can’t just be creating awareness without solving a problem,” said Egbe, whose drive to advance the course of a green economy led to her joining Nwasor Derick and Ikponmwoba Eloghosa in a 3-member team that co-founded New-Digit in 2018.

    Joy Egbe while test-running her startup’s zero-emission product in Iguobo Community, Edo-Nigeria. The ‘Just Add Water’ component generates cooking gas and electricity from water and solar cells.

    The startup’s zero-emission product uses solar cells and water to produce energy for hydrogen cooking gas and electricity. The capacity of the electricity generated could serve up to 10 households within a cluster.

    “Since November 2018, several homes have been benefiting from the prototype of our product in a village in Edo, where our product’s testing is currently ongoing, ” Egbe said ahead of the product’s official launching, adding that “people are already placing an order for it.”

    Egbe’s New-Digit was among the 15 cleantech businesses selected by the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC) for its 2018-2019 inaugural incubation program which aims to accelerate access to clean energy in Nigeria and ensure that green innovations move from the ideation phase to market entry and then scale up.

    NCIC, which was established in August 2018 through a partnership between the Nigerian government and the World Bank Group, selected the 15 winning teams out of a pool of over 200 for the maiden edition of World Bank’s Climate Launchpad Competition, according to Centre’s CEO, Bankole Oloruntoba in an exclusive interview.

    “There is always an economic impact to every social issue we face as an individual or a nation.” Oloruntoba continued, “if we begin to address the challenge of climate change from an economic perspective and not just as an NGO issue alone, then we begin to get to the root of the social problems attached to it and then solve them.”

    Recently, the centre secured a grant funding partnership with All On — an off-grid energy impact investment company backed by Shell — to incubate the most innovative green ideas that were thrown up by the competition.

    Among the young entrepreneurs whose ideas are currently being incubated through the Climate Launchpad program is AbdulKarim Mayere who founded N-Network. Like Egbe, he is equally troubled over the phenomenal proliferation of generating sets in Africa’s largest economy, though his own proffered-solution comes with a different approach. The idea pushed forward by 34-year-old Mayere is the evacuation of excess power produced through solar generation and the surplus generating sets by individual households, as well as Independent Power Projects (IPPs), to be transmitted to households and facilities where they are needed.

    Through this idea, he believes the number of generators in neighborhoods can be reduced drastically. “Rather than add to the number of generators, a pair to pair electricity trading will enable neighbouring households to be able to trade electricity among themselves.”

    “For instance, if House A is running a 100 kva generator, but all it’s consuming is 50 kva and there’s House B that’s running 50 kva but all it can consume is less than that 50 kva, what we do is to ask both houses to subscribe to our platform. That means House B don’t need to run that 50 kva generator because it can be accommodated within the 100 kva generated by House A,” Mayere adds. “Instead of running a 150 kva combined capacity of generators, the 100 kva generator by House A will serve consumers in both houses.”

    With the ubiquitous generators, almost everyone in Nigeria is a power producer and a preponderance of the households generate more power than they can outrightly consume. In clustered neighborhoods, a building having six apartments for instance, could have each of the apartments producing its own power independently through a generator. The billowing smoke and the deafening noise typical to that of a production factory, oftentimes, would have already made the air go foul, leading to indoor pollution and the noise causing hearing impairment in some worse scenarios, before finally disappearing into the cloud to contribute its own proportion to global warming.

    An estimated $14bn (N5trn), representing 50% of Nigeria’s 2018 budget is expended yearly by businesses to import and maintain fossil fuel-powered generator. This is against the 2015 commitment by Nigeria and 194 nations at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to halt the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C, above pre-industrial levels, limiting it to 1.5°C. However, to the contrary, asides the generator’s worries, Nigeria’s position as Africa’s biggest oil producer makes her to top the list of the highest contributors to global warming on the continent.

    While the halting of the multi-billion dollar generator’s importation business in Nigeria may not be anytime soon, due to the erratic power supply from the centralized grid — the biggest elephant in Nigeria’s economic room — Mayere’s work comes with a focus. It is to cut the emissions emanating from these agents of ‘slow death’ and reduce the cost of generating power by individual households, as well as the nuisance they breed in communities.

    Using the northern state of Kaduna to test run the initiative before launching it in vast parts of Nigeria and West Africa, Mayere and members of his N-Network team are already working with five tertiary institutions and 20 hotel facilities. “They have been very positive about the idea, most especially as we’re helping them to reduce their power consumption and also help them get extra income from their independently generated power.” He noted that the startup is currently identifying the independent power producers and the potential consumers in the respective localities who will subscribe to the electricity trading chain.

    AbdulKarim Mayere, Founder of N-Network. He hopes to reduce the acute generator’s emissions through his electricity trading chain.

    According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), only 100 KW of power is allowed to be distributed by an independent power producer and the N-Network is keeping it within that limit, albeit with a futuristic outlook to partner with the big power Distribution Companies (DisCos) and Generating Companies (GenCos) as network tends to grow bigger.

    “In the future, through this plan, we hope to get more solar and other renewable technologies to be the only source of the power generation that would be traded,” says Mayere who bagged a PhD, Engineering in Renewable Energy from the University of Nottingham in 2011.

    Juststandout Limited, also selected among startups with emerging innovations for the Climate Launchpad program is bringing to the table an eco-friendly E-waste management idea.

    Co-founded by Joseph Inyang and wife, Owen, Juststandout has its work well cut out in two inextricably linked solutions: to drive down E-waste volume coming from used batteries, hence, helping Nigeria meet its target of reducing the carbon footprint by 50% by 2030, and also leverage on E-waste to bridge the Kilowatt divide that exists between Nigeria and the rest of the world.

    The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) had estimated that about 1.1 million tonnes of E-waste — mostly PCs, air-conditioners, LCD-TVs, mobile phones, refrigerators — is generated in Nigeria annually. West Africa’s economic capital, Lagos contributes about 40% of the E-waste.

    Meanwhile, there are growing concerns among environmental activists that the planned $80bn investment in Nuclear power plant’s development by the Nigerian government could further complicate waste management challenges for a nation that is still battling to manage its E-waste.

    Speaking on his company’s work, Inyang stated that his team had fashioned out a waste collection system to gather used batteries from laptop and other equipment that have small cells. “We sort, recondition and use them to produce Power Packs between 8000mAmps to 24000mAmps and EV Packs (for larger energy storage).”

    Most times, people tend to toss away old electronic devices that get damaged or just stop working, leaving the battery inside, but the company hopes to increase the collection rate of such used batteries. “We’re reaching out to religious houses to allow their facilities to be used as collection centres for the batteries,” Inyang stated.

    For the Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries that defy reconditioning and repurposing, he said the company has a technology in place to recycle them and extract the Lithium, a valuable element in producing other forms of energy storage devices for small-scale and large-scale use.

    In recent years, Nigeria’s solar companies had made a meaningful contribution to boost the off-grid power generation. Following the country’s target to generate 30% of her power from renewable energy by 2030, notwithstanding, not much indigenous solutions had come the way of improving the storage of energy generated from solar panels, now on the rise.

    As part of efforts to address the energy storage issues, Juststandout is trying to ensure that through improved storage of energy produced by solar and other green sources, the transition of households and facilities away from heavy dependency on fossil fuels to clean energies can be fast-paced. This is expected to deepen electricity access, especially among rural locals and reduce energy poverty as renewables become a lot cheaper with time.

    The company, according to Inyang had reached over 3,000 people to include clinics and other service-based institutions with its energy products and services.

    “We call ourselves the ‘energy warriors’ because to us the power situation in Nigeria is a war that must be properly fought and won. And adequate energy storage by recycling and reconditioning used Lithium-Ion batteries is our best bet to leapfrog the Kilowatt divide, while we reduce our carbon footprint,” Inyang said.

  • Buhari on climate change

    This year’s annual Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in Katowice, Poland, opened on December 2 and will run until the 14th.

    There are about 22,000 delegates from 200 countries at the conference, including President Muhammadu Buhari who joined other world leaders for the high-level meeting on December 2 –3.

    As an aside, the choice of Katowice by the Polish hosts of the conference is a deliberate one, aimed at bringing home the lessons of the devastation caused by climate to the global environment. Katowice is the coal mining and steel making stronghold of the country. Coal powers 80 per cent of Poland’s electricity, on account of which Katowice is the 36th of Europe’s 50 most polluted cities.

    Smog, manifesting air pollution can get so bad that it would sometimes be difficult to breathe.

    It’s perhaps on account to avoid the air that many delegations chose to stay in Kraków, a distance of 80.4 km   (some one hour-drive) from Katowice, for their residency while attending the conference.

    Beyond this, there is everything positive to say about infrastructure in both cities, much of it put in place during the communist era, attesting to claims that in some ways, communism did work for the people.

    Tagged “COP24” in UN parlance, this meeting had the objective of drawing up final rules and guidelines for the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. When it is agreed to, it will enable the agreement to be put into practice all around the world.

    The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015. The global action plan set out in Paris is to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C.

    The agreement came into effect on November 4, 2016, and has since been signed by nearly 200 counties including Nigeria.

    Signatories also include the United States, Australia and Argentina, three countries that are now reversing their acceptance of the terms of the agreement.

    In the specific case of Donald Trump’s America, he doesn’t even believe that global warming has a connection with carbon emissions, a sin visited on the world by rich, industrial nations led by America.

    This year’s climate conference came at a time of growing concern about the deteriorating global climate situation. It has been determined that in carbon dioxide levels, the year 2017 was the highest they have been in 3-5 million years.

    According to the National Agency for Space Administration, NASA, 2017 was the second-hottest year globally since 1880; the Arctic was warming twice as fast as anywhere else on earth in 2017 and sea levels are rising at the fastest recorded rate in 2,000 years.

    As enunciated by President Buhari in his speech at Katowice, the consequences of this are seen in the rising global temperatures, erratic rainfall, sand storms, desertification, floods, cold waves, low agricultural yields and drying up of water bodies. “It is no surprise that the effects are felt more on the vulnerable communities that lack the capacity and technology to properly address such challenges,” he said.

    In that speech, President Buhari made it clear that we in Africa contributed little, if any to the climate change menace but were suffering its consequences. He cited, graphically the case of the Lake Chad, down from 25,000 square kilometres to 2,500 sq. km, 10 per cent only of its established size and with that, jeopardizing the livelihoods of 40 million inhabitants of the basin found in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

    The consequences of these on the ecosystems are extreme poverty, the displacement of people, and support for banditry and terrorism.

    In calling for international support to recharge Lake Chad with waters from the Congo Basin in Central Africa, President Buhari made clear that Nigeria remains committed to saving the Lake from possible extinction.

    In search for solutions, he revealed that an International Conference held earlier in February this year in Abuja has helped in creating additional awareness globally on the serious environmental and security challenges facing the Lake Chad region.

    Furthermore, he said, “A consensus was reached at the said conference to the effect that an inter basin water transfer from the Congo Basin remains the most sustainable option available to resuscitate and safeguard this precious water body that was once the sixth largest fresh water lake in the world.”

    The president also did his duty of projecting Nigeria as a responsible nation-state, playing by international rules, taking upon herself the ambitious “Nationally Determined Contributions” targeted to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions up to 20 per cent by 2030 and, given international support, by 45 per cent in 20 years.

    His support for the Paris Agreement is unmistakable, partly on account of his view of it as a vehicle for the remission of past ills visited on the environment that led to the consequences of climate change imposed on Nigeria and other African countries. He sees the risks to our farmers who are involved in frequent deadly attacks against each other with herders; he is concerned about rising oceans that threaten our communities along the thousands of kilometres of coastline; he knows first-hand, the damage from the desert encroachment, forcing millions of our citizens into climate migration.

    His determination to make a difference is driven by a strong sense of mission, to do something about the dangers now or confront a bigger calamity in the years to come.

    He has an interesting narrative from the magazine, National Geographic he read about 40 years back, in which a report was made of a research by a UK scholar around 1925 warning as at that time that Lake Chad needed an infusion of waters from the Congo Basin or else it would dry up. Because nothing was done to forestall this, Lake Chad is today 10 per cent of its original size and, receding even more.

    For him, therefore, the adoption “of a strong Paris work programme, with clear provisions on all key issues including transparency, finance, mitigation and adaptation,” is a key priority as it is for the European Union and other countries.

    When it comes to the assumption of responsibility for the work that needs to be done and who pays for it, President Buhari as do many other activist-leaders, hold the view that since the developed countries have been the major polluters over the years, and they are not in any way denying that, they should assume a greater role in fighting global warming.

    One of these ways includes the Green Climate Fund established by the Paris Agreement into which they would make an annual payment of USD 100 billion to help lift up the less developed countries suffering the consequences of climate change. President Buhari said African countries must draw from this fund for the restoration efforts to make the needed impact.

    For us in Nigeria however, the president made it clear that we are not resting on our oars, waiting for manna to fall from heaven, but rather promoting technologies and practices such as sustainable land management, climate resilient agriculture, water efficiency and clean energy.

    Some of the specifics in this regard include: the determined efforts to end gas flaring in the Niger Delta, ahead of the stated schedule; provision of solar power up to 13,000 megawatts; efficient energy through mass transit and reduction of cars and the improvement of the electricity grid system.

    The president also mentioned the successful take-off in the Nigerian Stock Exchange of the green climate bonds to help us fund renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions.

    The government, President Buhari also announced, has specifically developed Sectoral Implementation Plans (SIPs) in five priority sectors namely: Oil and Gas; Agriculture and Land Use; Transport; Industry; Energy and Power.

    These steps as choreographed by President Buhari had the effect of presenting Nigeria as a nation acting responsibly within the global community. If every country would do their part in a responsible way as we are doing, the world would have been saved, in 2017 alone, of disasters triggered by weather and climate-related hazards to the cost of US$320 billion.

     

    • Shehu is Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.

  • World in ‘deep trouble’ over climate change, UN warns

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the world is in “deep trouble’’ due to climate change.

    Guterres gave the warning at the 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland on Monday.

    He told parties to the UN Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) that the world could not afford to waste any more time before taking action on climate change.

    The UN chief asked decision makers to focus on four key things: stepping up climate action, according to a solid plan, with more funding, as a smart investment in future of the planet.

    The two-week conference marks the deadline for the 197 parties that signed the Convention to adopt guidelines for the implementation of the historic 2015 Paris Agreement.

    The 197 countries collectively agreed to keep global temperature rises to no more than two degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels, and if possible, to limit the rise to 1.5 degrees centigrade.

    “Now in Poland, they have to agree on how they will achieve this collectively, we cannot fail in Katowice,” the UN chief said.

    He highlighted four key messages for the thousands of representatives of the world’s nations, non-profit organisations, UN agencies, and private sector companies gathered in Katowice.

    According to Guterres, climate change is already a matter of life and death for many people, nations and countries of the world, as the science is telling us we need to move faster.

    “Even as we witness devastating climate impacts causing havoc across the world, we are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption.

    “Last year, I visited Barbuda and Dominica, which were devastated by hurricanes. The destruction and suffering I saw was heart-breaking,” he said, noting “these emergencies are preventable.

    “If we fail, the Arctic and Antarctic will continue to melt, corals will bleach and then die, the oceans will rise, more people will die from air pollution, water scarcity will plague a significant proportion of humanity, and the cost of disasters will skyrocket”, he warned.

    He insisted on the need to operationalise the Paris Agreement, and reminded Member States that 2018 is the deadline that they set for themselves to finalise the guidelines for implementation.

    Read Also: 2019: INEC warns incumbents against using state resources

    “We need a unifying implementation vision that sets out clear rules, inspires action and promotes raised ambition, based on the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in light of different national circumstances.

    “We achieved success in Paris because negotiators were working toward a common goal,” and called for urgent collaboration to “ensure that the bonds of trust established in Paris will endure’’.

    “We need concerted resource mobilisation and investment to successfully combat climate change, we must start today building the tomorrow we want.’’

    In 2015, a total of 18 high-income nations committed to providing 100 billion dollars annually by 2020, to lower-income nations to support their climate action.

    Guterres urged developed nations to deliver on this commitment, while urging Member States “to swiftly implement the replenishment of the Green Climate Fund. It is an investment in a safer, less costly future”.

  • World Bank to invest $200b to combat climate change

    The World Bank Group has announced plans to double its investments in the fight against climate change to around $200 billion for more than five years.

    “Climate change is an existential threat to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. These new targets demonstrate how seriously we are taking this issue,” World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim said.

    The investments, announced in a statement yesterday, would apply to the investment period for 2021-2025, to support countries in their efforts to take “ambitious climate action.”

    The funds would be allocated for countries “to build better adapted homes, schools and infrastructure, and invest in climate smart agriculture, sustainable water management and responsive social safety nets,” said World Bank Chief Executive, Kristalina Georgieva.

    Read also: No nation can tackle climate change alone, says Buhari

    The World Bank’s announcement came just before the opening of a United Nations (UN) climate conference in Katowice in Poland.

    The delegates are to focus on fleshing out the rules for financing and implementing the 2015 Paris agreement in the next two weeks.

    The Paris pact provides an outline for countries working together to limit the Earth’s warming to between 1.5 and two degrees Celsius.

    Most efforts to prevent the planet heating up relate to stopping the release of greenhouse gases.

    However, the measures so far  to reduce harmful greenhouse gases are far from sufficient to meet the goal.

  • No nation can tackle climate change alone, says Buhari

    THE United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP24) kicked off yesterday in Katowice, Poland, with a conclusion by President Muhammadu Buhari that no nation can confront climate change alone.

    He urged UN-member countries to rededicate themselves to the task of rebuilding and restoring a healthy environment for future generations.

    His call came as the World Bank announced plans to double its investments in the fight against climate change. It announced $200 billion to tackle the menace.

    In his welcoming remarks, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda told delegates that the location where a coal mine was once operated was specifically picked for the conference.

    He said Katowice had become one of the greenest cities in Poland.

    Addressing other world leaders at the opening, President Buhari warned that the challenges of climate change, including rising temperatures, desertification, floods, low agricultural yields and drying up of water bodies, were enormous and evident to all.

    He spoke in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

    Citing the receding Lake Chad, the President noted that the effects of climate change were felt more on vulnerable communities, which lacked the capacity and technology to address such challenges.

    He said: “Obviously, no country can confront the phenomenon alone. In this regard, Nigeria believes in joint and cooperative efforts to tackle the problem.

    ‘‘We urge that efforts to address the challenges of climate change be pursued within multilateral frameworks. Concerted efforts should be made to strengthen sub-regional and regional organisations, to serve as hubs for Climate Action and partnership.’’

    Speaking on Lake Chad, the President reaffirmed that Nigeria was committed to saving the Lake, which is a source of livelihood to 40 million people.

    He said Nigeria would build on the success of an International Conference held in February in Abuja to create additional awareness globally on the serious environmental and security challenges facing the Lake Chad region.

    The President told the audience, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, that a consensus was reached at the Abuja Conference that an inter-basin water transfer from the Congo Basin remained the most sustainable option available to resuscitate and safeguard this precious water body that was once the sixth largest fresh water Lake in the world.

    On behalf of the member countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), President Buhari thanked the Italian government for donating 1.5 million Euros towards completion of the feasibility studies on the proposed inter-basin water transfer project.

    He said: “I once again call on the international community to support this worthy project, for the benefit of nearly 40 million people that depend on the Lake for their livelihood, and to guarantee future security of the region.

    “‘I would like to reiterate Nigeria’s commitment to constructively supporting multilateral action aimed at addressing climate change.

    “We must rededicate ourselves to the task of rebuilding and restoring the healthy environment we inherited for future generations.”

    Buhari used the occasion to highlight what Nigeria had done and doing on climate change after adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015.

    He said: “We in Nigeria have commenced the implementation of our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

    “In the next 15 years, we aim to achieve 20 per cent emissions reduction below Business as Usual (BAU) and 45 per cent emissions reduction with the support of our international partners by 2030.

    ‘‘Our efforts include the review and introduction of new responsive legislation/policies, strengthening institutional and manpower capacities, and encouraging gradual transition to low carbon economy.

    ‘‘Nigeria has also recently ratified the Doha Amendment and will soon deposit the instrument for ratification.’’

    The President pledged that Nigeria would continue to pursue industrialisation and economic development, with sound environmental management and best practices.

    According to him, Nigeria has unlocked the potential of its sovereign green bond to galvanise private capital to finance environmentally sustainable projects.

    ‘‘In support of our NDC aspiration, we have embraced the issuance of green bond as an innovative and alternative source of funding projects that would reduce emissions and provide robust climate infrastructure like renewable energy, low carbon transport, water infrastructure and sustainable agriculture that our country needs,’’ he said.

    He restated Nigeria’s belief that technology could be a powerful solution for simultaneously addressing climate change and advancing development, stressing the need for developed countries to accelerate the finance for research and development, in addition to promoting access to climate-friendly technologies.

    He said: ‘‘In addition, there is the need to raise global climate action in the pre-2020 period, in terms of mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation.

    ‘‘For us in Nigeria, we are promoting technologies and practices, such as sustainable land management, climate resilient agriculture, water efficiency and clean energy.

    ‘‘We have also developed insurance-based initiatives to deal with loss and damage, as well as adaptation to internally acceptable practices.’’

  • Strategic climate change policy imperative to national development – IPPAM

    The Institute for Public Policy Analysis & Management ( IPPAM ) has re-echoed the need for Nigeria to evolve an evidence informed climate change policy if the country will achieve sustainable development.

    Professor Eric Eboh, a member of the IPPAM governing council, who stated this during a one-day public policy roundtable with theme “Climate Change, Livelihoods and Public Policy Responses in Nigeria” held at the weekend in Abuja, reiterated that given the situation we find ourselves today, proactive and evidence-based climate change policies critically addressing adaptation and mitigation is imperative for Nigeria’s sustained existence.

    According to him, the increase in violence such as herdsmen/farmers clashes, boko-haram and Niger-Delta militancy; cannot be separated from evolving climate change problems and the resulting environmental resource conflict.

    In his keynote address, – Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba (Vice-Chancellor, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi), lamented the high level of policy inconsistency in Nigeria’s Climate Change landscape; which according to him, is detrimental to Nigeria’s economic growth and development.

    The erudite professor warned that if an aggressive climate change policy is not put in place to sustain the social and economic development in the country, the country will lose 11 per cent of Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ) to climate change. productivity by up to 11 percent by 2020, and up to 30 per cent by 2050.

    According to him, Nigeria does not have one example of a policy document that goes through the rigour of evidence and research that covers at least 24 states of its states, addressing policy issues around climate change adaptation and mitigation.

    Providing empirical data that supported Prof. Nwajiuba’s position and the urgent cry for coordinated action, Prof. Johnson Onyibo from ABU, Zaria, argued strongly that all stakeholders reconsider the evidence which is becoming alarming and take action.

    Speaking at the occasion, the Director of the Dept. of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr Yerimah Peter Tarfa, said that his department has put in place policies, measures and activities that are all inclusive and that are geared towards implementing policies in climate change.

    According to him, the structure of the department is such that there is a greenhouse gas inventory division, vulnerability and adaptation division, mitigation division and the education awareness and outreach. These divisions are supposed to be the entities that will touch on each of the activities that relates to climate change.”

    The event was attended by over 50 organizations from across the public and private sectors as well as climate change civil society practitioners.

  • We have measures in place to tackle climate change, says FG

    The Federal Government at the weekend said it had developed policies and programmes that would help reduce the impact of climate change.

    Director in charge of Climate Change department, Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr Yerimah Tarfa, stated this at a roundtable series put together by the Institute for Public Policy Analysis and Management ( IPPAM ). 

    Dr. Tarfa, who spoke on the theme: “Climate Change, Livelihoods and Public Policy Responses in Nigeria,” said that his department had put in place policies, measures and activities that are all inclusive and geared towards implementing policies on climate change.

    He said the focal points and approaches of the government in tackling climate change was hinged on adaptation and mitigation.

    He said: “We have put in place a national policy on climate change which is available in our website. 

    “The structure of the department is such that there is a greenhouse gas inventory division, vulnerability and adaptation division, mitigation division and the education awareness and outreach.

    “These divisions are supposed to be the entities that will touch on each of the activities that relates to climate change.”

    He also said Nigeria was the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases through gas flaring.

    Dr. Tarfa therefore said there was need for an urgent action to be taken by government which would enable the country tackle these challenges.

    He also stressed the need to engage climate-smart agriculture and focus more on renewable energy.

    Participants at the IPPAM roundtable series
    Participants at the IPPAM roundtable series

    Member of the Governing Council, IPPAM, Prof. Eric Eboh, said the roundtable series was to foster cross-fertilization of critical thinking, innovative ideas and interactions between researchers, policy practitioners and non-state actors towards canvassing evidence-informed public policy options for sustainable social and economic development in Nigeria and Africa.

    He also added that proceedings and recommendations of the roundtable which featured presentations from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Ministry of Environment and other stakeholders drawn from the community would be developed and transmitted to relevant government institutions and public policy agencies.

    In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba said it was sad that Nigeria does not have a thorough and comprehensive policy document on climate change.

    Prof. Nwajiuba, who was the keynote speaker said: “The focus on agriculture with respect to the roundtable discussion on climate change is very obvious due to its contributions to the GDP, employment and its vulnerability to climate change.

    “When Nigerians talk about policy, they most times get a few friends to write up a certain document that they will never come around to implement because it never really passed through much rigour, and we call that policy.”

  • Climate Change: Buhari seeks sustained support from global community

    President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated the need for sustained financial, technical and capacity building support from the international community to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change in the country.

    Receiving a Letter of Credence from Mr Robert Jan Petri, the Ambassador of Netherlands to Nigeria, the President yesterday in Abuja said Nigeria would keep vigorously pursuing the replenishment of the Lake Chad Basin, which has dried up to 10 per cent of its original size.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity  Femi Adesina, the President said: “With the population growth in Nigeria and the drying up of the Lake Chad, we have to move faster and adapt to the impacts of climate change through technological solutions.”

    The President told the Dutch Ambassador that following Nigeria’s active participation in UN-organised Climate Change conferences in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Nigerian government successfully hosted a high-level international conference on Lake Chad in February 2018.

    He noted that the high-level conference provided an opportunity to push further options to restore the Lake Chad, including the inter-basin water transfer project from Ubangi River in Central Africa to the lake.

    On agriculture, the President welcomed the interest by some Nigerian doctoral students studying in the Netherlands on developing the sector through research and innovation, particularly the livestock sector.

    In separate remarks, while receiving the Letter of Credence from the High Commissioner of the Republic of Botswana, Mr. Pule Mphothwe, Buhari commended the Southern African country for its consistent support to Nigeria in the international fora.

    Recounting Nigeria’s leadership role in the liberation of African countries from colonial domination, the President said: “It is a national duty to support our African brothers in their time of need.”

    The President, who also received Letter of Credence from Mr. Houssam Diab, Ambassador of Lebanon to Nigeria, lauded Lebanon for successful parliamentary elections, commitment to stability and security in the Middle East, as well as assistance to Syrian refugees.

    The ambassadors, while highlighting the existing and cordial relations between Nigeria and their countries, called for increased trade and economic cooperation.

     

  • Climate Change: Buhari seeks support from international community

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Abuja reiterated the need for sustained financial, technical and capacity building support from the international community to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change in the country.

    Receiving a Letter of Credence from Mr Robert Jan Petri, the Ambassador of Netherlands to Nigeria, President Buhari said Nigeria would continue to vigorously pursue the replenishment of the Lake Chad Basin, which has dried up to 10 percent of its original size.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity  Femi Adesina, the President said ”With the population growth in Nigeria and the drying up of the Lake Chad, we have to move faster and adapt to the impacts of climate change through technological solutions, ”

    The President told the Dutch Ambassador that following Nigeria’s active participation in UN-organized Climate Change conferences in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Nigerian government successfully hosted a high-level international conference on Lake Chad in February 2018.

    He noted that the high-level conference provided an opportunity to push further options to restore the Lake Chad, including the inter-basin water transfer project from Ubangi River in Central Africa to the Lake.

    On agriculture, the President welcomed the interest by some Nigerian doctoral students studying in the Netherlands on developing the sector through research and innovation, particularly the livestock sector.

    In separate remarks, while receiving the Letter of Credence from the High Commissioner of the Republic of Botswana, Mr Pule Mphothwe, President Buhari commended the Southern African country for its consistent support to Nigeria in the international fora.

    Recounting Nigeria’s leadership role in the liberation of African countries from colonial domination, the President said: ”It is a national duty to support our African brothers in their time of need.”

    The President who also received Letter of Credence from Mr Houssam Diab, Ambassador of Lebanon to Nigeria, commended Lebanon for successful parliamentary elections, commitment to stability and security in the Middle East, as well as assistance to Syrian refugees.

    In their separate remarks, the Ambassadors while highlighting the existing and cordial relations between Nigeria and their countries, called for increased trade and economic cooperation.

    The Dutch Ambassador said, ”we are in the process of intensifying our cooperation, particularly on agriculture where we can offer our expertise, being the second largest exporter of food after the United States.”

    Notably, the Botswana High Commissioner told President Buhari that several companies from his country had indicated interest to invest in Nigeria’s mining, agriculture, sports and creative arts sectors.

    ”Sequel to the visit to my country (Botswana) by your predecessor in 2011, there is a great desire for my President to visit Nigeria,” Amb.  Mphothwe said.

  • Climate Change: World Bank pushes for smart technologies

    Climate Change: World Bank pushes for smart technologies

    The World Bank is to support Nigeria and other members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the uptake of climate-smart technologies.

    The bank has introduced a new initiative, West Africa Agricultural Transformation Programme (WAATP), which it will solely fund  to this effect. The funding will run into millions of dollars.

    Beneficiary countries of the initiative, such as Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo,  will be able to increase productivity and incomes through responsible farming without damaging the environment.

    To ensure success, the bank is working with the West and Central Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) and ECOWAS to scale up the adoption of climate-smart technologies, enhance job creation and increase access to regional markets for targeted commodities.

    According to CORAF, WAATP seeks to transform the agriculture industry sustainably by scaling up replicable innovations and crop varieties using ICT tools and geo-mapping.

    Under the programme, CORAF said the geographical scope of coverage would extend to Central Africa with Cameroon among benefitting countries. Chad and other Central African nations could potentially join.

    CORAF Executive Director Dr. Abdou Tenkouano said: “This programme has assigned itself very ambitious targets because West and Central deserve that. Among the beneficiaries, at least 40 percent must be women. The technologies disseminated have to be linked to critical areas such as climate-smart agriculture, nutrition, mechanisation, and processing. And it will be judged on the number of permanent and seasonal jobs it creates.”

    WAATP will focus on five mutually-reinforcing components:    strengthening the new model for innovation development in West Africa, accelerating large-scale adoption of improved technologies and innovations, policies, markets, and institutional strengthening, contingent emergency response and     project management, learning, monitoring and evaluation.

    WAATP will take over from West African Agriculture Productivity Programme (WAAPP), which was launched in 2008 and assigned the mission to boost productivity, reduce hunger, improve nutrition, create jobs, and support collaboration across borders.

    In 2016, the World Bank rated the WAAPP as the second-best project it funded in Africa.

    “This rating is not only an acknowledgment of the effective management of the program across the West Africa region, but it is also recognition of the development outcomes achieved by the programme,” Tenkouano said.

    “Despite the progress made, agricultural productivity in the West and Central Africa sub-regions still lags behind the rest of the world,” said Dr. Niéyidouba Lamien, WAAPP Regional program coordinator.

    “Focus has to go beyond productivity to address the overall issue of enhancing the food system to address the demand of an increasing population, address youth unemployment, climate change, migration, gender, and nutrition.”

    ECOWAS collaboration with WAAPP led to improvement in  agricultural production and increased food security in member states.