President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged Nigeria’s commitment to the global efforts at reversing the effects of climate change and global warming.
Buhari made the pledge during his opening address at a meeting on Taking Climate Action for Sustainable Development in New York, co-hosted by Nigeria and the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, as one of the Side Events of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United states.
Shortly before the event, the President had signed the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which is aimed at reducing “Green House Gas Emissions unconditionally by 20 per cent and conditionally by 45 per cent.”
He described the agreement as historic, expressing confidence that with support from development partners, Nigeria will meet the targets stipulated in the agreement.
He also promised to ensure the ratification of the Paris Agreement before the 22nd Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakesh, Morocco in November 2016.
Buhari commended President Francois Hollande of France for his “genuine efforts … in drawing global attention to reviving the Lake Chad Basin,” and for galvanizing the political will that led to the global consensus in reaching the Paris Agreement.
He pointed out the various steps taken so far by Nigeria to demonstrate commitment to the Paris Agreement.
They include the establishment of the Nationally Determined Contributions, NDCs, “that strive to build a climate resilient society across the diverse terrain of Nigeria.”
“We have instituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change to govern implementation of my country’s NDCs, thereby ensuring a strong cross-sectoral approach, coherence and synergy for Climate Action,” he said.
President Buhari, admitted that implementing the Roadmap will not be easy in the face of dwindling national revenues, however, indicated that both internal and external resources would be mobilized to meet Nigeria’s targets, adding that the 2017 Budget will reflect Nigeria’s efforts to accord priority to realizing its NDCs.
“In addition, we are set to launch our first ever Green Bonds in the first quarter of 2017 to fund a pipeline of projects all targeted at reducing emissions towards a greener economy,” he said.
President Buhari urged industrialized nations “to play their role and deliver on their commitments on access to climate finance and technology transfer and help with capacity-building.”
“Expectations are high for their leaders to deliver US$100 billion per year by 2020 in support of developing countries to take climate action, thus keeping the promise to billions of people,” he added.
The President thanked the Presidents of Chad, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger for attending the event, while calling on the international community to “give special recognition to the plight of Lake Chad and support our effort to resuscitate the livelihoods of over 5 million people in the region.
“This will reinforce our efforts to reintegrate the thousands of Boko Haram victims and returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).”
Buhari noted that his administration is paying attention to the Niger Delta region, which is highly prone to adverse environmental changes occasioned by climate change.
He promised that “through an integrated approach, implementation of the NDCs, and our efforts to clean up Ogoniland, we will improve livelihoods, protect the environment and take climate action, and ensure the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.