ENVIRONMENT Climate change: Germany spends over 50m to support Nigeria, others

The Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, has said the German government spent over 50 million euro, to support Nigeria and other West African countries on research projects regarding climate change.

Jibril disclosed this during a meeting with a delegation from West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), led by its Executive Director, Prof. Jimmy Adegoke, in Abuja.

The minister, while thanking the German government for the support got from the governing council and executive director of WASCAL, said climate change was not something that one could wish away.

“I believe our brothers and sisters from Yobe will attest to it that when you come from areas in the north, where the sand dunes are real, there seems to be barren villages and limited water resources: you cannot deny climate change,” he said.

He also expressed worry over the increasing rate of barren villages and erratic rainfall in the northern part of the country. He said the development was due to climate change impacts, warning that the situation might persist except there were tentative efforts such as awareness creation and collective approach to reduce the scourge.

Earlier, Adegoke emphasised on negative impacts of climate change and the need to increase capacity, research, and create sustainable solutions for better livelihood.

He appealed to the Federal Government to hasten efforts to fulfill its 200, 000 Euros counterpart of the project, saying: “Over 3m Euros have been spent over five years to develop programmes to support understanding of climate change in the country.”