Environmental experts call for green growth strategy for Nigeria

MANAGE MENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN post COVID-19 Nigeria was at the front burner as environmental experts from different parts of the world dialogued on policy options for Nigeria in developing low-carbon resilient climate.

The webinar dialogue, held on over the weekend was under the auspices of the Resource and Environmental Policy Research Centre (REPRC), University of Nigeria Nsukka, Environment for Development (EfD) Nigeria, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In her opening remarks, the Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Environment, Sharon Ikeazor said that the dialogue, tagged “Managing Climate Change in Post COVID-19 Nigeria: Policy Options for Lowcarbon Climate Resilient Development” was apt and that it came at a time the Nigerian government was working towards meeting its obligations with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) as pledged in the Paris agreement of 2016.

She said that part of the government’s efforts at achieving the NDC obligation included; issuing of green bonds in December 2017, large scale installation of solar power and the target towards ending gas flaring in 2030 with the approval of gas flare prevention and waste pollution regulation in 2018.

The minister said that although the government’s efforts towards achieving its NDC mandate was hampered by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, she was optimistic that the outcome of the dialogue would support the ministry’s effort at revising the NDC and fine-tune post COVID-19 economic sustainability plan of the Federal government.

Charles Igwe, professor and the vice-chancellor of the University of Nigeria, in his remarks, harped on the need to develop actionable policy directions that would guide environmental issues in Nigeria. He said the University of Nigeria was keen on helping Nigeria build a safe environment during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That is why we established the Resource and Environmental Policy Research Centre to provide policy direction through quality researches”, Igwe, who was represented by Pat Okpoko, professor and deputy vice chancellor, administration, said.

The vice-chancellor added that the university, through its Faculty of Environmental Sciences and other centres was open to partner with national and internal bodies to achieve a green environment for the country.

The UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, Lealem Berhanu Dinku said that the UNDP was committed to assisting the government of Nigeria recover from the impact of COVID-19, through the development of appropriate recovery plan which would focus on governance, social protection, green economy and digital disruption.

While congratulating the Minister of Environment on the approval of National Action Plan on Gender and Climate Change by the Federal Executive Council, Dinku said the UNDP would support the implementation of the plan which he hoped would lead to a green economy future for Nigeria.

Speaking on Financing Low-carbon Climate Resilient Development Path in Post CoVID-19 Nigeria, Professor Thomas Sterner, of the Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said that climate change was a major threat to the development of Nigeria’s economy because its major source of revenue, oil, has high sensitivity to climate change with attendant volatile revenue. He opined that Subsidy on petroleum products should be reduced to make more funds available for the implementation of green growth development plan in the country.

The Director, Environment for Development (EfD) Initiative, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Dr Gunnar Kohlin supported the call for a Green Growth Plan for Nigeria. He however stated that Nigeria needed a consistent credible green growth strategy to attract low-carbon financing. He maintained that the transition to sustainable green environment would be knowledge intensive and therefore required investment in new generation of leaders that would drive the transformation through research and development.

In his presentation on “Impact of COVID-19 on Climate Policy and Policy Options to facilitate Low-Carbon Climate Development in Post-COVID-19 Nigeria”, the Senior Director, African Development Institute, African Development Bank Group, Abidjan, Prof Kevin Urama said that prior to COVID-19, Nigeria lacked the institutional capacity to adapt to climate change because of its reliance on volatile oil revenue.

“Oil revenue does not provide platform for government to plan well” he said while recommending that the Nigerian government should focus on more stable sources of revenue including climate smart agriculture and education.

Speaking on “Climate Change in Nigeria and Government’s Actions Towards Mitigation and Adaption”, Professor Emmanuel Oladipo said that Climate Change was part of global development and that ‘its reality cannot be denied regardless of different beliefs”.

Professor Oladipo said that projections had shown that If global warming continues and the global sea level raises to about 1 meter, about 75 percent of the population of Niger Delta would be emerged in water and many parts of Nigeria will witness high degree of dryness.