Climate Change: FAO Develops climate smart profiles for BAY States

By: Our Reporter

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has developed climate smart profiles and investment plans for Borno, Adamawa and Yobe known as BAY States.

The Emergency Programme Specialist FAO sub-office Maiduguri, Sahar Ali, made this known in Maiduguri on Tuesday, at a stakeholder’s workshop on Climate Change, organized by the Borno state Ministry of Environment in collaboration with Centre for Energy, Environment and Development (ICEED), funded by European Union (EU).

Sahar who was represented by Ms Yakaka Bukar, FAO Energy Specialist said, the organisation is implementing climate actions such as the distribution of fuel efficient stoves to 123, 505 households in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states where 21,000 households were also supplied with briquettes kits to service the stoves.

“Eight briquettes production centres and six fuel efficient stoves centres were established including three communal woodlots. “

Sahar said FAO has been supporting households with drought resistant seeds, fertiliser and tools.

“FAO is also dealing with issues around access to land affecting women due to the conflict. It also implements backyard gardening,” Sahar said.

She urged for collaboration effort to protect planet by preserving the earth’s natural resources and taking measures that would mitigate the impact of climate change.

Climate Change: FAO Develops climate smart profiles for BAY States

Experts Present Guidelines To Tackle Climate Change and Economic Growth

By: Michael Mike

Experts in environmental field have come out with key policy steps to address the threat of climatic changes and launch the country into a new era of industrial development and economic growth.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Monday, the leader of the group (Society for Planet and Prosperity (SPP), a non-partisan organisation devoted to sustainable policy research, Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke, said after months of research, the group has unraveled 11 key steps and decisions that if taken in the next five years, there would be a socio-economic transformation required to enable Nigeria to meet the government’s 2060 net zero carbon emissions mission target.

Okereke, who is an internationally recognized scholar, flanked at the press conference by Executive Director, Society for Planet and Prosperity, Oghenemere Orugbo and CEO, GCA Capital Partners, Obi Ugochukwu, recalled that at
the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari committed to achieving net zero by 2060, which would be in line with the Climate Change Act and Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, released in August 2022 and was developed to serve as the pathway toward achieving the 2060 net zero target. He noted that Nigeria has also launched a long-term vision for 2050, which is expected to inform the development of its Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy.

He said riding on the shoulder of Mr. President’s announcement at COP26, the Society for Planet and Prosperity (SPP) a non-partisan organisation devoted to sustainable policy research on the 28th of July 2022 launched the project “Nigeria: Top 10 Net zero Measures” with funding from the European Climate Foundation (ECF), disclosing that the Top 10 measures were later developed into 11 measures after critical examination by experts.

He said: “The main aim of the project was to map 11 key steps and decisions that if taken in the next 5 years will underpin a socio-economic transformation required to enable Nigeria to meet the government’s 2060 net zero target, the project was also aimed at presenting these steps and decisions in a format that is accessible to a wider public through communication materials that can stimulate and inform a wider public debate, involving civil societies and policymakers.”

He revealed that: “In selecting the top 11 measures, the Society for planet and prosperity engaged with senior experts from the government, the private sector, trade unions, civil society organisations, academia and think tanks, the media, and international development partners. They were invited to discuss and assess the benefits of successful implementation of each measure against four criteria, which are deemed to fairly represent the breadth of the development challenges facing the country.”

He said according to the report, prioritized measures that if implemented jointly over the next five years would significantly positively impact the ability of Nigeria to embark on a low-emission development pathway to a net-zero emission future are; (1) A strong focus on generating renewable electricity both on and off-grid (minimum of 30% of on-grid electricity from renewables), (2) Elimination of diesel and gasoline generators for electricity generation by 2030. (3) Plant 300 million trees [this decade] and promote Agro-forestry, reforestation and afforestation, including community-based forest management and recovery. (4) End (associated) gas flaring by 2030 (5) Reduce wood cooking from the current 72% of the population to 20% of the population by 2030 / introducing clean cooking into 30 million households (6) Embark on the construction of 300,000 green homes in the next 12 months and 1.5 million over the next 5 years (7) A modal shift in transport by realizing a shift of passengers to Bus Rapid Transport (BRT); backed up by enforcement of emissions standards in vehicles. (8) End landfilling of untreated waste and transit into properly designed and managed landfills with state-of-the-art gas collection (9) Increase the amount of irrigated land (ha) using renewable energy for pumping from 24.35% to 100% (and associated increase use of off-grid power in communities) (10) Consistent economy-wide Energy Efficiency improvements (-50% from 2015 baseline) Examples are reducing electricity transmission losses and replacing 4 million incandescent bulbs with Tubular Fluorescent Lamps (TFLs) or Light-emitting Diode (LEDs), equipment standards. (11) Landscape-scale restoration and recharging of the Lake Chad basin.”

He revealed that: “A rough calculation indicates that the eleven measures could result in an emission reduction of about 174.01 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030 similar to the fossil emission of Algeria or Iraq in 2021.”

He said: “Therefore, it is very important to note that the total implementation of all the measures in this report will facilitate the achievement of Net zero by 2060 as pronounced by Mr. President at COP26.”
Monday,
Okereke lamented that Nigeria is facing existential threat due to climate change, insisting that something urgently needed to be done to avert and stimulate the nation’s economy as the world is fast moving from fossil fuel.

He said the nation is presently at two extremes, the need to control climate change and build the economy and safeguard Nigeria over dependence of oil revenue, insisting that this must be top priority for the incoming administration.

Experts Present Guidelines To Tackle Climate Change and Economic Growth

Cash Prizes Given to Winners of National Essay Competition on Climate Change

By: Michael Mike

The Centre for Climate Change and Development, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike, Ebonyi State has given cash prizes to three top winners of this year’s essay on climate change.

This is the second year running that the award would be given. The title of this year’s essay is “Climate Change and Nigeria’s Economic Development: A letter to my incoming President.

The candidates whose essays were adjudged the best after a thorough review and assessment by independent panel of judges received N200,000, N150,000 and N100,000 during an award ceremony event in Abuja organised by the Centre in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Centre.

The winners, Israel Oghenefiro Orere, an undergraduate student of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Lagos,; James Afomare Owan , an Engineering graduate  and Promise Okwuchukwu an undergraduate of Law at University of Nigeria Nsukka, , emerged first, second and third best winners, respectively, were among the over 200 entries received by the Centre.

Speaking during the hybrid event, the Director Centre for Climate Change and Development Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike, Prof Chukwumerije Okereke eulogized the participants in the essay content for submitting quality essays that encouraged him to opt for an event that would show the winners to both national and international audience.

He said that climate change is not just an environmental problem but a national economic development problem. He said the reason for the second national essay competition is to encourage Nigerian youths to be engaged with climate change and also necessary to alert the incoming President on the economic development implications of climate change for Nigeria and the need for urgent action to tackle the challenge.

He said the CCCD-AEFUNAI will continue to do it’s best to encourage the Nigerian youths to get involved in articulating and advancing action on climate change.

The Director General of the National Council on Climate Change, Dr. Salisu Dahiru said Nigeria has made several bold commitments on climate change led by President Muhammadu Buhari. According to Dr. Dahiru, the President desires to see Nigeria play its own role in tackling the menace of climate change. He said he was delighted to see several young people in the audience and said that the NCCC is an inclusive institution that is desired to accommodate different voices including the youth, women and people of disability in tackling climate change.

The DG called the youth to engage on climate change and to engage with the council to pull all efforts together to ensure that climate change is tackled adequately in Nigeria.

Salisu Dahiru, represented by Michael Ivenso who is the head of the Directorate of Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation of the National Council on Climate Change commission also said that climate change is a national emergency that requires everybody to participate. He said that the DG has asked him to thank all of the youth present or participating and asked him to enjoined the Nigerian youths to work together with the council to build effective responses to climate change.

On his part, the sponsor of the climate change act and a member representing the Ikwuano/Umuahia North/South in the Federal House of Representatives and the former chairman House Committee on Climate Change, Hon. Sam Onuigbo, said that there is strong interconnection between climate change and economic growth but also that Climate Change action represents an opportunity to build a prosperous sustainable green economy for the country.

Onuigbo said that the Nigerian youth is already championing a vote for climate change and the youth awareness is necessary to ensure that climate change remains on the agenda of the incoming administration.

The lawmaker, who was represented by Mr. Nnaemeka Oruh  talked about the need to integrate climate change into the national education curriculum in schools.

He disclosed that he is looking forward to continuously interacting with students and to tell them more about the role legislation can play in tackling climate change.

Cash Prizes Given to Winners of National Essay Competition on Climate Change