By Dare Akogun & Furera Mohammed
President Bola Tinubu has called on developed nations to honour their commitment of providing the needed technology and funds to promote development while simultaneously mitigating the effect of climate change.
Tinubu made the call on Saturday Dec 9, 2023 while reading his national statement at the ongoing global climate change conference COP28 in Dubai.
The president, whose speech was delivered by the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas, urged the global community to redeem the promise of making available a $100 billion fund annually for climate financing.
This promise, Tinubu said, was made in 2009 in Copenhagen, regretting that many commitments had been publicly announced but few honoured.
The Nigerian leader also called for a measurable Global Goal on Adaptation on loss and damage fund, which was operationalised on the first day of the conference.
According to the statement “Already, the 6th Assessment Report produced by the Inter- governmental Panel has sounded the alarm.
“Thus far, our efforts have been far too inadequate, too slow, and none too wise, given the severity of what we face.
“With so much at stake, why do we speak so resolutely about climate change at multilateral for a such as this, yet continue to conduct ourselves without urgency?
“We all want to solve the problem, but few are currently willing to do their fair share, much less all that is required.
“It is now clear that developing nations are and shall continue to suffer the most from climate change having contributed the barest minimum to the problem.
“Neither Nigeria nor any country in Africa have been among the major initiators of climate change. However, we stand amongst its front-line victims.
“Yet, almost by definition, we lack the fiscal tools and technological capacity to adequately fight this monster in our midst. What tools and assets we do possess must necessarily be devoted, first, to the exigencies of poverty, hunger and national economic development.
“Developed nations face a different predicament. They fret that strong action against climate change will weaken their economies, lower their standards of living and erode their esteemed place in the global economic order.
“Thus, too many developed nations hesitate to do what they should, instead they carefully watch each other do the least possible.
“But the time for watching and waiting is over. Nigeria and its future are being squeezed by climate change.
“To the north, the desert consumes arable land, displacing communities and causing food insecurity and social dislocation that often erupts into violence. In the south, ocean levels threaten coastal areas.
“Throughout the nation, flooding kills hundreds, decimates farmland, towns, and villages, and leaves tens of thousands homeless”, the statement reads in part.
Continuing Tinubu said “as the leader of over two hundred million diverse people spread across an equally diverse geography, I know my country must contend with both development and climate change.
“To treat one but not the other, will cause us to fail at both. Thus, despite the challenges, my country will continue to do its part in fighting this collective menace,” he said.
President Tinubu noted, however, that pursuant to Nigeria’s decade of gas policy, the country now sought to shift from oil, coal and wood to using cleaner gas.
According to him, the country is seeking large-scale investment in the area as well as in renewable energy.
“The green wall in northern Nigeria, erected to halt the encroachment of the desert, will be expanded.
“Water and flood management efforts will be enhanced. We seek energy efficient ways to improve agricultural productivity and food security.
“We stand ready to contribute to the effort to decarbonize the global economy. Our vast renewable energy resources present an opportunity for sustainable growth.
“We call for strong and decisive collaboration in unlocking these resources for the benefit of our people and the world at large.
“For example, NNPC Limited was the first National Oil Company in Africa that endorsed the Global Oil & Gas Decarbonization Accelerator (OGDA). An initiative spearheaded by the COP Presidency and supported by IOCs and NOCs across the world.
“Nevertheless, it is unfair to ask us to travel on this road alone. Any durable solution must be based on cooperative fairness.
“Developing economies cannot be pressed and pressured into bearing a disproportionate share of the burden.
“The framework of a sustainable climate change solution cannot mirror the extant imbalances of the current global economic order.
“The solution cannot follow the adage that the wealthy and powerful will do as they wish while the poor and developing endure what they must.
“Those who benefit most from the current system have the onus to invest the most in repairing the environmental breaches we now suffer,” the president submitted.
