Environmentalists Difer, as Tinubu Pushes for African Independence on Climate Change Mitigation

By Obiabin Onukwugha

Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinibu, at the just-concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), alluded that the African region needs financial independence to solve her challenging problems, especially as it relates climate change.

For years, Nigerian Presidents and other stakeholders have continued to emphasize on the need for big economies of the world to mitigate climate change effects on the continent.

Recall that in 2009, developed countries decided to commit to a goal of jointly mobilising $100billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries during COP15 in Copenhagen.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) after the pledge have committed funds in its efforts to mainstream climate change and green growth as a priority in its portfolio.

The AfDF according to it President, Akunwumi Adesina, has significantly increased access to climate finance for low-income African countries with a target of $25 billion by 2025 in order to position Africa’s financial sector at the forefront of financing innovations.

Also, the AfDB and the Global Center on Adaptation are jointly mobilizing an additional $12.5 billion to galvanize and scale up climate-resilient actions through the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, which they set up for this purpose.

On its part, the World Bank has also committed some funds to projects geared towards mitigating climate change issues in Nigeria and in Africa.

Such projects include; the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes Project (ACreSAL), the Great Green Wall Project and the Nigeria Erosion and Water Shed Management Project (NEWMAP), launched in 2012.

The NEWAP project, completed in 2022, linked poverty alleviation with sustainable ecosystems and better disaster-risk prevention.

The project focused on the restoration of 90 gully sites and the construction of close to 60 catchments to control erosion, which has improved the lives and safety of more than 12 million people in 23 states in Nigeria, according to a World Bank report.

Tinubu, who is also the Chairman, ECOWAS Heads of States and Governments, lamented that many proclamations have been made since after the second world war in relation to developing the African continent, but those proclamations have remained broken promises.

He said: “Many proclamations have been made, yet our troubles remain close at hand. Failures in good governance have hindered Africa. But broken promises, unfair treatment and outright exploitation from abroad have also exacted a heavy toll on our ability to progress.

“Given this long history, if this year’s theme is to mean anything at all, it must mean something special and particular to Africa.

“Today and for several decades, Africa has been asking for the same level of political commitment and devotion of resource that described the Marshall Plan.”

The President, accused the developed countries of contributing to the economic woes of African nations, and called for an end to ripping of the African resources by the global north.

“First, if this year’s theme is to have any impact at all, global institutions, other nations and their private sector actors must see African development as a priority, not just for Africa but in their interests as well.

“Member nations must reply by working with us to deter their firms and nationals from this 21st century pillage of the continent’s riches.

“Climate change severely impacts Nigeria and Africa. Northern Nigeria is hounded by desert encroachment on once arable land. Our south is pounded by the rising tide of coastal flooding and erosion. In the middle, the rainy season brings floods that kill and displace multitudes.

“African nations will fight climate change but must do so on our own terms. To achieve the needed popular consensus, this campaign must accord with overall economic efforts.

“In Nigeria, we shall build political consensus by highlighting remedial actions which also promote economic good. Projects such as a Green Wall to stop desert encroachment, halting the destruction of our forests by mass production and distribution of gas burning stoves, and providing employment in local water management and irrigation projects are examples of efforts that equally advance both economic and climate change objectives”, he stated.

During the UNGA 2022, then President Muhammadu Buhari, also toed the same line of thought.

Buhari in his address posited that Africa and other developing nations produce only a small proportion of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to industrial economies yet, are the hardest hit by the consequences of climate change.

Buhari said: “As part of Nigeria’s efforts at achieving our Global Net-zero aspiration, the current Administration last year adopted a National Climate Change Strategy that aims to deliver climate change mitigation in a sustainable manner.

“The measures we took at the national level also require climate justice. Africa and other developing nations produce only a small proportion of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to industrial economies. Yet, we are the hardest hit by the consequences of climate change as we see in the sustained droughts in Somalia and floods of unprecedented severity in Pakistan.

“These and other climate-related occurrences are now sadly becoming widely commonplace in the developing world. We are, in effect, literally paying the price for policies that others pursue. This needs to change.”

Reacting to the submissions made by President Tinubu, environmentalists have deferred in their views as to whether African countries can tackle climate change if given the leverage.

In his submission, frontline Environmentalist, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, argued that no one nation or region can flight climate change alone.

Bassey, who is the Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), told NatureNews Correspondent in an interview that allowing nations or continents to tackle climate change could lead to false solutions.

He said: “No nation or region can fight climate change alone. This is why it is called global warming. To say that African can or would fight climate change her own way may be the president’s way of saying that nations should adhere to the basic justice principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) and differing capacities.

“In other words, the rich, industrialized and polluting nations should do their fair share of significantly cutting emissions at source while Africa would also do her own share seeing that the continent has contributed very little to the crisis.

“Global warming must be tackled globally. Nations or continents don’t have unique ways of tackling the problem. What the president said, if taken literally, could derail the entire multilateral approach.

“That mode of thinking is what have given birth to both the Copenhagen Accord of COP15 and the Paris Agreement of COP21. The undergird of both is voluntary emissions reduction. They pathway, with the best intentions, is heading to catastrophic climate change.

“More disturbing possibility is that continents or regions could decide to negate the critical need of regulating some of the proposed measures which we label false solutions of tacking climate change. These false solutions include carbon trading by so-called offset mechanisms. Geoengineering including carbon removal and solar radiation management and other risky technologies would go unchecked with grave consequences for the world, and especially vulnerable nations.”

The HOMEF boss reasoned that African nations can mitigate climate change effects by adequate use and investment in renewable energy soirces and promoting clean energy solutions

“A good way that Africa could lead in the struggle against global warming would be to harness the vast potential for renewable energy sources and support agroecology as a climate mitigation measure. We must not forget to increase Africa’s renewable resources. Investing in renewable energy infrastructure and promoting clean energy solutions can help reduce carbon emissions and wean the continent of fossil fuels.

“The recently held Africa Climate Summit portrayed Africa as being open for carbon speculators by being the world’s carbon sink. The implication is that polluting nations will have the license to continue polluting while Africans would bear the brunt of climate action. It could also mean unchecked exploitation of critical minerals for energy transition. That would usher in an era of green colonialism”, he said.

The HOMEF boss blamed the Nigerian government for the exploitation and degradation of the Niger Delta environment by oil multinationals for not holding them accountable for the damages they cause.

“Our understanding of this particular bit is that he was denouncing neocolonial extractivism which sees Africa as a sacrifice zone to be plundered without responsibility or accountability. This has been a grave issue that have deeply impacted our imaginaries. The road shows that our politicians embark on to literally beg multinational corporations to establish their presence in our country making us vulnerable to continued exploitation.

“Look at the petroleum sector, for example. Oil companies have despoiled the Niger Delta and without the struggles by local communities to control the pillage, our governments are comfortably in bed with the exploiters. Our people’s right to life is ignored by the unconstitutional act of routine gas flaring. Unregulated mining is going on even in the FCT. Will this administration end the pillage? That’s an open question.”

However, another environmentalist, Prof. Nasiru Idris, welcomed the call by President Tinubu. Idris, who is a Professor of Environmental Planning and Management, and Director, Ibrahim Usman Jibril Institute for the Built Environment, Nasarawa State University, submitted in an interview with Naturenews that while climate change is a global issue, Nigeria and African countries can tackle it if given the resources.

“Climate change issues are global issues. Developed countries are the main countries and developing countries are the countries that have been given aids.

“However, the statement made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the just-concluded United Nations General Assembly is a welcome idea. Because if you look at the Paris Agreement, that is the decision taken in COP21 in Paris in 2015, countries agreed on a certain parameters. For example there is what is called NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution).

“It is a working document by all the parties on how they are going to achieve to minimize the initial level, to make sure that the temperature will not go beyond the industrial level. So based on that, Nigerian government has committed itself to various treaties right from Kyoto Protocol and what the president is currently saying is just a continuity of what the Nigerian Government and some African countries are doing.”

He recalled that former President Buhari established the National Council on Climate Change and established desk officers in all MDAs in 2021.

“Initially, it was the department of climate change that was an arrowhead in driving climate change activities in Nigeria. But today we have a council being chaired by the President himself that is responsible for all the activities that has to do with adaptation and mitigation to climate change. And again, the then government established a desk office in all the MDAs in Nigeria so there is climate desk officers that is responsible for all the activities of climate change in Nigeria.

“So actually the Nigerian government are doing quite a lot in terms of climate change activities in all the sectors. There is what is called APOLO in all the sectors be it industrial, be it waste, be it agriculture, be it manufacturing, all the sectors in Nigeria, they are currently doing well.

“And if you look at the initial level in Nigeria, when compared to the developed countries, actually it’s very very minimal so the statement by Mr. President has to be followed by action. The Federal Ministry of Environment has to take holistic and comprehensive approach in terms of the Nigerian statement.

“Another thing is, the action, all the budgets of government be it at local government, be it at state government and the national government, they have to make sure that they include activities that has to do with climate change activities in order to marry the initial level. So in a nutshell, these are the key things that will be part of the presidential takeaways during the UNGA statement.

On whether Nigeria will have the political will to invest funds towards climate change mitigation should the global north heed to the president’s call, Prof. Nasiru pointed out that most developing countries are unable to access the funds because of stringent measures set by the donors. He said the development has posed challenges in these countries taking measures against climate change.

“Let me clarify something. You might be hearing about climate finance, climate funds. Actually, the bottlenecks, the criteria for you to even access the fund is very difficult. It might even take longer years for you to achieve.

“So many developing countries are unable to access these climate finance or climate funds. But however, just as what you have observed, in an event whereby the government of Nigeria were able to access the funds can they utilise it, yes. If its in cooperation with global environmental facility, if it’s a global hosting they can do that. But if we go by our normal tradition, do you know if you access climate funds you have to use it for the purpose of that particular central activities you cannot divert the fund.

“Like for example in a budget id you have subhead for a particular activity you can move it to another sector but climate activities, you just have to do it. For example of you have issue of flooding along River Niger or River Benue or the coastal zone of Nigeria. If for example you access funds for the purpose of impactment in Abua or in Port Harcourt or in Delta State, you have to use that money for that particular activity.

“In addition, for you to use it, there are criteria, there are consultants, there are contractors and all the stakeholders must be involved. Therefore, I don’t think if Nigeria accessed the funds they cannot use it. Definitely they must utilise it and they have to use it in the way international best practice will agree upon that,” he added.