… Stop fuel subsidies, support private refineries – Adesina
… Encourage better commitment to Paris Agreement, climate change – Nwajiuba
… Make, drive eco-friendly policies – NGOs
By Kayode Falade and Fatima Saka
As the administration of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is inaugurated today a cross-section of Nigerians and stakeholders in the environment and climate change space has set agenda for the government as related to the sector.
The stakeholders who span the academic, finance, private and public sectors not excluding Non State Actors have also taken a cursory look at the just concluded administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and advised President Tinubu to do more for Nigerians and Nigeria in the environment space.
Leading the pack is the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who called on the incoming administration to jettison fuel subsidy even as he criticised the fuel subsidy regime and the high cost of governance in the country.
This is as a former Vice-Chancellor, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State and Chairman, Board of Directors, Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof Chinedum Nwajiuba, called on President Tinubu to address more seriously climate change as it affects Nigerians and Nigeria with special attention paid to the Paris Agreement.
Speaking during the presidential inauguration lecture in Abuja on Saturday, Adesina said the continued payment to subsidise petroleum products was killing the Nigerian economy.
According to him, fuel subsidy cost the economy of Africa’s most populous nation about $10 billion alone in 2022.
Adesina explained that Nigeria kept borrowing for what shouldn’t be borrowed for, advising that such money should be channelled to national development.
Adesina, a former Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria, therefore, called for the removal of fuel subsidy, saying it only benefits the rich at the expense of the majority poor Nigerians.
“The place to start therefore is to remove the inefficient fuel subsidy. Nigeria’s fuel subsidies benefit the rich, not the poor, fuelling theirs and the government’s endless fleet of cars at the expense of the poor.
“Estimates show that the poorest 40 per cent of the population consume just three per cent of petrol.
“Fuel subsidies are killing the Nigerian economy, costing the economy of Nigeria $10 billion in 2022. That means that Nigeria is borrowing what it doesn’t have to borrow,” Adesina stated.
Rather than spending billions on crude oil, the AfDB boss called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to support private-sector refineries as well as modular refineries for efficiency and competitiveness.
The move, according to him, was necessary to drive down the pump prices of petroleum products.
Prof Nwajiuba asked President Tinubu among others to gear the country towards her commitments to the Paris Agreement and the NDC even as there is a need to demonstrate understanding of the serious challenges happening at the global systems with respect to energy, transportation, etc. in the context of climate change.
He continued: “There is need to address the annual flood challenge by getting the buy-in of the governors to consolidate the ecological funds for at least one year to deploy that to damming the waters from the Cameroons and redirecting them to the Lake Chad.”
Farmers Association, NGOS and Stakeholders have also lent their voices in setting the pace in environmental space, saying a healthy person’s, healthy environment and healthy economy are important for the people to contribute their quota to developing the nation by following necessary recommendations for the environment.
A former director of the Erosion Control Managemen, Dr Gowon Dauda, said farmers should be rescued in terms of their soil moving away from their farms lands and again yielding less produce per hectare.
Dauda also called on the coming government to look at the coast, for the coastline falling into the ocean.
He said, “The government should follow the recommendations given so that Nigeria can survive environmentally. Also people’s health should be the concern of the government, because when you have healthy people, we have a healthy economy and individuals contributing their quota to the building of a structure.”
An environmentalist and service provider, Kolade Abidakun, who is also the CEO, Abidack Mobile Toilet said the government should involve the private sector in championing the environment and imbibe seriousness in the implementation process of carrying out their duties.
A communication and marketing manager at Impulse Recycling limited, Ms Oluwalonimi Coker, said the incoming administration should make recycling mandatory for the citizens and create awareness on climate education, policies that favour business owners like plastic recycling or recycling companies in the country making the environment more suitable for NGOs to do business.
She said “There should be policies to get towards recycling, making it compulsory for people to recycle. The new administration should pay attention to things like waste management and environmental consciousness that would work for us.”
Mr Zakari Adamu, facility manager at CANs Park Ltd said the incoming administration should leverage on the tech industry and invest in it, saying that most graduates love tech and that they are going into it in droves.
He said,” the government should make an enabling environment in Nigeria to avoid being Japa. Young people prefer to stay in their home country. They love to stay in the country that appreciates them; we’re really not getting value for the service rendered. Give them enough recognition and reward for good results.”
Mrs. Odhikon Juliet, a programme’s director at Initiative for the Advancement Of Waste Management In Africa, said policies are very important but beyond making the policies is enforcement of those policies.
She said “because there are new ones coming up every day. I think in the last week, I attended three workshops, and we’ll all focus on policies for environmental protection.
“But at the end of the day, what will really matter is the action we take to make those policies work. So enforcement of those policies is important for me personally, so for the new administration, let’s look at the policies we have and see how we can actually make them work here in Nigeria.”
Mr. Victor Andrew Eyo, Communication Lead at Chanja Datti Recycling said the coming administration should not relent and they should support NGOs in every way by inclusion of the policies. “And I feel like there’s so much more we can do when it comes to environmental protection. Northern Nigeria, especially Abuja, and the entire Nigeria as a whole from environmental waste and pollution.”