Nigeria needs foreign partnership to leverage climate effects – Minister

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has said the Nigerian government needs more foreign partnership to implement climate action in Nigeria adding that climate change impacts on oil and gas, the source of the country’s economy.

Ngige said this on Wednesday in Abuja at his office at the inauguration of the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) Project Steering Committee and the commissioning of the project consultants.

The minister assured all that with more support for Nigeria on her journey to just and gender inclusive transition, the country would arrive at the destination, which touches on lifting people out of poverty, creation of new jobs and moving away from old habits that were not technologically dependent.

He described labour as very important in fulfilling Nigeria’s international commitments to climate change action including the Paris Agreement and the achievement of her energy transition plan.

Noting that the world is trying to stop pollution from hydrocarbons, the minister said his ministry took the lead to crystallize its ambition to be part of this global world initiative.

“I approved the project for the ministry, domiciled it under the Department of Special Duties and Project and formed a steering committee with five directors and the Director General of National Directorate of Employment (NDE), to represent the ministry in this high level discussion.

“It was inaugurated on November 18, 2022 at the COP 27 meeting. We thank the Director of ICAT, Dr Henning Wuester, for being part of the support for us. Initially, many people didn’t give a thought to the fact that labour is a component of all productions and that if you don’t have labour, you won’t have employers, industrialists and corporate organisations that employ people to give them a living, whether in the private and public sector,” he said.

In a statement, the minister explained that in the spirit of that cooperation, ICAT was supporting the Federal Government through the ministry to develop a monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of a just and gender inclusive transition and serve the entire gamut of the project.

He disclosed that his ministry coordinates the project, working in a compartmentalized mode, but synergising with the Federal Ministry of Environment, which is the lead ministry on climate change initiatives.

He said his ministry aimed at achieving a kind of institutional memory, stakeholder inclusion and cooperation by working with its Environment counterpart.

He, however, called for the expansion of the net to get more organizations like the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME).

He added, “When you spread this net, you have more people affected. We adopted that during minimum wage and NECA did not object because they were aware that we knew what we were doing.

“Even in Labour sector, a lot of people are not unionized. Some are in the informal sector. You have to go into the informal sector, through our labour officers in the states, so that you can catch more people.”

Describing the gender aspect of inclusive transition as a very big leg of this initiative, he noted that when the female gender participates in a project in Nigeria, a lot of people are affected because they are in charge of households and whatever they were given, returns to the households.

He expressed optimism that the overall outcome of the project would support policy makers to set up everything needed on this transition journey on climate, especially with the implementation of Paris Agreement and Nigeria’s energy transition plan.

He insisted that Nigeria must also be able to feed itself, adding that appreciable progress had been made in agriculture since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, leading to many Nigerians currently consuming locally produced rice, beans and potatoes, among others.

Earlier, the Director of ICAT, Dr. Henning Wuester, said transparency played a key role for the achievement of the objectives of the Paris agreement, being the basis for planning, tracking and stakeholder engagement.

According to Wuester, ICAT offers tools, methodologies and directs reports to the countries to the agreement.

He explained that planning means setting ambitious but realistic targets, and designing effective policies to implement them, while tracking is the monitoring of the implementation of these policies and measures to see whether everything is on track or the course needs to be rectified.

“Stakeholder engagement applies to both the national and international level. At the national level it includes all the ministries and agencies that are engaged and also the private sector and the civil society including workers unions, which all need to be part of a project, climate activities and after, trust that they can be effective, moving forward. Internationally, they can be reported under the UN climate change convention. That is essential to build confidence in the climate change community.”

Wuester listed South Africa and Indonesia among countries that had similar projects, receiving funding to ensure just and inclusive transition.

He noted that Nigeria had always been part of the ICAT community, thanks to a successful project concluded last year with the Environment Ministry, which helped to establish transparency for oil and gas and transport.

“We want to launch to cover the industrial sector and formulate policies for just transition. It is hoped that this collaboration will continue with the Ministry of Labour.”

In her presentation, the Gender Expert, Dr. Martina Nwodu, noted that women were closer to the environment because they were the home managers who provided domestic energy by using firewood and charcoal gotten from the forests, which led to desertification.