By Rasheeda Hamidu
Africa must strengthen its own climate institutions and take greater control of the decisions, financing and implementation pathways shaping its climate future, former lawmaker Sam Onuigbo has said.
Onuigbo made the call on Tuesday, while speaking at the 14th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-XIV), holding at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from September 7 to 9.
The conference, themed “From Pledges to Implementation: The Belém–Antalya–Addis Roadmap,” is focused on moving Africa’s climate commitments towards practical implementation.
Onuigbo, who sponsored Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021, said Africa, with its critical mineral resources and extensive coastline, should play a stronger role in shaping global climate institutions and rules.
He said the continent must move beyond presenting its climate priorities to actively determining how climate finance and implementation pathways that affect its future are designed and governed.
According to him, climate priorities describe what Africa needs, while climate agency means Africa deciding, designing, building and governing its own climate solutions.
Onuigbo said the real test of climate ambition was no longer the number of pledges made but whether those commitments translated into laws, budgets, bankable projects, accountable institutions and measurable outcomes.
He said every climate commitment should clearly identify what would be delivered, who would be responsible, how much it would cost and how it would be financed.
The former lawmaker also called for stronger African institutions, capital and authority to drive the continent’s climate agenda, while urging countries to mobilise public resources, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to attract larger pools of investment.
He said international climate finance should support Africa’s development priorities rather than determine the continent’s development pathway.
Onuigbo further urged African governments, parliaments and institutions to establish systems capable of surviving political transitions and electoral cycles.
He said parliaments had an important role to play because they approve budgets, pass legislation and hold government institutions accountable for climate action.
NatureNews reports that the call comes as African countries face increasing pressure to translate climate commitments into funded projects, stronger institutions and measurable action on the ground.
