By Augustine Aminu, Hauwa Ali, Nneka Nwogwugwu
President Muhammadu Buhari in June, 2022 updated Nationally Determined Contribution of Nigeria to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This would eliminate the use of kerosene lighting by 2030, increase the use of buses for public transport and reduce the burning of crop residues by 50 percent.
According to a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari revealed this in a virtual meeting hosted by President Joe Biden of the United States on Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change.
The statement is titled “We’re scaling down on emissions, with 2030 targets for elimination of kerosene lighting, increased bus transits”,says President Buhari at energy forum.
Restating Nigeria’s commitment to a safer and healthier global climate, he said, “Our updated NDC includes the waste sector which is expected to contribute to the reduction of Nigeria’s Greenhouse Gas emissions. This development raised an additional two percent to the Nationally Determined Contribution from 45 percent to 47 percent conditionally and 20 percent unconditionally below business-as-usual.
Buhari also noted that Nigeria was developing National Frameworks for Article 6 and for carbon pricing, adding, “we have finalized the Sectoral Action Plan for the implementation of the revised NDC in the key priority sectors, namely Energy, Oil & Gas, Agriculture & Land use, Power, Transport, Water and Waste.’’
On the Global Methane Pledge, Buhari told the world leaders that Nigeria joined the Global Methane Alliance in 2019 with a commitment to methane reduction targets of at least 45 percent by 2025 and a 60-75 percent reduction by 2030.
Checks by NatureNews also reveals that although the Federal Government has declared 2021 to 2030 a decade of gas, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) setting up a N250 billion fund to expand the usage of the product across the country, the cost of cooking gas is fast rising beyond the reach of the common man.
Naturenews also gathered that households and restaurants that had bid goodbye to firewood and charcoal usage have begun to embrace them again. The implication is that more trees might be felled in the coming months and years if the situation is not addressed.
A don, Prof. Christian Madu has said that Nigeria’s vegetation and trees are paying dearly for the high cost of kerosene and cooking gas as millions of people struggle to survive.
Madu, who is a Professor of Environmental Management and Control with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), disclosed this in Enugu on Saturday.
He noted that the current development was eroding all gains made by the country over decades to ensure her people subscribe to clean energy use for both industrial and domestic purposes.
The don said that as it stands, environmental concerns had been placed at the back burner and the country’s commitment to join the international community on clean energy use, was waning.
He said the increment in the prices of kerosene and cooking gas had made the majority of the poor masses to switch to firewood across the country.
He said: “The high cost of kerosene, and in particular cooking gas, affects production cost”.
“This has affected the cost of all other commodities. Also with the increasing volatility in naira value, people now struggle to survive”.
“Emphasis will be placed more on food, health, and shelter and there will be less interest in protecting the environment”.
“The locals are already resorting to the use of firewood and this sets us back from all the campaign and sensitisation that many of us have conducted to encourage transition to the use of natural gas as a cleaner energy alternative.”
The don regretted that before now, most Nigerians had subscribed to the use of clean energy and enjoying its benefits; but now “we are having a reverse”.
“I think there is a loss of trust in the system. Many people that bought into the campaign to use cooking gas invested in cylinders and stoves”.
