Climate change: Nigeria will not strangulate its economy

At the conference, the issues of environmental and economic survival of countries featured prominently in most of the presentations made by representatives of government. Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Mallam, the chief spokesperson for Nigeria, said that Nigeria would not strangulate its economy in order to obey climate change protocols. This declaration by Nigeria at […]

At the conference, the issues of environmental and economic survival of countries featured prominently in most of the presentations made by representatives of government.
Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Mallam, the chief spokesperson for Nigeria, said that Nigeria would not strangulate its economy in order to obey climate change protocols.
This declaration by Nigeria at the conference was based on the fact that 90 per cent of the nation’s earning comes from exploration and sales of fossil fuel, a practice seen by climate advocates as environmentally unfriendly. Same goes for the country’s plans to begin the generation of power from coal sources.
Fossil fuels, according to Green Energy Choice, are the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world, contributing 3/4 of all carbon, methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. Burning coal, petroleum and other fossil fuels at extremely high temperatures (combustion) is the primary means by which electricity is produced, but also leads to heavy concentrations of pollutants in our air and water.
The real problem is that the atmosphere already absorbs a tonne of greenhouse gases naturally, trapping up to 25 percent more of the sun’s radiation due to annual increases in greenhouse gas emissions.  
The Energy Information Administration also noted that 3.2 billion tonnes of additional carbon dioxide annually is produced from fossil fuel.
More than 2.5 million metric tonnes of carbon is produced by power plants.
But in spite of the damages fossil does to the environment, Mallam said that Nigeria would not be part of any agreement to tame the practice and, in the process, strangulate the nation’s economy.
It is no longer news that Nigeria is witnessing the adverse effects of climate change in all its ramifications. Presently, Nigerians are reeling under the impacts of climate change as the frequency and intensity of extreme events like floods, rainfall and drought have increased.  
The challenges of climate change in Nigeria have brought about the destruction of many economic and non-economic institutions and more aggressively threatening the country’s food security.
The magnitude of insurgency currently being expressed in the country cannot be completely explained away without taking cognisance of climate change. Climate change is, therefore, threatening not only the sustainable development of Nigeria’s socio-economic activities but also to the totality of human existence.
Mallam said: “We recognise that the last three COPs (from Durban to Warsaw) have witnessed discussions towards evolving a new climate regime. In particular, in Warsaw, the COP adopted ADP decision on domestic preparations of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), and resolves to accelerate the full implementation of the Doha Amendment. My delegation is very worried at the pace of our work up to and currently in Lima and we have also expressed our worries anytime the opportunity abounds in the climate change process.  
“The Emission Gap Report 2014 produced by UNEP is based on contributions from 38 lead scientists from 22 research groups in 14 countries. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in all its Reports has consistently indicated what we need to do in respect to emission reduction to have a safer future. All these reports seem to be asking the same and key question – whether the pledges made by countries are on track to meet the so-called two-degree target. My delegation wishes state here that mitigation is the bedrock of any agreement being negotiated to mitigate climate change. This is why major economies must scale up, in an ambitious manner, the level of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.”  
According to her, Lima must have an outcome decisions that will evolve into a legally-binding document, which reinforces a fair, multilateral and rules-based regime guided by science, that brings into effect the right to equitable access of every country of the world to sustainable development, adding: “The sharing of atmospheric space and resources with the principle of equity reflected in all aspects of the elements in its contents.
“Otherwise, we will all be gathering ceremonially every year in the name of the Conference of Parties, ever rhetoric in discussion, while the timed bomb is ticking away. The world is waiting for our collective action and the time to act is now.”
However, some commentators believe that nothing good will ever come out of the annual conference which failed in 2009 to have a legally binding agreement and raise funds for developing countries to adapt to the impact of climate change.
Dr Akinola Jude, a climatologist, said recently that Nigeria is still treating issues of climate change with kids’ gloves.
“Having witnessed the 2012 flood and the increased desertification we are seeing in the North, government should have created a special commission to handle issues of climate change,” Jude said.
Hamza Lawal, Chief Operating Officer, Connected Development, a non-governmental ogranisation, said that issues of climate change has plummeted in the country as a result of lack of leadership.
He lamented: “Some few years ago, climate change issues were on the front burner in the country but all that have been reduced to conference attendance. The average Nigerian who is already bearing the brunt of climate change lacks explanation from those who are to lead on how to adapt and this is not good for us as a country.”
The conference may have come and gone but Nigerians need answers on how to adapt to the vulnerabilities of the weather, why their farm yields are perpetually decreasing and how to tame the movement of herd that continues to fuel communal clashes all over the country.