The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio has canvassed urgent measures to combat the devastating impact of climate change on the environment, emphasising that it has become a global crisis that demands immediate action.
Senator Akpabio made the call on Wednesday when the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Mr Simon Stiell led a delegation of Climate Change experts to pay a courtesy visit to him in Abuja.
Senator Akpabio lamented that despite talkshops and conferences around the world to address the climate crises, not much has been done in terms of financing to mitigate the harmful effect of climate change especially on poor communities and nations.
A statement by the Special Assitant, Media/Communication to the President of the Senate, Anietie Ekong quoted Senator Akpabio as advocating for more action to achieve environmental justice due to climate change.
Senator Akpabio lamented the dangerous effect of climate change on Nigeria to include environmental polution and degradation and ocean surge which has washed away communities in the Niger Delta region, ecological problems in the South East region, and the desert encroachment in the North and shrinking of Lake Chad in the Sahel region.
According to Senator Akpabio, “Nigeria has a lot of issues ranging from pollution due to climatic changes. Climate change is real all over the world. It comes with a lot of human suffering which has affected the world economy.
“If we do not come together as nations to deal with it now we would be playing with the future of generations yet unborn. I want to encourage you as global partners to do what you are doing and keep to the pledges.
“But I have noted that while there are a lot of interest globally in attending conferences we don’t seem to have a lot of interest in contributing in tackling the issues of climate change.”
He however assured that the National Assembly would support the efforts of the National Council on Climate Change to address these issues.
“Let me assure you of the cooperation of the National Assembly towards the framework that you will submit to the next world climate conference.”
Leader of the delegation, Mr Stiell said he was in Nigeria to express the support of the United Nations system to Nigeria in the development of a climate plan to outline specific actions to address emissions and update of the two previous climate plans and speak to national challenges of climate change and the opportunity for Nigeria in energy transition.
Other members of the delegation included the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations, Mr Mohammed Fall; the Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change and the Director General/Chief Executive Officer, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat, Dr Nkiruka Maduekwe; the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme, Elsie Atafa and the Special Adviser on UN Climate Change, Joanna Mcgregor among others.
