Preparing early to gain in the Climate Change deals

By Rotimi Ajayi

At last something different is happening in the Nigerian Environmental Governance spectrum. Information coming out from the Federal Ministry of Environment in Abuja indicates that unprecedented level of commitment may be reached this year by the Ministry in discharging its mandate especially on issues of climate change.

Events so far revealed that the Minister, Mrs. Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia is certainly not taking things in the usual Nigerian government officials’ handle. Addressing members of parliament in Abuja on the 2012 Budget proposal for the Ministry, the Minister clearly indicated that serious attention would be given to implementation of more green energy projects this year.

The projects, usual dubbed the Renewable Energy Projects, according to her carry little or no liability and that they address the issue of climate change, ensuring that Nigeria moves towards a Green Economy. Devoting more attention to green climate would assist in talking some of the major environmental concerns in the country especially the ravaging erosion problem.

It is even more noteworthy that the Minister is propelling more attention to issues of Climate Change early in the year. This would enable the country do a proper appraisal of how to collectively move all stakeholders, the states and local communities, along in the efforts to contain the impacts on Nigeria. So far, the States have not been sufficiently mobilized to understanding the dangers in the changing climate.

The directive of the Minister to the new Department of Climate Change of the Ministry to convene a Post-Cop 17 meeting of stakeholders yesterday is a major step away from the lethargy that inflicted the Ministry in years past. With the early meeting of the stakeholders, a proper design could be worked out on how Nigeria can bring up additional policies to key into the international climate change deals which promises a lot of aids and support for developing countries.

Just as the Minister told the members of parliament that the issues of Environment were not such that could be approached half-heartedly in terms of funding, Nigeria must begin to look inward and come up with appropriate policies that would enlist the private sector on the climate change train. At the moment, the private sector in Nigeria is not engaged enough on how the operators could plug into the multi-billion dollars climate change economy and help the country grow its green economy platform.

Now that the Post-Cop17 meeting has been held and stakeholders have come up with templates of how to boost Nigeria engagement in the international climate change governance, the Ministry would need to immediately follow this up with zonal engagement of the states and local government areas and there on charge the local government officials to bring up their communities through the community based organizations and the Non-governmental groups.
In the run-up to Cop18, there is much work to be done and Nigeria can no longer continue the way we have in the past.

There is need to widen the scope of the core negotiators in the ministry by introducing newer negotiators on the various issues under the Kyoto Protocol and the Climate Change Convention itself. These newer set of negotiators should be given proper domestic training which would enable them grasp the nuances of the negotiations ahead. This is a task which the Ministry can handle through engagement of the Nigerian academic communities.

It is quite commendable that the National Assembly is showing improving interest in the affairs of the ministry in seemingly genuine way unlike in the past when leaders of the Senate and House Committees were interested only in apportioning contracts to themselves. The present Senate Committee Chair, Senator Bukola Saraki could get the ministry to achieve more through genuine oversight especially with a Minister that is equally sincerely committed to the cause of the Environment.