Worried by the increasing rate of gas emission in the country coupled with its attendant adverse effect on the climate, the Nigerian Senate says it has concluded plans to organize a National Green Summit on the way forward.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, Lawal Hassan Anka, who made this known while addressing journalists on Monday, said that the summit will have “Collective Action for Gas Emission Reduction and Climate Change Mitigation in Nigeria” as its theme.
Research has shown that greenhouse gases have huge environmental and health impacts all of which contribute to climate change by trapping heat in the atmosphere as well as contributing to respiratory disease. Other side effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gases include extreme weather, food supply disruptions and increased wildfires.
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Anka explained that the move was aimed at finding a lasting solution to the imminent environmental disaster as Nigeria is a high net gas emitter and has consistently ranked among the 10th highest gas emitting countries in the world.
“We are currently the seventh-largest gas flaring nation in the world, this combined with other emission sources like oil spillage and non-oil sector, notably agriculture, transportation and power sector,” Anka was quoted as saying.
He explained that cumulatively, the country has witnessed the Lake Chad Basin rapidly drying up and the entire country has also been assailed by climate-induced conflicts leading to high human casualties and unquantifiable material losses.
He maintained that it is because of this development that the National Green Summit- which will be held later in August- has been put together for stakeholders to brainstorm on the way forward.
Story was adapted from Daily Post.
