Participants at the National Conference on Climate Change have called on the Federal Government to include climate change as a subject in the educational curriculum.
The conference brought participants together to discuss the climate change agenda for the 27th session of the Conference of Parties to the UN Conference on Climate Change scheduled for Egypt in November.
Among those who took part in the conference were frontline communities, civil society organisations, academicians, development experts and representatives of various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of governments.
In a communiqué signed by Akinbode Oluwafemi, the Executive Director, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) at the end of a two-day national conference in Abuja, the experts said that including climate change in the curriculum will help breed a generation of environmentally conscious activists.
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“Climate change must be mainstreamed into the country’s educational curriculum to spur interests among the youth and breed a generation of environmentally conscious activists,” the communiqué read.
It further stated that there is an impelling need to simplify the prevailing climate change policy documents for easy assimilation and engagement of the younger generation.
“We also underscore the need for training and capacitation of Nigerian journalists to report climate change in-depth, to expose false solutions and sustained spotlight on real solutions to the crisis.
“There is a need for the formation of a Nigeria climate watchdog comprising frontline communities, civil society, development experts, the academia and the media, among other crucial stakeholders,” it said.
The communique said that this would assist to interrogate Nigeria’s climate change response pathway and advance the energy transition campaign and that there is also the need to protect the rights of the indigenous people, the original landowners whose culture and livelihood are being eroded.
“The re-invention of the Nigeria Social Forum is important and the same must accommodate sub-demands in the environment and climate change space,” it said. “Alliance building, partnerships, and engagement with the National Climate Change Council, the African Group of Negotiators, and the UNFCCC processes should be strengthened.
Story was adapted from Premium Times.
