Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has pledged to identify opportunities and tap into the $3 trillion international climate finance using a green army if elected as president in 2023.
Obi made the pledge in his newly released 2023 presidential election manifesto made public on Saturday during a broadcast on Channels Television.
The manifesto read partly: “It has been established that Nigeria is among the top 10 most vulnerable countries to climate change, which poses the greatest economic, physical, financial and developmental risks. But it also offers enormous opportunities to unleash the green growth transition and boost prosperity. We shall establish a Green Army tasked with identifying all opportunities to tap into the $3 trillion international climate finance to engineer economic growth and employment for millions of our youths and transition our country to the green epoch.”
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According to Obi, Nigeria needs to switch from using fossil fuels to green energy, noting that the change will positively affect Nigeria’s environmental problems including flooding, which as of October 2022 claimed over 600 lives nationwide.
Recall that Obi had during an interview on Arise TV in October 2022, said that if he becomes president in 2023, he will tackle the country’s flooding problems by dredging Rivers Benue and Niger.
He stated that because the pattern of rainfall has not changed since 2001, dredging is necessary to stop the yearly floods that affect Nigerians, adding that the nation’s economic output will be fairly orientated toward the goal of net-zero emissions if Obi becomes president.
Story was adapted from Nairametrics.
