The Nigerian Ministry of Environment has said that a shift from fossil fuels will be more beneficial to the Nigerian economy, while also helping to solve climate change challenges.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor made this known in Abuja at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nigeria post 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) held in Glasgow in 2021.
The post COP26 meeting was to steer the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nigeria and the Coalition for Socio-Economic Transformation (COSET) group on climate change engagement for the year.
According to Ikeazor, Nigeria is living under the unceasing threat of intensifying maximum and minimum temperatures, rising sea levels, droughts, storms, heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes and warming oceans.
She explained that climate change remained the greatest threat to human health in recorded history as It affected lives and livelihood.
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“These effects could directly harm life, destroy habitats and create challenges to livelihoods and communities,” she said.
Ikeazor who was represented by Mrs Iniobong Abiola-Awe, Director, Department of Climate Change on the Federal Ministry of Environment, said that there was therefore the need to seek ways to address it.
She maintained that it was within this context that the COP26 in Glasgow Climate Pact of 2021 had four overarching goals that guided the course of negotiations and key outcomes.
According to her, these include: to secure global net-zero by mid-century and keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach; adapt to protect communities and natural habitats; mobilise finance and work together to deliver.
“The major commitments at COP26 are to curb methane emissions and reverse forest loss; align the finance sector with net-zero by 2050; accelerate the phase-down of coal and phase-out of fossil fuels,” she said.
Ikeazor further noted that the ministry would partner youths having recognized the central roles they play in effecting climate actions in Nigeria.
