A pro-environment group, Natural Justice, has urged for coordinated measures to address the climate emergency in Nigeria as additional flooding is anticipated throughout many areas of the nation this rainy season.
Mr. Mike Karikpo, the programme manager at Natural Justice (Nigeria), told journalists at a media training on reporting the environment and climate emergency through a climate justice lens’ in Port Harcourt on Friday of last week that the country is currently experiencing a climate crisis of emergency proportions that calls for a response from all stakeholders.
Karikpo said: “As a people, we realize the situation we are in. But the problem is that we lack the will-power to make the changes that are necessary to respond to the climate crisis.”
He noted that the media is crucial in mobilizing public, corporate, and governmental support for taking action on climate change. However, Nigerian governments at all levels are not doing enough to address the climate issue.
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“The Federal Government has put in place climate change policies like climate change council and agencies who play a crucial role in getting environmental information together, analyzing and sharing the information.
Secretary, Rivers State chapter of the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP), Lawrence Dube, said the event was specifically designed to reposition the debate on environmental justice, through a climate crisis lens, so that the climate emergency in Nigeria can be properly understood, re-conceptualized and engaged.
This is particularly important, he said, given the occurrence of disasters like flooding, especially in the Niger Delta region, and the need to mitigate them through conscientious action by policymakers and advocacy by civil society.
Noting that the media has a role to play in the advocacy for climate justice, he stressed the need to protect the environment, especially with regards to the Niger Delta where natural resources extraction has caused havoc to the waters, air, forests, mangroves, biodiversity, adding that “if we don’t do that, then we are in big trouble.”
Mr Klem Ofuokwu, journalist and resource person, speaking on “Boosting your knowledge of reporting the planet”, urged journalists to enhance their reportage by increasing their knowledge on issues surrounding climate change.
Story adapted from Nigerian Tribune
