Business and Economy
FG earmarks N130bn for climate change actions in 2024
By Iyojo Ameh
The Federal Government says it has earmarked N130 billion for the execution of energy transition plans in the country.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planing, Sen.
Represented by his Special Assistant,Mr Bolaji Onalaja, Bagudu, said that the President Bola Tinubu’s administration had been consistent on climate actions since inception .
This, he said, resulted in the allocation of the fund in the 2024 budget for implementation of the energy transition plan.
He said there was no understatement of the importance of climate action for all
governments, particularly for Nigeria given that it
has significantly suffered from the effects of climate change.
This, it said includes
desertification in the Lake Chad Basin, which has led to migration of
herders southwards and has contributed to banditry and clashes with
farmers among others.
He said there was a need to raise financing to fund the energy transition, and even as the country faces a challenging fiscal environment and other
short term priorities which includes ramping up oil and gas production, and
taming inflation .
He said ,although it could be sometimes be difficult to prioritise the
mainstreaming of climate action but the administration led by President
Bola Tinubu has been consistent and has even included in the
2024 budget the inclusion of an energy transition fund and the
implementation of the Presidential CNG initiative.
“In spite of the seemingly challenges on issues relating to environment, the administration is committed and ensuring implementation of the Presidential CNG initiative and other energy transition programmes,” he said.
He said the Climate Change Act 2021 had been passed, while the National Council on Climate Change had been established.
Bagudu thanked the organisers of the programme for the initiative, which he said, was designed to further evolve sustainable ways of financing climate change actions to ensure low carbon emissions.
The minister also urged all stakeholders,including governments across board, Civil Society Organisations,(CSO), local and international donor organisations to support the process of unlocking climate change actions financing in Nigeria.
Earlier, the Executive Director, APRI, Mr Olumide Abimbola,said the programme was designed to discuss Nigeria’s climate transition and explore actionable pathways for mainstreaming climate action into Nigeria’s development plans.
Abimbola said APRI was looking at providing evidence-based insights to inform Nigeria’s climate action and ensure a just transition that would be driven by credible data and local realities.
“Our aim through our work on climate action in Africa is to serve as a resource hub that provides real, factual, evidence-based, and sometimes hard truths regarding the policies and actions of government and other stakeholders working on climate transition in Africa,” he said.
“Climate change is already inflicting immense damage on lives and livelihoods, especially on people who have the least capacity to adapt to its effects in Africa,” he said.
He said there was an increasing need for Africans to shape and chart the continent’s climate transition pathways in line with local climate and socio-economic realities and development priorities.
“And we need to begin to implement reform initiatives directed at clearly demonstrating that our plans are fact-based and rooted in the realities of our political economy.
“For us to do this, we need to reflect internally and evaluate actionable pathways for Nigeria’s Low Net Emissions Growth.
” Pathways that do not compromise on our development priorities, and that also incorporate resilience in the realities of foreseeable climate impacts.
“Collaboratively, we want to learn and identify the measures that are required in designing actionable pathways for Nigeria’s low net emissions growth,” he said.
He expressed hope that the knowledge and insights generated from the event would be useful in informing key actors involved in shaping and implementing Nigeria’s climate transition.
High point of the event was deliberation by two panelists on “Rethinking Nigeria’s climate strategy and mainstreaming climate action toward ensuring a just transition.