Prof. Nasiru Idris, Dean, Faculty of Environmental Science Nasarawa State University, Keffi says Nigeria is doing little to address environmental problems despite being a party to several international treaties and conventions governing environmental issues.
Idris said this in an interview with The News Agency of Nigeria on the state of the Nigerian Environment @60 and Matters Arising on Thursday in Abuja
“Since the 1960s, Nigeria is a part to some treaties and conventions that have produced excellent goals but in practice they have done little to actually address environmental problems in the country as we still experience serious and diverse environmental problems.
“Nigeria is a large country and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and the country’s fragile economy makes the local ability to respond difficult’’.
He said that for a considerable number of years after the country’s independence, the nation was preoccupied with providing basic social amenities and advancing national economic development: environmental concerns were not a priority and as a consequence, Nigeria’s environmental resources were sadly neglected.
He said that Nigeria is losing huge amount of money worth billions of Naira as a result of this and about 80 per cent of the inhabitants of the Niger Delta region will be displaced due to the low level of the region.
“Nigeria will be mostly affected by the impacts of climate change through rising sea level along her coastline, intensified desertification, erosion and flooding disasters and general land degradation.
“Remember, the World Bank report had estimated that Nigeria was losing about 5.1 billion US dollars per annum to environmental degradation, in the face of poor mitigation measures and initiatives.
“Therefore, Nigeria has a lot to do to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and we have less than 10 years to achieve that’’.
He, however, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to note that climate change issues should be beyond just a Department under the Federal Ministry of Environment.
He also advised that a Technical and Advisory Committee of Experts to the President on Climate Change Actions be immediately constituted.
“This committee will play significant roles in the implementation of Paris Agreement towards achieving not only climate change issues but also the SDGs by 2030.
“The country is strongly prone to severe negative impacts of climate change due to its weak resilience and low adaptive capacity.
“We have varieties of ecosystems, from mangroves and rainforests on the Atlantic coast in the south to the savannah in the north bordering the Sahara that are being battered by global warming.
“The environment is under increasing threat from human activities and natural disasters as the country’s large population of about 200 million and its rapid growth rate of 3.0 per cent are contributing to its environmental degradation’’.
He also advised that the future budgets of all the three tiers of governments should factor in the peculiarities of climate change issues for sustainable development.
The Don also called for harmonisation of environmental and public policies, promotion of environmental mainstreaming, integration of the United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Climate Change (UNFCCC) issues into programmes and strategies of government.
“The programme should also include mitigation and adaptation, mainstreaming of climate change into development planning at all scales, levels and sectors and investment in research and development etc.
