Federal Govt Reiterates Commitment To Mitigating Effects Of Climate Change

The federal government has reiterated commitment towards mitigating effects of climate change, saying it is currently spending 9 percent of the GDP on projects directly addressing the menace.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq disclosed this at the 2022 edition of the National Migration Dialogue in commemoration of the International Migrants Day, organised by the National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration in Abuja yesterday with the theme, ‘’Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Displacement and Human mobility in Nigeria.’’

The minister said, ‘’In 2021, Nigeria became the first country in Africa to design a detailed Energy Transition Plan, with a view to delivering universal access to energy by 2030, and will continue to take decisive steps to mitigate the impact of climate change.’’

She, however, noted that climate change is not an isolated phenomenon and every country has to play its role in order to secure the world’s climate future.

The minister who was represented by the deputy director, Disaster Management in the ministry, Abubakar Suleiman said that, ‘’in 2022, Nigeria has experienced devastating floods, which have affected no fewer than 33 states, displacing at least 1.4 million people, while destroying thousands of hectares of farmland and causing about 600 deaths. Climate events such as these have been on the increase in recent years and the need to accelerate adaptation to these issues cannot be overemphasized.’’

Also, the federal commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim said the 2022 theme was aptly designed to interrogate the impact of climate change and climate events on various communities across Nigeria, as well as existing adaptation efforts by government and the local population to cope with these events.

She said it is expected that the National Migration Dialogue will assess government’s interventions in response to these challenges with a view to charting a course towards an all of society approach at addressing the impact of climate change.