Following intense efforts towards leading Nigeria's climate change response, the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) in partnership with 2050 Pathways Platform organised a national workshop to validate Nigeria's long-term low-emission development strategy hosted in Abuja.
In an opening remark, Dr. Salisu Dahiru, DG National Council on Climate Change, expressed profound gratitude towards experts, partners, and everyone for their time, experience, and goodwill in marshalling the journey of Nigeria in the climate space. He described the meritorious service of experts who passionately assisted the course beyond their age advancement while appreciating the contributions of scholars and the academia in advancing. On the 13th of November, 2023, the German-Nigerian Hydrogen Office, with support from the German Foreign Office and GIZ Nigeria (GmbH), hosted the 2nd German-Nigerian Symposium on Green Hydrogen to spur Germany and Nigeria's low-carbon hydrogen sector through joint knowledge sharing, collaboration, and exploring opportunities. I
"Today marks a significant step forward as we embark on defining our low-emission development pathways for a cleaner, more resilient future in the face of the challenges we will be facing under climate change. I am pleased that Nigeria has developed this long-term low-emission development strategy document (LT-LEDS) which will be a supportive tool for our submitted revised 2021 nationally determined contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement on climate change. This is a collective effort that involved contributions from various ministries, departments, and agencies as well as several of our intellectuals. This new submission reaffirms Nigeria's commitment to unconditionally reduce emissions by 20% by 2030 with a conditional increase to 47% by 2030."
Sighting the critical global urgency to combat climate change issues, the Director started Nigeria's strategy to act, innovate and lead. The NDC stands as a blueprint to preserve the environment, protect the people, and ensure economic prosperity for Nigeria. The ambitious target of the document sets a sustainable path to cleaner air, enhanced health, inclusivity, food security, green job creation, improved livelihood green and circular economy as the major pivotal pathways. While encouraging changemakers, he said this shared vision and assembly is the path to becoming a leading global player.
Moderated by Huzi Mshelia, there were goodwill messages from the Hon. Chairman House Committee On Climate Change Hon Chris Nwonta represented by his Senior Special Assistant and the representative of the governor of Enugu State, Prof. Sam Ugwu, the commissioner of environment and climate change for the state. Hon. Chris Nwonta's remarks revealed the significance of the cooperation in delivering a developed strategy for Nigeria's long-term low-carbon emissions and effective collaborations for exploring opportunities.
The country director of the French Development Agency (AFD), Pascal Grangereau, reaffirmed their full commitment to the Paris Agreement. Both at the mitigation and adaptation level, the country director described how the French Development Agency in Nigeria has financed sustainable projects with objectives and compliance with the Paris Agreement on climate change. To continue the conversation he said "We are committed to financing deep-decarbonisation pathway Nigeria and the project was cooperation of the French research institute, IDDRI, and the Nigeria Council on Climate Change"
Giving the global LT-LEDS overview of Richard Baron, Dr. Eugene Itua, LT-LEDS Elaboration Coordinator shared insights into the work done, policy change, and how the implementation of the document has enhanced measures towards the achievement of the timeline of climate commitments.
In context, the 2050 Pathways platform is a government and multi-stakeholder initiative present in 38 countries that directly supports projects on sustainable development, addressing climate issues and strategic dialogue and providing viable cross-cutting sector measures and instruments.
Nigeria is among the 68 countries that have developed LT-LEDS in transforming the goals of the Paris Agreement with a long-term vision to address climate issues. The three (3) building blocks for strategy development include operationalisation, elaboration, and laying a foundation through policy and regulation, financial investments, and socialization. The LT-LED mission is to make reality frameworks for NDC alignment, seeking to achieve carbon neutrality to avoid climate catastrophe.
In another detailed session, Prof. Chuks Okereke, lead LT-LEDS Mitigation Modelling/ DDP Project, presented scenarios, emission profiles, and mitigation pathways for Nigeria. He shared how industry frameworks and smart technologies will increase sustainable sectors and efficiency for standard transition. For example, adopting circular economy policies of repairing recycling, reusing, and promoting electric vehicles (EVs), CCU technology, and adoption of CNG and LPG vehicles for the transport sector.
The strategy aims to translate how Nigeria can get towards low-carbon emissions through measurable indicators and enabling policies like the Climate Act (2021), a legal framework, and efficient synergy through aligned collaborations. Giving an overview of the vulnerability and adaptive measures, Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo emphasised the need for synergy between all relevant authorities with the NCCC to ensure the success of the LT-LEDS and NDC interconnected formula for Nigeria's long-term low carbon emission strategy.
In conclusion, participants and stakeholders were able to share concerns about encompassing the adoption of key sectors like water resources including the trans-basin water flow between the Benue and northeast; providing climate education for teachers; investments; tropical agriculture; and space research, amongst other key notes. While adopting the motion, the house concluded that all the observations raised would be inputted by the key secretariat for the full LT-LEDS final document and communique submission.
Written by
Nsikak Ekere
Third Cohort Alumni and Intern at Environews