11 things Nigeria wants for the environment

Recently, the Federal Government of Nigeria, state governments, and environment stakeholders met at the 11th National Council on Environment (NCE) was held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta Ogun State. It was chaired by the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril with the theme “Unlocking the Investment Opportunities in the Environment Sector Towards Nigeria’s Economic Recovery, Diversification, Growth and Sustainable Development”.

The NCE is Nigeria’s highest policy making body on the environment sector which facilitates intergovernmental deliberations and guides consultation on environment issues at all levels of government.

At the end of the three-day meeting, the 712 participants from 23 states, including state commissioners for environment; permanent secretaries; director-generals/CEOs of agencies; directors of MDAs; officials of Federal and state ministries of environment; non-governmental organisations (NGOs); civil society organisations (CSOs) and development partners considered 83 memoranda, stepped down 16, and recommended 67 consisting of 38 action and 29 information memoranda.

The council came out with the following resolutions:

Ban on charcoal exportation

The current Forest Cover of Nigeria is less than four  per cent as against the expected 25 per cent. Therefore, exportation of charcoal in Nigeria should be banned and alternative clean source of energy should be developed and promoted.

Synergy among relevant MDAs

The Federal Ministry of Environment should step up actions toward synergy with relevant MDAs through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in order to resolve serious challenges of overlap, conflict and duplication of regulatory roles.

Increased use of solar energy

The Federal Government should put in place policies and other measures to promote provision and utilisation of solar energy and energy efficient cooking stoves.

Access to international funding on climate change

There should be synergy between the Federal and state governments in the implementation of climate change programmes especially on capacity building and access to global climate finance.

Waste-to-wealth programmes

States should be encouraged to put in place Waste-to-Wealth programmes/initiatives that can attract private sector participations and foreign direct investment in order to unlock investment opportunities in the waste management sub sector.

Security for FG environment projects

State governments should provide security for Federal Ministry of Environment projects under implementation in their States to prevent vandalisation and also fulfill their obligations as agreed.

Domesticate international conventions

The Federal Ministry of Environment should domesticate Minamata Convention on Mercury and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) ratified by Nigeria.

Databank on pollution control and waste management

The Federal Ministry of Environment and states should establish reliable electronic based data bank on pollution control and waste management issues in the country.

Flood early warning systems

Flood Early Warning Systems (FEWS) in flood prone areas should be installed by Federal, states and local governments to save lives and property during flooding.

Counterpart funding for NEWMAP

States that have indicated interest to key into the NEWMAP (Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project) Programme should put aside minimum counterpart fund of N500 million, provide 12.90 per cent of total cost of the project as well as provide base line data of erosion sites in their states.

Increased sensitisation on tree planting

More awareness and sensitisation should be carried out to achieve better adoption of Tree planting and reforestation of degraded forest estates.