Paying for our climate: Nigeria should do more on financing climate goals

Over the next 40 years, measures to adapt to climate change already built into the climate system could gulp between $0.7billion and $1.2billion each year, nearing $50billion in total according to the World Bank. While estimates of the level of investment needed by developing countries such as Nigeria varies considerably, Kristen Jack, formerly manager of “Cities and Climate Change” advisory teams at “Adam Smith International’s Nigerian Infrastructure Advisory Facility suggests that these may lie between $180 – $450 billion per year for mitigation and $30 – $100 billion per year for adaptation. To cope with this, Nigeria must exploit alternative funding means.

Climate finance, as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines it, refers to local, national or transnational financing which may be drawn from various sources of financing – and could be public, private or alternative sources is vital in making significant progress towards climate objectives.

It often requires large-scale infrastructure and the engagement of large segments of the populations, both of which can require high level of investment. These objectives Mitigation i.e. to limit or reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), gases that trap heat in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere to reduce the risks and hazards of climate change; and/or Adaptation i.e. to help communities, societies and economies adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.

International / Multilateral Funding

Till date, Nigeria has leveraged $63 million of multilateral funds for climate change projects. This might sound like a lot but the figure according to “Adam Smith International” is broadly equal to that of Rwanda, a country whose population is about 7 percent of Nigeria´s; and just over a tenth of the funding okayed for South Africa.

Nigeria, unlike a good number of fellow developing nations has met limited success re: accessing available international resources to help meet these needs. This, according to Elijah Awojuola of the Department of Climate Change at the Federal Ministry of Environment is a result of “a lack of understanding of climate finance funding opportunities; difficulties in crafting concept notes and applications that reflect the requirements of providers; and challenges in coordinating activities across the government so as to present a coherent vision of Nigeria’s climate finance priorities…”.

Local Financing Initiatives

While much of Nigeria´s inadequate climate financing has been supported by multilateral funding, worthy of mention is that on the local scene some progress has been recorded (ie by the Nigerian government) in the last few years.

Some of these initiatives according to Mr. Awojuola include the “Clean Technology Fund” which is supporting the development of transformative public transport schemes in the three main economic and political cities of Lagos, Kano and Abuja. Another is the pioneering Climate Finance Unit, also established by the Department of Climate Change and whose task is to enhance knowledge and information on opportunities for climate finance.

Commitment of the Buhari Administration

The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has assured of the country´s resolve to implement policies aimed at addressing climate change. In a report monitored by Business Day (Nigeria), he states thus, “for us in Nigeria, the larger dimension of the challenge goes beyond emission rights. Survival rights are also at stake”. Speaking further he highlights increases in use of climate smart agriculture and diversification of our energy mix through renewable and efficient gas power as part of progress made.

President Buhari also lamented the current situation re: the Lake Chad Basin which according to him has shrunk to a mere 10 per cent of its original size thus affecting the livelihood of over five million people.

However to what extent has the government of the day been able to match its words with actions?

The Ogoni Clean up

While efforts to develop a cross-cutting project concept to support the climate resilience of some of Nigeria’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens has begun, there is still a lot left to be done – prominent among which includes the clean up of Ogoni Land, a community in the oil-rich Niger-Delta devastated by extensive pollution of their environment owing to massive oil spills among others.

Fourteen months after the launch of the much talked about Ogoni clean up, which according to UNEP estimates will take 30 years by Nigeria´s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the extensive oil spills and antecedent damages on the environment of the Ogoni communities remain largely untouched. Since the launch of the clean up according to a Vanguard Newspapers report, a governing council and trust fund have been set up, and a project coordinator appointed, yet no equipment has been moved to the sites, residents say.

The UNEP report on the Ogoni oil spill mentions that before any clean-up of the oil impact environment is done the Ogoni people be provided with potable water as their sources of drinking water is contaminated 900 times above what the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers pollution.

Call to Action

Nigeria must considerably expand financing sources locally to cover the gaps occasioned by the inadequacy of multilateral funding inflow. This should be addressed at each level of the three tiers of government. Each of these tiers must be mandated to allocate substantial portions of their share of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (founded in 2011 to replace the scrapped Excess Crude Account for the purpose of managing and investing these funds on behalf of government) as well as statutory monthly allocations towards financing  the climate – both in joint and single relevant ventures.

The country must also as a matter of policy, tax the big oil majors who through their harmful activities such as gas flaring continue to emit GHGs with reckless abandon thereby leaving a trail of devastation in the immediate communities where they operate.