All Progressive Congress (APC) Legacy Awareness and Campaign (APC – LAC), has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of a record N10.69 sovereign Green Bond , in 2017 as a land mark achievement that has placed Nigeria as the first African country and the third globally to issue such a bond
The APC Think Tank group, in a statement issued yesterday by its cordinators, former National Publicity Secretary of APC, Lanre Issa-Onilu, the Youth Representative in the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Ismail Ahmed, the Director General of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Moh Lukman, and Tolu Ogunlesi, a presidential Media Aide, the APC LAC also said the President further followed up in 2019 with a second Sovereign Green Bond, worth N15 billion.
The statement said “The country has demonstrated strong commitment towards tackling climate change. In 2017, Nigeria became the first African country and the third country in the world to issue a Sovereign Green Bond, worth N10.69 billion, and followed up in 2019 with a second Sovereign Green Bond, worth N15 billion.
“Pulling this pioneering effort off required a public-private coalition that brought together the Ministries of Finance and Environment, the Budget Office, the Debt Management Office, Development Finance Institutions, Capital Market Operators, and other stakeholders.
“Fast-forward to 2021, and the world has unequivocally recognised President Buhari as a global climate action leader and champion. His engagements and pronouncements at the Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as testimonials such as that from American billionaire Jeff Bezos (whose “Earth Fund” has set aside $10 billion to support projects tackling climate change) attest to this. Also, in the lead-up to the Conference, TIME Magazine acknowledged Nigeria’s place in the climate action movement with a feature of President Buhari on its cover for November 8/15, 2021.
The APC LAC also noted that the 2022 Federal Budget, currently being considered by the National Assembly, is the first “climate-responsive” budget in the history of the country.
It noted further that, since 2020, the Federal Government launched a ‘Solar Power Naija’ project, being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), which will electrify 5 million households and 25 million Nigerians, using off-grid solar power.
“The Solar Power Naija project will support the creation of a quarter of a million jobs in the energy sector alone, the statement titled ‘Buhari’s Global Leadership on Climate Change’, said.
“The Paris Climate Summit at which the historic Agreement was adopted took place within President Buhari’s first year in office. Nigeria made significant commitments, known as our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), under the terms of that Agreement. In March 2017, the President signed the instrument of Ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement.
“The APC Legacy Awareness and Campaign, a voluntary think-tank group of the governing party, can report that NDC outlines a target of 20 percent unconditional reduction of Nigeria’s carbon emissions and 45 percent conditional reduction, by 2030, with the support of the international community. It aims to achieve this through such efforts as investment in renewable energy, massive afforestation campaign, elimination of gas flaring, clean cooking as a replacement for firewood, climate-smart agriculture, and so on.
“In July and October 2021 respectively, the Nigerian House of Representatives and Senate passed the Climate Change Bill, which will provide a much-needed legal framework for Nigeria’s efforts to decisively tackle climate change. Also this year, President Buhari approved the country’s Revised National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) (2021-2030) as well as National Climate Change Programmes.
“The President indeed takes Nigeria’s commitments under the Paris Agreement very seriously. On May 27, 2021, Nigeria formally submitted the Interim Report on its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The report shows that Nigeria is well on course to meet its NDC targets”, the statement said.
