Story JONATHAN LOIS
Member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, and the father of Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021, Rep. Sam Onuigbo has urged African legislators to take coordinated action to address climate change issues. Onuigbo made this call while presenting a paper entitled “The Journey Towards Developing Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021” at the West African Regional Parliamentary Meeting on Climate Change which was held at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja Lagos, on May 23, 2023.
The Most Valuable Parliamentarian Hall of Fame inductee and head of Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment(GLOBE) in Africa ,who spoke on his journey towards ensuring that Nigeria got a legal framework to boost the country’s climate actions and drive towards resilient and sustainable development, stated that the Climate Change Act 2021 is inclusive and all encompassing with the core objective of ” achieving low greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), inclusive green growth and sustainable economic development, by ensuring that Nigeria formulates programmes for achieving its long-term goals on Climate Change mitigation and adaptation and development priorities.”
He thus charged other African legislators to prioritize the idea of providing legislative backing to climate action as the continent needs it to firmly position itself for growth at par with other continents of the world.
Onuigbo who warned that the journey is oftentimes dogged by bureaucratic conspiracies explained that it was in a bid to ensure that climate action is championed at the highest level of government that Nigeria’s Climate Change Act constituted the National Council on Climate Change to be headed by the President in order to avoid sabotage and non-collaboration emanating from what he referred to as “peer jealousy”.
He therefore called for collaborative action among African countries in driving for climate action.
The event, which was co-organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, National Council on Climate Change, and the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) featured participation by Parliamentarians from West Africa, Climate change experts, the academia, among others.
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