By Chesa Chesa
Nigeria’s Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland held talks with officials of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to advance the Federal Government’s revolutionary green energy agenda.
It was an opportunity for him to highlight President Bola Tinubu’s vision for a greener Nigeria, especially in the face of new data that show Nigeria’s assumption of the top position in Africa in responsiveness to the plastic waste crisis across multiple criteria of assessment.
Excited by the new prospects, Ngelale assured global partners that Nigeria would double efforts and create incentives for Nigerian industries to better manage plastic waste and to embrace advanced recycling within the context of a dedicated waste-to-energy district of the country’s emerging Evergreen City.
Ngelale summed up his Geneva activities on Wednesday thus: “I was briefed by the leadership of three technical teams who are working within the World Economic Forum’s Center of Nature & Climate as well as the Forum’s Center for Energy and Materials.*
“We agreed to advance new opportunities for enhanced collaboration following my presentation of H.E. President Bola Tinubu’s green industrial vision with further insight into the wide-ranging activities presently being carried out in Nigeria’s climate action sector.*
*Aside from two extensive meetings with two important Centers of the Forum, I was briefed by the Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) on the next stage of GPAP’s partnership with Nigeria where data had shown that Nigeria had assumed the top position in Africa in responsiveness to the plastic waste crisis across multiple criteria of assessment.*
“I assured the GPAP leadership that we would re-double our efforts and create incentives for Nigerian industries to eschew poor plastic waste management practices while incentivizing the industry of plastic waste collection and advanced recycling within the context of a dedicated waste-to-energy district of Evergreen City, where wealth will be generated from the circular economic ecosystem that plastic waste pollution can eventually power.*
“There are many reasons to be excited about the ongoing handshake between Nigeria and the rest of the world on existential matters of climate action and the resulting green economic opportunities being presented.
“Today’s interactions once again reminded me of all that can be achieved when we strive to work collaboratively with others — to learn, to listen, to share, and to execute in synergy.”
