By Chuks Oyema-Aziken (Baku, Azerbaijan)
The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), Dr. Nkiruka Chidia-Maduekwe on Saturday said Africa will continue to push for the reform of climate financial architecture.
The Director-General said this in an interview with Journalists at the Nigerian pavilion at the ongoing COP29 in Baku Azerbaijan.
She said this is to ensure that Africa is not burdened with more loans with regards to meeting her climate change obligations.
According to her “We are being told to have an ambitious NDC, but then where is the finance going to come from? So in every forum that we speak in, we always highlight the need for blended finance and ensuring that there’s a distinction between development finance and climate finance because they lump all these things together, so we’re saying there has to be a difference. That’s number one.
“Number two, what we have seen happen in this COP is an amplified position for methane. The conversation of methane has started and the push is a lot here in this COP29. We’ve seen high-level meetings organised by China and US. We’ve also seen these high-level side events on methane.
“It’s just simply saying we need to take the issue of short pollutants, short-lived pollutants that we also call super pollutants. We need to take it very important.
“So not just methane, but carbon, black carbon as well. So this conversation is at the forefront. And of course, you already know that Nigeria signed an MOU with China.
She said Nigeria already has a nuclear regulatory agency to ensure the safety of Nigerians.
“And again, when you talk about diversifying the energy mix, nuclear is a low-hanging fruit. And it’s clean energy and it’s also going to take us out of the carbon energy space. So it’s one of the options, alternatives we have in our energy mix.
On the controversy trailing presence of oil giants and fossil fuels lobbyists at COP29, she said “You cannot talk about climate change without having everyone on the table.
“We’re talking about decarbonisation. You need to have the buy-in of the oil and gas. Because whether we like it or not, the development we’ve had so far is largely as a result of fossil fuel.
“And so how else can you help them make that transition without having them as part of the conversation? So I would say that it’s important to have all stakeholders on board to have them better understand what needs to be done in order for us to have a clean, just and equitable transition. So you’re talking about the oil and gas industry. You’re talking about a lot of people who might be out of job.
“So how would you upskill them? How would you reposition them? So it’s important for them to be part of this conversation. And I’m happy that they’re in COP because you cannot make certain decisions outside these critical stakeholders.”
