An Environmentalist, Mr. Babas Atayi, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari, not to follow the pattern of past governments in the implementation of programmes to mitigate the effects of climate in the country, and that the Federal Government should give priority to the development of renewable energy in order to achieve sustainable economic development.

Atayi gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.

He called on the president to set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Climate Change agreement.

The SDGs are expected to be proclaimed in September at a conference in New York to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by Jan., 2016.

The climate change agreement is expected to be ratified in Paris in November.

Atayi, the National Coordinator, Climate and Sustainable Development Network, an NGO, said the committee was imperative as SDGs and climate change issues cut across many sectors.

“Thank God that we have a new government in a year that this considered as a swing year for development across the world.

“One of the things we want the government to do by the time the new SDGs are proclaimed in September, and a new climate agreement in November, is to make a clean break from the past.

“This government should not do things the way past governments had done with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“It should set up an inter-ministerial and set up an Inter-Governmental Committees on the SDGs and Climate Change.”

He said the committee should be saddled with implementing the goals’ programmes and projects, as well as climate change agreement that would be adopted.

“We want an inter-Ministerial committee because Climate Change impact on Health, Agriculture, Water, Environment and it borders on women.

“There is need for Ministry of Women Affairs to be represented in the committee that will implement the SDGs. It should no longer a single agency thing.

“It should cut across several sectors, even the Ministries of Works and Education should be represented in this committee, if we can do this we will achieve success.”

According to Atayi, other countries are doing it, so, most countries do not attend international meetings without inter-ministerial committee.

The environmentalist advised that the SGDs and implementation of the climate change agreement should not be domiciled in one single ministry or agency of government like the MDGs.

“This is to ensure that programmes, projects and contracts under climate change and SDGs do not remain in the hands of one Special Assistant to the president on SDGs.

“Such special assistant may use it (SDGs) to disburse fund to friends and political supporters like it happened under the MDGS.”

Atayi also advised state governments across the country to replicate such committee to ensure that programmes were properly implemented to mitigate effects of the climate change.

On renewable energy, he urged government to develop an Intended Nationally – Determined Contributions (INDCs) that would clearly state strategies to boost renewable energy in the country.

The INDCs under UN Framework Convention on Climate Change require countries across the globe to be committed to creating a new international climate agreement by the conclusion of the Paris Climate Summit.

Countries that are signatories to Kyoto Protocol had at previous climate negotiations, agreed to publicly outline what actions they intend to take to address climate change under a global agreement before October.

“If our INDCs indicate a clear and a sustainable path to transiting Nigeria to renewable energy in the next 15 years, it will greatly impact on the common man.

“In the sense that businesses and livelihoods that have been wiped away as a result of poor access to light (electricity) and other issues will no longer be there; because, we believe that Nigeria can generate enough solar energy to power the whole of Africa if possible with the solar power capacity that we have in Nigeria.

“If you put effective measures in place to drive the policy that will see us transiting to even if it is 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, the economic well-being of the typical Nigeria will improve.

“Barbers will have light and all allied businesses that depend on power will save the money they normally spend on generators and diesel for other things and that will greatly impact on the economy.”

Babs said that there were also business opportunities in renewable energy.

According to him, the business opportunities are the production of solar panel which the poor and unemployed can be trained on how to do it on solar panel.

He also said that there were business opportunities in the production of clean cooking stoves, adding that they were a clean source of cooking energy.

“Nigerian women can be trained on clean cook stoves that will be beneficial to Nigerian women anywhere and this will in turn affect their economic well-being; it is like a multiplier effect.

“Also, the Nigeria’s INDCs must reflect a clear cut pathway to reducing our emissions from oil and gas.

“We must come up with an INDCs that will carefully look into ways or project ways of reducing the instances of flooding in Nigeria.”

The environmentalist, however, expressed optimism that Nigeria could achieve 100 per cent in the use of renewable energy to meet its energy needs.

He said all that Nigeria needed to do was to deploy unbreakable spirit as witnessed in the film sector (Nollywood).

“We can see that Nollywood without government regulation is almost the largest in the film industry across the world, before government even came in to support the sector.” (NAN)

•Photo shows Solar Power

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