Page 28 - 1589294704617_LV issue 01 - final_Neat

In the past, we use to say that climate change is simply people tends to lose touch of what is being said
sending out warning shots, no, we ve moved past the We are talking about how you experience flood, coastal
warning shots of climate change to the reality of the erosions, how you see serious greenhouse emissions
impact, negative impact on the wellbeing of the people. in the air affecting respiratory organs and leading to
So all hands must be on deck to contain and control health challenges, its crosscutting in terms of what
the negative impact of climate change. And it is real Nigeria has done. Nigeria has always come up with
because if you look back, you will then ask yourself why policies here and there that we are now looking for
was it that the United nations passed a resolution as ways and means to coordinate and it s this challenges
far back as 2009 saying that climate change has now of proper coordination that is affecting our ability to
become a serious security risk, such that the United na- achieve the set target, but today we from the side of
tions security council has taken interest, why because the Legislature are working to ensure that there is a
when you begin to lose an island, a place where people law enacted by the National Assembly to provide an
are living you see an island going down and disappear- umbrella on how you pursue the objectives that are
ing, it s a security challenge, when you now begin to see enunciated in the Paris agreement on climate change,
gully erosion ravage an area where perhaps people because planning these things in silos one by one don t
use to do their agricultural business and it now leads to seem to be producing the desired results, that s why
migration, individual migrating from that area because the National Assembly is really focused on ensuring
its either been devastated by gully erosion, coastal that a bill is passed and assented to, not passed and
erosion or desertification, then you now begin to appre- assent decline like the one that happened in the 8th
ciate that climate change is a challenge. If you also now Assembly. So that it will have a way of properly and ap-
take your mind back and look at what is happening in propriately coordinating all our activities, all our actions
Lake chad basin, where before now, well over 40 mil- that are geared towards checkmating the devastating
lion persons depended on the lake for survival, either effects of climate change.
for agricultural purposes, animal husbandry or fishing,
but today these individuals who had ordinary skills to Talking about having a bill that would give the coordi-
survive around the Lake can no longer carryout these nation of these policies a legal backing, we are privy to
skills why because the lake has almost dried up leaving know that you sponsored the bill on climate change in
only 10% of what it used to be in the 60s, and where are the 8th Assembly, which was passed but the President
those individuals now, hundreds of thousands and even declined assent, can you tell us the intent of the bill and
millions of them have now poured into the cities where reason why the President declined assent to it.
they do not have skills to survive and consequently The intent of the bill is straight forward and very sim-
they have become murder weapons in the hands of ple, it s just to mainstream climate change responses
those who want to use them to make troubles creating and actions into policy formulations and implementa-
serious security issues. So it s not a small matter, it s a tions, just to make sure that yes, we are taking actions,
matter that deserves our full attention. we are integrating, we are incorporating the actions
that we want to be taken. What we regard or what we
You made mention of the United nations treaty which see as our response to these challenges from climate
Nigeria is a signatory to, how well would you say the change, how do we put them in what we are doing as
Government has taken steps to ensure the implementa- Ministries, departments and agencies. That is the es-
tion treaty as regards climate change. sence of the bill, the bill is intended to provide a kind of
The Paris agreement on climate change was signed by guide road map on how to tackle all these things. That
Mr. President on September 22, 2016 at the United Na- is the summary of the essence of the bill and of course
tions headquarters in New York, but before the signing to bring it up to the level of what it is going on today in
of that agreement in 2016, in 2015 at the climate change the world. And apart from talking about tackling miti-
conference in Paris, it was agreed that all nations gations and all the rest of them. The bill also provides
should be signatories to this, so as to key into the objec- wonderful opportunities for investment, to create em-
tives of the Paris agreement. Well, what is the objective ployment opportunities, using diverse approaches, the
of the Paris agreement, its for all hands to be on deck bill also talks about creating funds for tackling climate
to ensure that we reduce to the barest minimum these change. So it s a whole lot that the bill is set to achieve.
devastations that I have talked about, because when But you know, when a bill is sponsored, it goes through
you talk about them in high scientific voice or terms, public hearing where different parties, agencies,
28 I www.legislativevibes.com