By Adedapo Adesanya
Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP), in conjunction with Oxfam in Nigeria, has advised Nigerians to vote for a presidential candidate that is climate change conscious as the 2023 election draws near.
Executive Director of GIFSEP, Mr David Michael, made this demand at the grand finale of the African climate caravan in Abuja on Tuesday ahead of the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27), set to hold in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt this week.
He said the African climate caravan is a movement involving several African countries that are telling African communities climate stories and gearing up for COP 27 in Egypt.
Mr Michael stressed that the demand for climate justice became important considering the impact of climate change in Africa and Nigeria.
He underscored the relevance of building a generation that is climate change conscious, hence the art presentation competition by 20 senior secondary schools in the FCT.
He said, “The African climate caravan is a movement involving 28 African countries who are telling African communities climate stories gearing up for the COP 27 in Egypt. In Nigeria, the caravan has been telling the stories of different communities through sports and arts.
“It is very important that we demand climate justice considering the impact of climate change in our continent and our country Nigeria.
“For citizens of Nigeria, it is important to vote for candidates who have a clear understanding of climate change issues.”
He lamented that due to the flood, so many people were displaced, blaming it on inadequate readiness and climate finance.
He, therefore, called for the implementation of several climate change policies already in place even as he called on the Nigerian government to build resilience against the effects of climate change.
“This year, we are all aware of the flood and how the flood impacted the country so badly; we lost people, over 600. So many households are still living in internally displaced person camps. It is an issue of climate finance.
“We need money to tackle these. Good enough, the federal government has been a signatory to all the internal programs – from the Paris agreement, we now have the climate change act.
“We have done a lot of policies, but what I think is lacking is real action on the ground, for example, with the floods that took place, the response was very poor, it took weeks before help could get to people, especially in the states.
“With the flood that took farmlands, there is going to be hunger next year coupled with the crisis between Russia and Ukraine affecting grain supply throughout the world.
“As a country, our people need to build resilience, we cannot continue to write for climate finance from international organisations and the developed countries.
“With the little we have, we need to invest in climate-smart agriculture, if we know that floods will come every year and wipe our farms, why don’t we farm during the dry season? Why don’t we build small earth dams, why don’t we teach our farmers that it is wrong to farm on flood plains,” he added.
