By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian government has outlined its priorities for the upcoming 28th Conference of Parties (COP) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Speaking to journalists at a pre-COP workshop organised by the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), the Director General of the council, Mr Salisu Dahiru, said the country has a number of issues dear to its economy and journey towards climate resilience that it hopes to achieve at COP28.
COP 28 is the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place from November 30 to December 12.
COP takes place every year and is the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change with about 198 member countries.
According to Mr Dahiru, Nigeria’s focus for COP28 includes securing funds to implement its Energy Transition Plan (ETP) that was launched at last year’s conference, and raising additional finance based on the $100 billion pledge made by the Global North in 2009 to support mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.
Additionally, Nigeria is concerned with the issue of using gas as a transition fuel and also the loss and damage fund which was agreed on at the last COP.
“Our focus for this COP28 will be to operationalise the loss and damage fund and to be in a position to support countries that are vulnerable to climate change including Nigeria with emphasis on leaving no one behind,” Mr Dahiru said.
He noted that Nigeria is also interested in ramping up finance for adaptation as much of the financing available is for mitigation.
Mr Dahiru clarified that achieving these outcomes depends on consensus which is achieved by the ability of a party to negotiate, convince and gain the confidence of other parties at the conference.
On getting funding for Nigeria’s ETP, he noted that less than 10 countries have been able to secure funding for the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) as it is called.
Mr Dahiru said this partnership is controlled by members of the G7 and sometimes in collaboration with the G20.
“To arrive at a deal between these countries and a developing country like Nigeria, it requires massive lobbying and massive requests on the part of the funding companies,” he noted.
He added that investors will need to be convinced that the business environment in a country is favourable before they can invest in it. He said Nigeria has shown preparedness by having a clear transition plan with the recent removal of fuel subsidy.
Mr Dahiru noted that during the first two months of the subsidy, fuel consumption reduced considerably, and in turn, Green House Gases (GHG) emitted reduced.
This, he said, is an indication that Nigeria is able to meet its unconditional commitment as contained in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Modupe Gbadeyanka