The Minister of Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jibril, on Monday, October 23, 2017 urged stakeholders to bridge the institutional and legislative gaps identified in the course of implementing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act.
Minister of Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril
The minister, who was represented by Dr Shehu Ahmed, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, gave the advice in Abuja at a workshop organised on the revision of the EIA Act.
Jibril said that the EIA Act had been in operation for over two decades, adding that during its implementation, a number of gaps, omissions and inadequacies had been identified.
“As a result of this, the ministry, being the apex regulatory body for the protection and conservation of natural resources in Nigeria, has initiated series of consultations.
“The aim is to revise and prepare the EIA law for amendment so as to expand its legislative coverage, while incorporating emerging and global issues into the Act.
“This workshop is, therefore, organised to bring to an end the several attempts by the ministry to come up with a draft revised EIA Act, which suits the needs of the country and meets international standard, for all sectors of the economy to operate,’’ he said.
Jibril urged the stakeholders to brainstorm at the workshop and come up with a robust document that would stand the test of time.
According to him, the review of EIA Act is imperative because it sets procedures and methods to facilitate prior consideration of EIA of certain public and private projects.
“It also gives powers to the ministry to process EIA projects and programmes,’’ he added.
Also speaking, Mr John Alonge, the Director of Environmental Assessment Department in the ministry, said that the workshop was to make EIA process in the country less cumbersome, more result-oriented and timely.
Alonge said the workshop would also aid efforts to align Nigeria’s the EIA procedures with international best practices, while removing factors hindering in the EIA process in the country.
Nigeria’s National Climate Change Bill will be a subject of international discussion at the 23rd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) scheduled to hold from November 6 to 17, 2017 in Bonn, Germany.
Participants at pre-COP23 meeting organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Abuja
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Climate Change, Samuel Onuigbo, made the disclosure in Abuja on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at a pre-COP23 meeting organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES).
Onuigbo, who was represented at the daylong forum by his Special Legislative Assistant (SLA), Stanley Nwabuisi, stated that this would come by via a special side-event – one of severally being planned by Nigeria at the two-week global confab.
The legislator stated that the side-event was informed by the need to share experiences and best practices with the international community on a similar topic, and sure that the bill emerges a better and more engaging document.
At a National Stakeholders Meeting Preparatory to COP23 in Abuja recently, Director, Department of Climate Change, Dr. Yerima Peter Tarfa, said Nigeria would host side-events on the Sovereign Green Bond (which is at the threshold of being launched) and implementation of the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
At the FES gathering, FES Resident Representative in Nigeria, Ulrich Thum, and Project Manager, Henry Okotie, introduced the organisation as a private, non-profit organisation committed to the values of Social Democracy. According to them, FES Nigeria cooperates with and supports the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on labour rights issues as well as how climate change affects labour and employment.
Prof Emmanuel Oladipo of the University of Lagos, Akoka, who chaired the meeting, stated that COP23 represents a platform to drive the implementation of the Paris Agreement that was committed to by a considerable number of Parties to the UNFCCC. He urged civil society organisations at the meeting to come up with issues they can put up before the government before, during and after the COP.
Hauwa Mustapha of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) shared Labour’s stand with participants, underlining the need for: social justices and a decent work environment for all, and reduction of emissions to zero.
According to Ovie Ainenehi, who represented the Federal Ministry of environment at the meeting, Nigeria negotiators will be aligning with the Africa Group’s stand, which includes operationalisation of adaptation as provided under the Convention through elaborating the global goal for adaptation of the agreement.
He listed government priority areas to include: NDCs implementation, agriculture (climate smart agriculture), renewable energy/energy efficiency, transportation, and green economy.
Participants eventually agreed of shared responsibilities and strategies towards the COP. Some are listed to include:
Identifying and aligning with government activities at COP23
Ensuring a proper access to information
Building interrelationships between different environment-related ministries
Proper coordination for the media, for effective information dissemination
Translating NDCs into different languages to help locals understand the process
Ministry of Environment should share information on its Pre-COP23 meeting
Civil society should be notified about all Nigerian side events at the COP
Need to effectively showcase Nigeria’s image at the conference
Need for more grassroots awareness
Need to appreciate the politics of climate change
Need to create a network of participants
Need to Itemise the working groups in Bonn and be organised to attend the sessions
Need to liaise with the Ministry for thematic area to work with during the COP
Need to help track Nigeria meetings, and build civil society strategies
Need to know how to make an input in Nigeria/African position
Need to identify where and how civil society interventions can be impacted
Need to identify and be familiar with Nigerian negotiators going for the COP
Need to respond to communication and strategic document
Need to review policies to be able to effectively engage with policy makers.
States that have indicated interest to key into the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) have been asked to contribute a minimum N500 million as counterpart funding.
Dignitaries at the National Council on Environment (NCE), Abeokuta, Ogun State
Similarly, they are to provide 12.90% of total cost of the project as well as make available base line data of erosion sites in their states.
This was one of the major resolutions of the National Council on Environment (NCE) held from October 16 to 18, 2017 in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
NEWMAP commenced about five years ago with seven states and, as a result of achievements recorded by the first mover states, the project has been expanded with a total of 19 states in partnership. The NEWMAP family may expand even further as more states have apparently indicated interest in joining the fray.
But finance is increasingly becoming a major cause for concern, in the light of dwindling resources at the international, national and state government levels. The issue attracted the interest of participants at the recently held International Conference on Geo-Spatial Technlogy (or SSKE Knowledge Fair) in Abuja, where it was disclosed that some states were toying with the idea of using part of their Ecological Fund allocation as counterpart funding for NEWMAP, which is regarded as a one-stop-shop solution to erosion control and management in Nigeria. The idea however raised a mixture of support and objections.
The NCE in Abeokuta expressed concern over the fact that the nation’s current forest cover is less than 4% as against the expected 25%. It resolved therefore that exportation of charcoal in Nigeria should be banned and alternative clean source of energy should be developed and promoted.
The Federal Ministry of Environment was asked to step up actions toward synergy with relevant MDAs through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in order to resolve serious challenges of overlap, conflict and duplication of regulatory roles.
Similarly, the Federal Government was directed to put in place policies and other measures to promote provision and utilisation of solar energy and energy efficient cook stoves, even as there should be synergy between the federal and state governments in the implementation of climate change programmes especially on capacity building and access to global climate finance.
Other resolutions at the NCE were listed to include:
That states should be encouraged to put in place waste-to-wealth programmes/initiatives that can attract private sector participations and foreign direct investment in order to unlock investment opportunities in the waste management sub- sector.
That state governments should provide security for Federal Ministry of Environment projects under implementation in their states to prevent vandalisation and also fulfill their obligations as agreed.
That the Federal Ministry of Environment should domesticate the Minamata Convention on Mercury and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) ratified by Nigeria.
That the Federal Ministry of Environment and states should establish reliable electronic based data bank on Pollution Control and Waste Management issues in the country.
That Flood Early Warning Systems (FEWS) in flood-prone areas should be installed by federal, states and local governments to save lives and property during flooding.
That more awareness and sensitisation should be carried out to achieve better adoption of Tree planting and reforestation of degraded forest estates.
Government has been called upon to embark on the re-orientation of pastoralists and farmers in order to ensure harmonious co-existence between both parties.
Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, Jens-Petter Kjemprud; Executive Director of Women Environmental Programme (WEP), Priscilla Achakpa; Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey; and Attahiru Jaoji at the conference
The call formed part of resolutions at the 10th Sustainability Academy of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) held on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 in Abuja. Themed: “Climate Change, Pastoralism, Land And Conflicts”, the daylong forum was organised in collaboration with the Confederation of Traditional Herder Organisations (CORET).
While emphasising that both are interdependent and their actions can be mutually beneficial, participants noted that ongoing conflicts between pastoralists and farmers are needless and distorts development efforts.
“Pastoralists and farmers have lived in harmony in Nigeria and can do so now,” the gathering submitted in a communique, adding that there should be greater engagement of extension workers by all levels of governments to effectively engage in communicating climate change to farmers and pastoralists.
The fact that climate change impacts differently on different categories of people should be considered in preparing climate actions, resolved the gathering, adding that the Great Green Wall programme aimed at combating desertification and the preservation of small water bodies and rivers should incorporate pasture development.
Government was further asked to carry out livestock development policy review to align them with regional and international practices, even as it initiates actions to produce a detail land use plan for the country.
To address the impacts of climate change and prevent incessant crises between farmers and herders that arise as a result of land and other environmental issues, the Academy further recommended:
Youth restiveness should be addressed by all stakeholders through capacity building, mentoring and skills diversification. Development partners have a role to play in this direction.
There is need for public-private partnership and scientific re-orientation for the development of pastoralism in Nigeria.
Herders should adopt the practice of managed intensive systematic rotational grazing.
In the brokering of peace and the implementation of all forms of conflict management initiatives, it is pertinent that women are carried along. Their full participation and inclusion should be entrenched in such processes.
Media should engage more in investigative journalism in reporting conflicts rather than stereotyping pastoralists and others.
The Federal Government should create a Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries as is obtained in several other African countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Niger and Tanzania
Climate change is not a boundary-limited issue. Nigeria should approach this issue from this perspectibe in pursuing adaptation, funding, resilience and mitigation strategies in communities.
There is need to take inventory of the all existing grazing reserves, traditional grazing areas, transhumance corridors, major stock routes, fully develop at least one per state in line with the recommendations of the recommendations of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Livestock Development in Nigeria of 2015 and implement the Report of the Presidential Committee on Pastoralism and Insecurity.
Discussions on the subject matter were preceded by two presentations which instigated discussions among participants after an overview from the convener, Nnimmo Bassey, head of HOMEF, who stressed that the gathering was for the sharing of knowledge and finding ways by which the conflicts occasioned by climate change can be addressed.
The first presentation was delivered by Priscilla Achakpa of the Women Environmental Programme (WEP), and titled: “Climate Change, Pastoralism and Land Conflict: The Gender Perspective”, while the second presentation by Mohammed Bello Tukur centred on the topic climate change, pastoralism and land conflict was made by Jaoji A. Alhassan on his behalf.
After exhaustive discussions on the issues raised in the presentations, all the participants agreed that climate change is a global threat to human security and it impacts are contributory to conflicts in Nigeria. The Academy noted that pastoralists, farmers, women and children are some of the most vulnerable groups in Nigeria.
The Rainforest Rescue has taken up a campaign to urge the European Union (EU) to ban glyphosate, the active ingredient in herbicides such as Monsanto’s Roundup.
The European Parliament will on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 vote on extending the approval of glyphosate
According to Rainforest Rescue, a not-for-profit organisation, glyphosate is not only used in industrial agriculture, but also on playgrounds, in parks and gardens, and on roadside vegetation.
The European Parliament will on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 vote on extending the approval of glyphosate, but the group feels this is an opportunity to appeal to the legislators, influence their decision and “to rid ourselves of this noxious chemical”.
Rainforest Rescue intends to submit a petition to that effect to the EU and member governments.
The group states: “Glyphosate is slowly poisoning the environment: It is finding its way into our food supply and can be detected in our blood and urine. Last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) concluded that it causes DNA and chromosomal damage to human cells and is probably carcinogenic.
“Despite the warnings, the European Commission intends to extend the approval of glyphosate for a further 15 years. Experts from all 28 member states attended a closed-door meeting in Brussels on March 7, 2016 to vote on the extension. When it became clear that a majority in favour was uncertain, the decision was deferred. It will now be put to a vote in the European Parliament in October 2017.
“Glyphosate impacts us all, and a ban in Europe will send an unmistakable signal to the rest of the world. Glyphosate is a dangerous herbicide that does not belong in our food supply – the EU must not renew its approval.”
Dubbed the “Serengeti of the North”, Central Asia stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to the Russian Federation in the north.
The vast deserts, semi‑deserts, grasslands and high mountains of Central Asia and adjacent regions, support some of the world’s last remaining large mammal migrations. Yet, unlike its African counterpart, it has been largely overlooked by conservation efforts.
Przewalski’s Horse
The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) will this week include proposals to protect two of Central Asia’s rarest species – Przewalski’s Horse and the Gobi Bear – on its agenda for the region. The Government of Mongolia has submitted proposals regarding these species to the Twelfth CMS Conference of the Parties in Manila. If agreed, their resolutions will afford the highest protection status under CMS to these animals, whose numbers are critically low.
Przewalski’s Horse The stoutly-built reddish-brown Przewalski’s Horse is the only surviving species of wild horse that has not been domesticated. They traditionally roamed the steppe, shrublands, and plains of western Mongolia and northern China, surviving in temperature extremes from 40°C in the summer and -45°C in the winter. However, their population has dwindled, with the last confirmed sighting in the wild made in 1969. Experts say that the horses’ demise is due to severe winters, limited habitat and resources, disease and lack of information and awareness. In 2008, following a successful captive breeding programme, Przewalski’s Horses were re-introduced into the wild in China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. As of January 1, 2014, the number of living captive and reintroduced animals was 1,988.
Gobi Bear
Gobi Bear
The smallish, light brown Gobi Bear – which is regarded as a national treasure by Mongolians – is found only in the extreme environment of the Gobi Desert. Population estimates indicate that fewer than 45 remain in the wild with none in captivity. The animals are a unique ecotype and are adapted to the low food availability and harsh environment of the Gobi Desert, where temperatures may vary between 46°C in summer to -34°C in winter. The Gobi Bear, together with the Wild Bactrian Camel, is considered as an umbrella species of the Gobi ecosystem. It means that the conservation of this species will help to protect other wildlife in the Gobi region. They are particularly vulnerable due to their small population, while climate change is affecting the availability of water and vegetative food.
If listed on Appendix I, the Gobi Bear will fall under the CMS Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI), which currently targets 15 species, and already includes Przewalski’s Horse. The Initiative comprises 14 countries, nine of which have ratified the Convention (Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), and five are non-Party States (Bhutan, China, Nepal, the Russian Federation and Turkmenistan).
Conserving these species requires coordinated planning across borders with a commitment to eliminate barriers to migration, protect habitat from degradation and fight poaching and illegal trade. Concerted efforts and partnerships among concerned governments and others, including the private sector and local communities, are essential. Through CAMI, CMS can support countries in those efforts and bring all stakeholders together to coordinate and agree on key actions.
The Federal Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) have been asked to urgently draft a regulation that will ban the manufacture, import, export, distribution, sale and use of paints that contain total lead concentrations exceeding 90 ppm, the most restrictive standard in the world.
L-R: Ane Leslie Adogame, Executive Director, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev) Nigeria; Oyewole Ashaolu, Deputy Director, Pollution Control and Environmental Health Department in the Federal Ministry of Environment; and Attahiru Stephen, Deputy Quality Manager, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), at the media session on Lead in Paint Study Report, in Lagos
The government bodies were likewise told to impress it on paint companies to display sufficient information indicating harmful content on paint can labels such as solvents, and provide a warning on possible lead dust hazards when disturbing painted surfaces.
Mr Ane Leslie Adogame, Executive Director, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev) Nigeria, who made the submission in Lagos on Friday, October 20, 2017 while suggesting ways to address the problem of lead in paint, stressed that paint companies that still produce lead paints should expeditiously stop the use of leaded paint ingredients in paint formulations.
“Paint companies that have shifted to non-lead paint production should get their products certified through independent, third party verification procedures to increase the customer´s ability to choose paints with no added lead,” he said. “They should also provide information about the lead content of their products on paint can labels.”
Participants at the meeting
Paint consumers, Adogame added, should demand paints with no added lead from paint manufacturers and retailers, as well as full disclosure of a paint product’s lead content.
“Household and institutional consumers should ask for, consciously buy, and apply only paints with no added lead in places frequently used by children such as homes, schools, day care centers, parks and playgrounds,” he suggested.
He wants public health groups, consumer organisations and other concerned entities to support the elimination of lead paint, and conduct activities to inform and protect children from lead exposure through lead paint, lead in dust and soil, and other sources of lead.
The SRADev boss called on civil society organisations and professional groups to collaborate with government agencies to carry out awareness-raising campaigns to sensitise the public on the dangers associated with elevated lead levels in the blood, possible sources of lead exposure, and availability of possible technically superior and safer alternatives.
His words: “There is a need to raise awareness and take precautions when preparing a previously painted surface for repainting; train people, such as painters working on previously-painted surfaces about lead-safe work practices; and raise the needed resources to conduct such trainings. Campaigns that will empower consumers’ right to know the lead content of paints they purchase should be encouraged.”
He enjoined stakeholders to come together and unite in promoting a strong policy that will eliminate lead paint in Nigeria. “Stakeholders are encouraged to foster voluntary initiatives by paint manufacturers, importers of paints and paint chemicals, and vendors to phase-out the use of lead compounds in their products, even before any national legal instrument is adopted or enforced,” he said.
He reiterated SRADev’s resolve to move forward chemical management issues in Nigeria, pointing out that the event “reflects our deep desire to provide a healthy environment that guarantee economic and social well-being of the Nigeria populace.”
Adogame spoke in the light of findings from a recent study on lead in solvent-based paints for home use in the country. The study was carried out from July to August. 2016.
Out of the 40 out of 54 analysed solvent-based paints for home use (74 percent of paints) were lead paints, that is they contained a total lead concentration above 90 parts per million. The study also disclosed that 29 paints (54 percent of paints) contained dangerously high lead concentrations above 10,000 ppm. The highest total lead concentration detected was 160,000 ppm, which is nearly 1,800 times the 90 ppm.
“The findings of this report show that most of the paints for home use available in the market in Nigeria have high concentrations of lead,” said Oyewole Ashaolu, Deputy Director, Pollution Control and Environmental Health Department in the Federal Ministry of Environment.
Ashaolu, an engineer, added: “This therefore calls for an urgent action by all stakeholders, the Federal Ministry of Environment, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Consumers Protection Council (CPC) to adopt and be ready to enforce regulations that will totally ban the manufacture, distribution and use of paints with total lead concentrations greater than 90ppm.”
He commended the efforts of SRADev, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) NGO focal point in Nigeria, which he said “has been a partner in ensuring that research findings are translated to policy.”
National focal point for SAICM is the Federal Ministry of Environment, through the Department of Pollution Control and Environmental Health, coordinates all activities towards achievement of set goals. SRADev had worked to ensure the research is completed and the report made available to relevant stakeholders.
The SAICM is a global policy framework to foster the sound management of chemicals, supporting the achievement of the goal agreed at the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit for Sustainable Development of ensuring that, by 2002, chemicals will be produced and used in ways that minimise significant adverse impacts on the environment and human health.
Ashaolu’s words: “The report of this research will no doubt provide a basis for policy formulation and development of a regulatory framework for the complete elimination of lead in decorative paints and paints used generally in our households in Nigeria.
“Lead has been known to be intentionally added to paints as pigments; these pigments are used to give paint its colour, make the paint opaque and protect the paint and the underlying surface from degradation caused by exposure to sunlight. They are also added to enamel paints for use as driers and as antirust agents on paints used on metal. The most common lead compound used in this industry is lead tetroxide, sometimes called Red Lead.
“Lead is a cumulative toxicant that effects multiple body systems. Young children are particularly vulnerable because they absorb four to five times as much ingested lead as adults from a given source. Moreover, children’s innate curiosity and their age appropriate hand-in-mouth behavior result in their mouthing and swallowing lead containing or lead coated objects, such as contaminated soil, dust and flakes from decaying lead containing walls.”
Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has stressed his administration’s intention to encourage sustainable tourism, which can further catapult the state’s internally-generated revenue (IGR) to the heights.
Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State
According to the governor, this can be done by taking full account of the current and future economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism, and addressing the needs of visitors, the industry and host communities.
This is contained in his keynote address during the 2017 Walk for Nature programme themed “Cleaner Lagos: The Foundation for Sustainable Ecotourism” at the State House car park, Marina, Lagos, on Saturday, October 21, 2017 organised by the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF).
The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for the Environment, Samuel Babatunde Adejare, disclosed that the state “has great advantages in nature-based tourism and ecotourism activities”.
Sustainable tourism, he said, can be achieved through making optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development.
“We have good examples of how we can achieve this here in Lagos. The Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC) offers us a glimpse into what is achievable if we set our minds to it, and shows that working together is our best chance of success,” he said.
Speaker after speaker at the event, which took place after a trek from the car park through the Marina stretch to outer Marina and back to the park, agreed no less that the state was on course in its journey towards attracting tourists with a cleaner, beautiful environment.
The Commissioner for the Environment, represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on the Environment, Babatunde Hunpe, in his welcome address, said the event was an opportunity to celebrate the environment and respond to environmental challenges posed by nature.
And according to the President, Board of Trustees (BoT) of NCF, Philip Asiodu, stressing the importance of a clean environment, said even “if the state succeeds in attracting tourists”, with a dirty environment, the visitors would not want to come back.
The governor continued: “The primary aim of our administration with regard to tourism is to create an enabling environment for the growth of the (tourism) sector and maximise the benefits of tourism for the development of our state, by influencing patterns of visitor flows and behaviour.
“The Cleaner Lagos initiative (CLI), which encapsulates the ongoing broad reforms in the solid waste management sector, and the newly-passed environmental laws are both geared towards the preservation of our environment in Lagos State in a holistic and sustainable manner, as well as the attainment of a cleaner, healthier and more livable state that transforms into a tourist haven.”
He expressed optimism that the Walk for Nature initiative would continue to encourage all sectors of the society to take small but incremental steps towards environmental sustainability and support the programme “which is one of the effective means to advocate the protection of the environment”.
In his vote of thanks, the Chairman, National Executive Council of NCF, Ede Dafinone, urged all to appreciate and conserve nature, otherwise coming generations would not have the opportunity to appreciate nature.
He thanked the state government for continued partnership with NCF to conserve nature.
Ambode, while launching the CLI in June, said the initiative would provide 40,000 jobs while ensuring health safety.
Expanding family planning access to women who need it, will help Nigeria to drastically reduce it’s citizen’s vulnerability to impacts of climate change as well as meet at least six goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including poverty eradication, zero hunger, gender equality and reduced inequalities.
Roger-Mark De Souza, Director of Population, Environmental Security and Resilience at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholarship. Photo credit: newsecuritybeat.org
Roger-Mark De Souza, Director of Population, Environmental Security and Resilience at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholarship, made the submission recently during a webinar for Nigerian journalists.
Speaking on a topic: “Challenges climate poses for Population Dynamics”, he noted that Nigeria alongside 33 others mostly in sub-Saharan Africa fall under what he referred as as “climate change hotspot” which is an area with high population growth, reducing agricultural potential and high vulnerability to impacts of climate change.
He explained that climate change has fueled inequalities, poverty, and water scarcity, among development indices, such that people with large families are unable to adequately cater for the needs of their children, thus even widening the inequality gap.
Another angle to the issue, he said, is that in event of climate change disasters such as insecurity, flooding, and others, resources are not sufficient to attend to the needs of victims where population is huge.
His words: “Population is an important wedge to stabilise emission. Population control if voluntarily carried out would reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts. If you want to have three, four, to five children, you want to provide for them and climate change impacts – weather pattern, agricultural productivity, water scarcity, conflict and natural disasters, is making all of these difficult. Ultimately, how can Nigeria policy makers recognise that while having a large population size means you are powerful, but at the same time strike a balance between powerful and the need of the community.
“When disaster or conflict occurs, that may be tied to natural resources and people are to be displaced. There are many of the communities particularly in United States. Vulnerable communities can be relocated.”
Nigeria’s population is estimated at 180 million, representing an increase by 40 million in 11 years, but about 70 percent of the citizens live bellow the poverty line.
De Souza, who observed that large number of women in sub-Saharan Africa are faced with the problem of unmet need for family planning, said high level policy support from government is needed to make the birth control commodities available to the people.
“Give more high level support to national reproductive health and family planning programmes to reduce the high unmet need for contraception and improve maternal and mortality.
“Note that large families are not currently Sustainable and to expand access to family planning in addition to other adaptation strategies, example food and water.”
He maintained that where women can properly control child bearing, they will be free to empower themselves through skill acquisition or education, earn income and improve their lives and those of their families, thus contributing to the realisation of the SDGs.
Earlier, Samantha Newport, Head of Communications, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Nigeria, said more aids were needed to provide essential services to properly cater for victims of Boko Haram activities at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.
According to her, the mouth-watering aid by the United Nations this year, has helped in no small measure to ensure regular supply of portable water, food, and medication, among other SDGs requirements to IDPs in the North East.
“The international system has rapidly scaled up and saved millions of lives. We reached two million people with food assistance every month and have provided hundreds of thousands of children with life-saving nutritional support.
“We have averted famine, but millions of people are still at risk if more international help is not forthcoming,” he said, warning that the humanitarian situation remained precarious.
According to statistics from the UN, the nine years of conflict in Nigeria has left about 17 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in the Lake Chad Basin, including 8.5 million in the North East.
The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has commended Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), for the conclusions reached at the recent National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, saying they are critical first steps towards harmonising economic planning and development among the various levels of government.
Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo
Making the commendation, the incoming President of the Chamber, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN), described the new approach by the Vice President as “a determined step to create synergy in national economic planning to provide a common sense of development direction for the country”.
He observed that “until now the National Economic Council (NEC) has not fully launched out to initiate and coordinate national economic direction for which it was established by the constitution.
“The ACCI commends the Presidency and particularly the Vice President for finally activating the constitutional authority of the NEC to initiate, integrate, and direct the focus of national economic development so that the various tiers of government will no longer be working at cross purposes, or in silos.”
Prince Kayode, who was cabinet minister in four capacities, explained that under the 1999 Constitution, the structure for effective political and economic governance of Nigeria is broadly divided.
The legal luminary noted that while the President as Chief Executive presides over the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Defence, Security and Police Councils and also chairs the National Council of States (NCS), on the other hand, the Constitution mandates the Vice President to chair the NEC with membership including all state governors, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and others.
“It is thus clear that the constitution intended the Vice President to superintend the economy, of course, under the general direction of Mr. President. So if the Vice President is enabled to fully implement the authority already given to his office by the constitution then as the focal authority for the management of the national economy along with the state governments, we can easily develop an integrated approach to economic planning and execution.
“The NEC is a potent and veritable platform to ensure a concerted approach towards national economic development, the surest way forward for economic growth and betterment.
“The next stage is now for the NEC to be fully institutionalised with a functioning secretariat through which inter – governmental economic planning can be coordinated with the National Planning Commission (also by law chaired by the Vice President), the state governments and other government agencies under the leadership of the Vice President,” the Organised Private Sector chief said.
“For the economic prosperity, growth, peace and progress of our country, the Vice President must work towards strengthening the National Economic Council so that joint efforts at planning can make a difference in Nigeria’s quest for greatness,” he concluded.
