DN Tyre and Rubber Plc (formerly Dunlop Nigeria Plc) has sued a commercial bank and a Lagos church before a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, over alleged forceful takeover of its property at Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja.
Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos
The claimant, among other reliefs, is praying the court to compel the defendants to pay it the sum of $14.6 million as damages and to restrain them from further entering, encroaching on or developing the land.
Joined as respondents in the suit are: The Registered Trustee of the Word of Power Global Ministries International (The Triumphant Christian Centre), Pastors Harriet Olubiyo and Akin Ayanwale.
Others are Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and Lagos Land Use and Allocation Committee.
They were accused of playing different roles in the alleged illegal acquisition of 12,500 square metres from the claimant’s 20.22 acres at plot 23, Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja.
According to the claimant, the bank allegedly set the machinery in motion for the alleged forceful acquisition of its property by calling up prematurely a loan facility and subsequently sold the land to the church.
However, the bank in its response absolved itself of any wrongdoing in the matter. In its consequential statement of defence, the bank stated that the claimant voluntarily offered the land to it, to liquidate its indebtedness.
Similarly, the church contended that, as at the time it took possession of the property, the claimant had neither legal or equitable interest to protect any longer in the property as it had voluntarily transferred it to the bank.
But the claimant, in its amended statement of claim, accused the bank of inducing it into the contract in which the purported transfer of property was affected on an “unsubstantiated excuse that it was a directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, is concerned about reported cases of diarrhoea related diseases in parts of the state, following the heavy rains and resultant flooding. In this call he made recently, the Commissioner advised the citizenry to observe strict infection control measures, be on the alert and notify government of suspected cases
Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Dr. Jide Idris
Following the heavy rainfall being experienced in the State recently and the aftermath flooding of some areas in the State, the Ministry has been receiving notifications on upsurge of acute diarrhoea diseases in some Local Government Areas. Specifically the upsurge has been reported in Somolu LGA (on 19th July 2017), Oshodi-Isolo LGA (on 20th July 2017) and Surulere LGA (on 21st July 2017).
Twenty-seven cases have been line-listed by the Epidemiolgy/Disease Surveillance Officers in the State as at today, 25th July, 2017. Regrettably, two deaths were recorded from the 27 cases.
Somolu LGA: Six cases were recorded in Somolu LGA, one of which died. Four were managed at Somolu General Hospital (GH), one was managed at a private hospital, another one was managed at Mainland Hospital, while one died at home. Only two of the cases are still on admission.
Oshodi-Isolo LGA: Two cases were recorded in Oshodi-Isolo LGA. One was managed at a private hospital and he is alive, while one died at home.
Surulere LGA: Fourteen cases were reported at Surulere LGA and managed at Randle General Hospital. No death was recorded.
Two cases were managed at Mainland Hospital, both are alive. Three cases were managed at Gbagada GH and all are alive. The cases managed at the two hospitals are currently being investigated.
Majority of the cases presented with the typical diarrhoea and vomiting associated with cholera.Ano-rectal swabs were collected from two cases from Somolu GH and taken to the Central Public Health Laboratory, Yaba. One of the two specimen yielded Vibrocholerae001 Ogawa serotype growth. The result came in just a few hours ago.
The main suspected source of infection is the contamination of water sources with faecal matter from faulty septic tanks and soak-away following the heavy rainfall. Samples of well water were collected and sent to the Lagos State Drug Quality Control Laboratory. We are still expecting the results of the analysis.
It has become necessary to remind the general public once again that acute diarrhoea disease with or without vomiting is caused by a bacteria disease transmitted through ingestion of food or water contaminated with infective faeces. Food or water contamination is usually due to poor sanitation and the source of contamination is usually other cholera cases when they are infective watery stool gets into food or drinking water supplies. Prevention can be achieved through basic water sanitation.
Provision of safe water and sanitation is critical in reducing the impact of cholera and other water-borne diseases. About 75% of people infected with V. cholera do not develop any symptoms, although the bacteria are present in their faeces for seven to 14 days after infection and are shed back into the environment, potentially infecting other people. Among people who develop symptoms, 80% have mild or moderate symptoms, while around 20% develop acute watery diarrhoea with severe dehydration. This can lead to death if untreated. The case fatality of Cholera ranges from less than 1% in treated cases to as high as 50% in severe cases.
The clinical manifestations of Cholera are nausea, profuse diarrhoea, vomiting (in early stages of illness), fever and leg cramp. Later presentations are dehydration, shock or coma.The risk of contracting cholera is increased mainly by poor water and environmental sanitation, including open defecation.
We have instituted measures towards quick containment and control of the outbreak. The Medical Directors of our General Hospitals have been placed on alert and fact sheets on Cholera forwarded to both public and private hospitals. Our community health workers, especially the Medical Officers of Health, Health Educators, Disease Surveillance/Notification Officers, Environmental Health Officers are in the community striving assiduously towards quick containment and control of spread of the disease.
Chlorination of water supply has been intensified, awareness campaign is on-going and cases are being promptly diagnosed and appropriately managed in our hospitals.
Other prevention and control measures instituted by the state government are:
Community sensitisation and awareness creation through airing of jingles on Cholera on electronic media and public address system on environmental sanitation, avoidance of open defecation and water sanitation.
Distribution of factsheets on Cholera to the Medical Directors of LASUTH & 26 General Hospitals in Lagos State and Medical Officers of Health in all the 57 LGAs/LCDAs for circulation to all health workers in their facilities.
Designation of isolation wards in all General Hospitals.
Intensification of Disease Surveillance and Notification activities in all LGAs.
The Lagos State Government hereby advisesthe general public to take the following precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease:
Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly.
Boil water before drinking, especially if you are not sure of the source.
Keep all cooking utensils, plates, cutleries, cups and other materials clean before and after use.
Cover foods and water sources.
Cook foods adequately.
Store foods in fridges.
Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly.
Dispose of waste materials appropriately.
There should be no open defecation
There should be no body contact, especially hand contact with faeces.
Ensure regular food handlers’ test
Provision of effective and hygienic toilet facility
Where cholera is suspected:
Prepare oral rehydration solution (10 level teaspoonful of sugar + 1 level teaspoon of salt in two 35cl bottles).
Keep giving food as soon as it can be tolerated.
Report any case of diarrhoea and vomiting to the nearest public or private health facilities.
Health workers, both in public and private health facilities in the state are hereby advised to observe strict infection control measures and be on the alert and notify the Ministry of Health of suspected cases.
I call on the general public to report any case of diarrhoea and vomiting to the nearest health facility.
The Lagos State Government is well prepared to sustain the good health being enjoyed by the citizenry and we have already taken appropriate measures towards containment of the outbreak. I wish to appeal to all to remain calm as there is no cause for panic.
21st Century Technologies Limited, a Nigerian information technology firm, has rejigged her operations to solve some of Nigeria’s toughest challenges, Mr. Wale Ajisebutu, the chief executive officer of the company, has said.
Wale Ajisebutu, CEO of 21st Century Technologies Limited
Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges include: power and energy infrastructure, food security and agriculture, wealth creation and employment, mass transportation, land reforms, security, and education.
Each of these problems has significant negative impacts on Nigeria’s economy.
But 21st Century Technologies Limited has developed a set of solutions to address and shape the present and future of Nigeria and Nigerians.
“Central to all these are tailor-made solutions to address these challenges; they are indigenous solutions with global standards. We believe that Nigerians deserve the very best. That is why the solutions are local to address local challenges,” Ajisebutu said.
ICT solutions remain the vital instrument that can be used by Nigerians to enhance service delivery strategy and bring about innovations for the development of the economy.
Ajisebutu added : “That is why the solutions have been developed by some of the world’s best brains taking into consideration the Nigerian environment, because we cannot copy what works in other climates and expect them to work perfectly here.”
According to him, 21st Century Technologies is building infrastructure platform including applications that will revolutionise ICT in Nigeria.
21st Century Technologies has been in the Vanguard of IT development with the introduction of various portals and applications.
With two decades of experience, it is said to be fully mobilised and well positioned to build converged, multi-service and efficiently managed communications networks in Africa.
It owns and operates what is beleived to bethe most extensive optical fibre cable metropolitan networks in Nigeria with speeds up to 10Gbps, high-speed Corporate Dedicated Internet Access and IRUs for a total of 10Gbps, fully redundant International subsea fibre capacity with two separate vendors.
It is currently the leading commercial Data Centre Service Provider in Nigeria, specialising in the commercial protection of off-site data, server hosting, indexing and records archiving in presumably state-of-the art facilities that meet strict measures of security, stability and fire prevention.
In an effort to sustain one of the remaining prominent rain forest regions in Nigeria, over 100 persons in Cross River State have been trained on ways to preserve the forest.
Forest Partnerships meetings go a long way in addressing issues of concern
But to ensure such high forest sustainability, the trainees have called for an all embracing empowerment programme to enable them build alternative means of livelihood and keep their claws off the forest.
They were trained in cash cropping, forest value and forest biodiversity during a workshop held recently in Owai Community in Akampka Local Government of Cross River State organised by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Wanel-aedon Development Association, and supported by Rainforest Rescue.
The trainees reasoned that why their forest is suffering from deforestation and forest degradation is because of lack of empowerment mostly on the part of the youths and women in the community.
While commending Wanel-aedon Development Association for an eye opening on the importance of the forest, they demanded that their youths and women should be trained on skill acquisition.
A member of the community, Elder Luke Agbor, said that rather than destroying the forest, if youths in the community were empowered, the level of restiveness would be reduced to the barest minimum.
Elder Agbor said, “Youths and women in this community only have the forest to sustain them and that is why we are destroying our forest, but if they are introduced to other means of making money, they won’t go near the forest. They need to be empowered through skill acquisitions and this would also reduce youth restiveness.”
Another member of the community, Mr. Sunday Esira, said some elders in the community have compromised severally in leasing the forest to outsiders who enrich themselves by cutting down trees or clearing virgin forest for farming.
He complained, “We have a law in our community that we should not lease out any part of the community land to strangers; little did we know that the people went through our chiefs, gave them little money and they end up compromising by leasing it out to outsiders who come to enrich themselves by cutting down our trees. When we saw them entering the forest with so many machines, our chiefs told us not to worry.”
Earlier in his training lecture, the Coordinator, Chief Edwin Ogar, advised the community members to practice agro-forestry through cash cropping.
Describing farming as the main driver of the forest, Chief Ogar said planting of cash crops is a means of sustainable agriculture and advised them on the need to maintain already open forest for farming than further destroying virgin part of the forest.
The sixth Kubuqi International Desert Forum was held from Saturday, July 29 to Sunday, July 30, 2017 in the Kubuqi Desert in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, northern China. Participating guests from other countries visited Kubuqi and witnessed the successful practices of Kubuqi’s desertification control.
A view of participants at the sixth Kubuqi International Desert Forum, Inner Mongolia, China
The forum, it was gathered, offered them better understanding of the Kubuqi Model. They believe that the Kubuqi Model will play an important role in desertification control in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. International conferences held in China, the organisers say, are becoming attractive platforms for sharing effective experiences in promoting global ecological development.
Effective systematic planning
The core pillars of the Kubuqi Model are government policy support, industrial investment, market-oriented participation of farmers and herdsmen and sustainable ecological improvement.
Former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said the systematic design of the Kubuqi Model was a unique success, and that its reproducibility was worthy of study.
Pradeep Monga, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), said many countries along the Belt and Road Initiative suffered desertification, and that good design plays a key role in helping China create the Kubuqi Model, a unique path of desertification control. It is admirable that governments at all levels, enterprises and individuals can join hands to solve environmental problems in a systematic manner, he said.
The Indonesian Economic and Industrial Committee Chairman Bachir gave Kubuqi a thumbs-up for the practice of raising sheep under photovoltaic panels. He said he appreciated the imagination of local businesses in ecosystem design and said he would like to share Kubuqi’s comprehensive desertification control experiences for the benefit of the international community.
A globally popular model
The Kubuqi Model has been praised by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) for desertification control and being an “eco-pioneer” in greening the world thanks to its success in ecological restoration. The Kubuqi Model has become a name card for China’s desertification control efforts. In order to promote and share the experience of combating desertification, the Kubuqi International Desert Forum was established in 2007 and has been held five times thanks to the support of government’s relevant departments, the UNEP and the UNCCD secretariat. More than 2,000 political dignitaries, experts and ecological entrepreneurs from around the world have participated in field trips, professional exchanges and experience sharing via forums and benefited greatly from them.
Prof. Atsushi Tsunekawa from Arid Land Research Centre, Tottori University in Japan, said it was urgent for countries along the Belt and Road Initiative to cooperate over ecological restoration. They need to conduct risk assessment for environmental and sustainable development, and the successful practices of the Kubuqi Model should be used as one reference, he said.
Hassan Shar, deputy director of the Cairo Desert Research Centre in Egypt, said that, as a researcher on deserts for over 40 years, he had seen many excellent cases of desertification control of other countries. He pointed out that the Kubuqi Model contained a wealth of desertification control technologies and experiences, and its desert eco-economy, industrial innovation, financial innovation and poverty alleviation experiences are worth learning from for countries along the Belt and Road Initiative which face similar challenges.
Kubuqi brings hope
Desert control is a worldwide problem, and the Kubuqi Desert is the first desert in the world to achieve large-scale successful control.
The success of Kubuqi Model relies mainly on increasing local people’s income in the greening efforts via the combination of ecology and industry, enterprise development and ecological management.
Prof. Victor Squire from the University of Adelaide, Australia, said the Kubuqi International Desert Forum had prompted people in all areas to think about desertification, and that the Kubuqi Model has made it impossible to find just one solution to the challenge by showing that land users are both part of the problem and part of the solution. The Kubuqi Model also provides a way for transformation, which gives us hope.
British bio-carbon engineering company founder Lauren Fletcher said that Kubuqi’s achievements in desertification control was very impressive and the delegation from his company felt excited for participating in the forum. He also said that drones tree planting technologies need to be further developed so as to contribute to combating desertification.
Don Rivers, chief technology officer of the United States Silver Spring Company, said that the Kubuqi model had a comprehensive influence, bringing large-scale changes in human life and making energy use sustainable, which is very thought-provoking. The efforts of local governments and enterprises in Kubuqi will bring lasting changes.
A Chinese solution to ecological restoration
After the forum ended, experts believed the forum let participants see that Kubuqi’s concept of green development and experiences of sustainable development can offer fundamental solutions to help peaceful development of the desertification regions involving over two billion people globally.
Guests are said to be looking forward to the 13th General Assembly of the Contracting Parties to the UNCCD, which will be held in Ordos and might bring together more unique solutions and richer consensus. The ecological development in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative need both Chinese solutions as well as China being one sharing platform, stated the organisers.
Dangote Cement, Africa’s largest cement producer, has announced its unaudited results for the six months ended Sunday, June 30, 2017, posting a 12.6 percent increase in sales volume across Africa.
Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement, Onne van der Weijde
Financials released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange indicated that the increase in sales volume showed a growing capture of Pan-African market as Dangote Cement appears to gain grounds.
Revenues from operations in Nigeria increased by 34.5 percent to ₦291.4 billion while Pan-Africa revenue increased by 63.7 percent to ₦124.4 billion from ₦76.0 billion mainly as a result of increased volumes and foreign exchange gains when converting the sales from country local currency into Naira.
Analysis of the half year result revealed that sales volumes of African operations increased by 12.6 percent to 4.7 million metric tons with Sierra Leone making a 53 kt maiden contribution.
Record of sales from its operations scattered around the African continent revealed that a total of 1.1million metric tons of cement was sold in Ethiopia, almost 0.7 million metric tons sold in Senegal, 0.6 million metric tons sold in Cameroon, and 0.5 million tons in Ghana.
Also, 0.4 million metric tons of cement was sold in Tanzania and 0.3 million tons in Zambia. Sales volumes from Nigerian operations fell from 8.8Mt to 6.9Mt, occasioned by the onset of rains which stalled many construction projects.
Reflecting on the half year results, Dangote Cement’s Chief Executive Officer, Onne van der Weijde, expressed satisfaction that the company’s revenues have continued to grow despite low sales from the Nigerian operations noting that the revenues grew on the strength of sales from other African operations.
He said: “Our revenues have continued to grow despite the lower volumes seen in Nigeria, especially because of the recent heavy rains. Our margins have improved significantly, helped by improved efficiencies and a much better fuel mix in Nigeria.
“We are using much more gas and increasing our use of coal mined in Nigeria, thus reducing our need for foreign currency and supporting Nigerian jobs.
“Our Pan-African operations are growing well and increasing market share. We saw our first sales from Sierra Leone in the first quarter and our new plant in the Republic of Congo will be in production at the end of July, further increasing our footprint across Africa and strengthening our position as its leading manufacturer of cement.”
The company reports that it estimated that Nigeria’s total market for cement was 10.2 million tonnes (Mt), 23.2% lower than the estimated 13.3Mt sold in Nigeria in the first half of 2016. Of total market sales in the first half of 2017, just 0.1Mt was imported.
“As a result of the slower market, our Nigeria operation sold nearly 6.9Mt of cement, down 21.8% on the 8.8Mt sold in the first half of 2016. We estimate our market share to have been about 64.5% during the first six months of 2017.
“Dangote Cement is a high-growth, low-debt, internationally diversified company that has just paid a dividend amounting to nearly 75% of 2016 net profits to shareholders.
“The recent publication of our credit ratings highlights the financial strength we have achieved through our unwavering focus on the profitable expansion of the business, underpinned by our belief that we must remain prudent in our financial management,” Mr. Weijde stated.
The Netherlands on Friday, July 28, 2017 deposited its instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Photo credit: cnn.com
The northwestern European nation thus becomes the 156th country to endorse the global treaty, after Venezuela and Serbia, which ratified the climate accord respectively on Friday, July 21 and Tuesday, July 25, 2017.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Netherlands’ ratification of the pact will enter into force in a month’s time on Sunday, August 27, 2017.
Previously, the Republic of Malawi on Thursday, June 29, 2017 ratified the pact, ahead of Egypt and Togo, which ratified the climate accord respectively on Thursday, June 29 and Wednesday, June 28 2017.
The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention (UNFCCC) and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.
The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.
Several months after stakeholders gathered in Keffi, Nasarawa State to implement an enabling process towards the preparation of the Third National Communication (TNC), the experts convened once again last week in Kaduna to make progress on the realisation of the climate change-related proposal.
Director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr. Yerima Peter Tarfa (right), with CEO, Triple ‘E’ Systems Associates Limited, Prof Felix Dayo (left), and former Director, Department of Climate Change, Dr Victor Fodeke (middle), during the Stakeholders’ Follow-up Workshop Towards Preparation of Nigeria’s Third National Communication (TNC) to the UNFCCC, in Kaduna
For two days (from Wednesday, July 26 to Thursday, July 27, 2017) in the Kaduna State capital city, they brainstormed on ways to establish and institutionalise thematic working groups that will serve as the hub for the TNC data sources and possibly map out other areas for data collection. The occasion was the Stakeholders’ Follow-up Workshop Towards Preparation of Nigeria’s TNC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
A National Communication is an update prepared periodically and submitted by countries who are Parties to the UNFCCC on efforts they undertake towards combating climate change. This is to meet the ultimate objective of the Convention, which is “stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”.
Nigeria, which is presently preparing the third in the series of National Communications, at the Kaduna forum developed category and sub-category templates for activity data collection. Particpants also identified standby institutions that will regularly assist the Department of Climate Change of the Federal Ministry of Environment with information and the data flow.
Apart from increasing the understanding the content of the TNC, the forum basically served as a prelude to setting up the nation’s measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) system.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry Of Environment, Dr Shehu Ahmed, solicited contributions in order to set up a strong baseline of the TNC and come up with concrete recommendations that will help the country to easily access data and address climate change challenges it faces.
He said: “The climate change data set and developing the capacities of national and regional institutions and actors to design and implement policies and programmes is key to sustainable natural resources management.”
Dr Ahmed thanked the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for its support and partnership, saying that, in compliance to Nigeria’s obligation as a Party to the UNFCCC, the First and Second National Communications were prepared and submitted to the UN body in November 2003 and June 2014 respectively.
He described the preparation of National Communications is critical, pointing out that it provides an opportunity to document the current climate change situation impacting the country, as well as the projected impact of climate change in the future.
“Without appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures, climate change could have an extremely harmful impact on the sustainability of the development process. As we are all aware, developing countries, including Nigeria, are extremely vulnerable to climate change and the Government of Nigeria regards the challenge of climate change as inimical to its national sustainable development; and, therefore, must be squarely addressed,” the Perm Sec noted.
The Director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr. Yerima Peter Tarfa, disclosed that three Thematic Groups of local experts from various sectors were identified and engaged to assist in sourcing data as it relates to the different components of the TNC report, which he listed to include: (1) the National Circumstances and Crosscutting issues; (2) the Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Mitigation Actions; and (3) Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change.
“Preparation of NCs requires a fairly lengthy and interconnected series of tasks and fundamental decisions. Hence we realised that the inventory process should be planned, operated and managed well to ensure optimal quality and efficiency, given available resources. This is especially important as we produce the TNC and subsequent national inventories,” he said.
On the consequences of the effect of climate change, he submitted: “You are all aware that climate change has emerged as one of the most important issues facing the global community in the 21st century. It is expected to pose a serious threat to development and livelihoods, and the effects will be felt most strongly by the poorest people in the least developed nations of the world, who rely on the natural environment for their livelihood.”
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and civil society organisations (CSOs) have advocated for 0.5 per cent of the national budget be dedicated to the climate change fund.
Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki
The groups stated this recently in Abuja while making their submission at the public hearing on the Climate Change Bill at the National Assembly.
The bill is aimed at establishing a framework to ensure that effect of climate change is nipped in the bud through adequate policy formulation and implementation.
This is even as the National Assembly has expressed its support for the Climate Change Bill, noting that it is aimed at making the environment safe.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, stated this while declaring open the public hearing on the Climate Change Bill at the National Assembly Complex.
Represented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Climate Change and Ecology, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Saraki noted that the initiation and implementation of the bill would make Nigeria and the environment a better place to live in.
He, therefore, called on experts and stakeholders in the environment sector to support the bill and make input for the good of Nigeria.
Speaking while making the presentation on behalf of the Labour and CSOs, the head of Climate Change Desk of the NLC, Hauwa Mustapha, reiterated that both the labour movement and CSOs are in full support of the bill.
According to her, the initiation of the bill was a clear demonstration of the seriousness of the government to nip in the bud the devastating effects of climate change.
Hauwa, however, said: “We are recommending that not less than 0.5 of the annual budget should be dedicated to the Climate Change Fund.
“This amount should be allowed to stand as a climate change fund apart from other annual contributions from ecological fund, green bond, individuals and corporate organisations.
“There should be specific part of private organisation whose mode of production has a link with climate change discourse. We should also recognise that there will be grants and other donors from within and outside the country.”
Speaking further, she said: “We are concerned about the status of the Council vis-a-vis the agency.
“We believe that in some point that the Council has been given too much power against the Agency; for instance, in the area of funds allocation. We believe that the funds for climate change should be domiciled in the Agency and not the Council. This is because by the definition of the Council, it does not have a statutory office as such; they are a pool from different MDAs. Therefore, the issue of funds should be resident within the Agency which will be an organised setting rather than the Council.
“We believe that there seems to be some existing departments or agencies that are doing some things in relation to climate change. For example, we are recommending that the current Climate Change Department should be expanded and properly funded to take over the function of the agency.
“In the same manner, we are also concerned in the area of exclusion; we suggest that gender should be mainstreamed through the process of implementation of either the council or the agency. The issue of gender should recognised and be properly engaged.
“In terms of funds, there is a mention in the draft bill about the budgetary allocation, but there was no specific mention of what that budgetary allocation should be.”
She also noted that the bill failed to recognise the need for job transition from the current status to the green economy.
“We are talking about movement from carbon emission production sites to green jobs and in this process, certainly, people are going to lose their jobs and at the same time new jobs are going to be created. Our concern is that this bill has not recognised the need for job transition from the current status to a green economy,” she reiterated.
Speaking earlier, the chairman, Senate Committee on Climate Change, Samuel Onuigbo, explained that harmful events such as gas flaring, bush burning, drought, desertification, floods, famine, damage to critical infrastructure significantly destroy the environment and ultimately affect the climate and threaten development across all sectors of the national economy.
He implored Nigerians to “remain steadfast and committed to the common drive to bequeath a user-friendly environment to the Nigerian populace especially on climate change-related matters”.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Serbia recently ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, bringing the total number of ratifications so far to 155.
Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela
While Venezuela deposited its instrument of ratification on Friday, July 21, 2017, Serbia did likewise several days later on Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Respectively, they are 154th and 155th Parties to the global climate treaty.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Venezuela’s ratification of the pact will enter into force in a month’s time on Sunday, August 20, 2017, while that of Serbia becomes effective on Thursday, August 24, 2017.
Hitherto, the Republic of Malawi on Thursday, June 29, 2017 ratified the pact, ahead of Egypt and Togo, which ratified the climate accord respectively on Thursday, June 29 and Wednesday, June 28 2017.
The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention (UNFCCC) and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.
The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.
