Friends of the Earth Africa (FoEA) groups have decried the impact of extractive companies’ operations across the African region, cautioning that if communities are not adequately empowered to advocate for and defend their rights, more of them will be displaced leading to conflicts.
Allan Kalangi. Photo credit: ug.linkedin.com
The groups made the call recently during a solidarity mission to oil host communities in Bunyoro sub-region (Albertine Region, Uganda) currently grappling with the challenges associated with the developing oil industry in the country. Participants in the solidarity visit were Friends of the Earth International, FoEA member groups from Uganda, Nigeria, Togo, Tanzania, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Tunisia and South Africa. Community representatives in Uganda affected by unsustainable development projects were also part of the team. The FoEA team was particularly concerned that residents of Kabale parish who have been asked by government to vacate the place to pave way for the oil refinery have received inadequate or no compensation at all for their lost properties.
Allan Kalangi of Friends of the Earth Uganda who conducted the team around the so called oil region of Uganda said, “The Government needs to open its eyes to the suffering of the communities affected by oil extraction related activities. Any development that does not put people first is undesirable and unsustainable.”
Affected communities in Kyapalooni and the whole of Kabale parish in Buseruka sub-county who have not received their compensation packages are experiencing severe food shortages after they were asked by the government not to grow any crops while the sanitation situation within the communities is appalling. The education of children in the affected communities hangs in balance and Kyapalooni Primary School has now been turned into a police post even before the government completes settling the disputes of the affected communities. Away from the refinery area, other communities in the region such as that of Kaiso-Tonya in the Hoima district have had their traditional fishing activities significantly affected by the drilling of oil wells in Lake Albert.
Stemming from the visit, the groups observed that the increasing extractive activities on the continent have spurred land grabs and displacement of local communities even as they noted that these developments have contributed largely to the food sovereignty challenges on the continent.
Godwin Ojo, executive director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said: “What is happening in Uganda is a mirrors similar occurrences in communities of the Niger Delta here in Nigeria where the oil industry has spurred a five-decade long despoliation of the environment. Our communities must resist this and governments on the continent must take action to halt this vicious cycle.”
The groups were of the view that extractive companies, through their activities threaten and drown community voices in their propaganda rhetoric in concert with governments across the continent in the push for profits. Some of the elements of the propaganda rhetoric are misinformation and deliberately keeping communities in the dark about projects that may have far-reaching implications on their livelihoods and well-being. The situation has been made worse by the fact that the profit oriented companies and the government which is supposed to be on the side of the people all seem to speak the same language.
The members stressed that there was a need for richer understanding and definition of the concept of “Sustainability” which FoEA believes should be built upon in the needs and experiences of people at the grassroots level, this being at variance with the way corporates and governments in Africa perceive it to be.
The FoEA groups urged that the narrative of Keeping the Oil in the Soil and investment in sustainable alternatives be vigorously promoted in all spaces – government, communities, in the media. It was also recommended that communities have ongoing access to information relevant for their efforts to advocate for the respect and recognition of their human rights.
Nigeria last week showed serious intent towards a memorable participation at this year’s climate change summit in Paris as major stakeholders met in Abuja to review the outcome of the previous conference held last December in Lima, Peru and chart a new course for the future.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Mrs Fatima Nana Mede, flanked by (from left): Prof Francis Adesina of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Prince Lekan Fadina of the Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management & Environment (CISME); Dr Samuel Adejuwon, Director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment; and Mr Kassim Bayero, Director, Department of Pollution Control & Environmental Health, Federal Ministry of Environment
Participants brainstormed for three days at a Post Lima Workshop and Meeting of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Climate Change in preparation for the Subsidiary Bodies to the UNFCCC and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2.9), which will convene in June 2015 in Bonn, Germany and up to Paris. The forum was organised by the Department of Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The workshop was part of a series of national meetings planned to brief stakeholders on the outcomes of Lima, status of negotiations as well as reviewing Nigeria’s national positions on the negotiation issues. The workshop also examined opportunities in the context of Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as regards sourcing the funds.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Nana Fatima Mede, opined that climate change is having disproportionate negative impacts on the developing countries, including urban and rural communities in Nigeria. According to her, climate change has long gone beyond a mere environmental issue but is now scientifically proven and understood to be political, economic as well as social issue.
“Climate change is disrupting national economies, militating against countries development efforts with the threat of reversing even successful efforts that have been achieved over the years.
“There is however a growing recognition that affordable, scalable solutions are available now that will enable us, as a developing nation, to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient societies and economies thereby turning the challenges of climate change into opportunities,” she said.
Mede noted that the COP 21 came up with Lima Call for Action by agreeing to a text, which will essential form the core of the anticipated climate change agreement in Paris later in the year while the Ad Hoc Working Group on Durban Platform (ADP) meeting in Geneva elaborated on some of the issues in the adopted text for clearer understanding during implementation.
She said: “It is imperative that Nigeria prepares adequately for the meetings of the Subsidiary Bodies to the UNFCCC and the ADP sessions scheduled to hold early in June 2015. The session has been convened by the Climate Change Secretariat to continue negotiation and clarification of some issues yet to be resolved in anticipation for having another legally binding instrument in Paris 2015.”
The Permanent Secretary disclosed that Nigeria as Party to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) has the opportunity to explore climate funding for the implementation of its climate change programmes and projects through adaptation fund, and Green Climate Fund (GCF).
“The GCF promotes low-emission and climate resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries, particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change of which Nigeria is one.”
She added that approval has been obtained for the preparation of the nation’s Third National Communications (TNC).
“The TNC is expected to critically examine the components on the initial draft, identify sections where expert could elaborate upon and share lessons learnt from the second National Communication. The outcome of the TNC will afford the country the opportunity to show to the world what is, and how Nigeria is addressing the challenges of climate change.”
Director, Department of Climate Change, Dr Samuel Adejuwon, who spoke on the status of negotiation, stated that, in Lima, delegates adopted the Lima Call for Climate Action, even as parties to the UNFCCC agreed on loose arrangements for bringing forward their intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) to the Paris agreement.
He said: “Developed countries wanted ‘nationally determined commitments’ to focus only on mitigation, while many developing countries pushed to include adaptation and finance too. To help clarify and assess parties’ contributions, the decision identifies certain information that parties might provide, as appropriate, including ‘quantifiable information’ on an INDC’s timeframe, scope and coverage, and the assumptions and methodologies used in estimating and accounting for emissions.”
Adejuwon stated that COP 20 featured the first-ever “multilateral assessment” of mitigation efforts by developed countries, part of a new set of transparency procedures established under the 2010 Cancún Agreements. “Under a parallel process called international consultations and analysis (ICA), developing countries are now submitting their biennial reports.”
On finance, he disclosed that developing countries calls for interim targets toward the $100 billion a year to be mobilised by 2020.
“The COP instead urged developed countries to “enhance the available quantitative and qualitative elements of a pathway, placing greater emphasis on transparency and predictability of financial flows,” he noted.
Under Loss and Damage, he explained that the COP decided on the composition of the mechanism’s executive committee and adopted an initial two-year work plan outlining a detailed set of activities to better understand unavoidable climate impacts and to identify and promote risk management strategies and other responses.
In his presentation on ADP Geneva Text, Deputy Director, Department of Climate Change, Peter Tarfa, explained that ADP 2.8 held in Geneva, Switzerland, in February 2015, fulfilled the mandate given to it by COP20 under the “Lima Call for Climate Action” decision.
“Parties proposed that developed country Parties shall commit to undertake Absolute Emission Reduction Targets (AERTs) during the period 2021-2030, in accordance with Article 4, paragraph 2 of the Convention. Developing country Parties was proposed to undertake Diversified Enhanced Mitigation Act on (DEMAs) during the period 2021-2030.
“The African Group proposed a global goal for adaptation with the purpose of enhancing the implementation of adaptation actions in developing countries. A platform would be established for developing countries to communicate their efforts towards achieving the global goal on adaptation, as well as for the exchange and sharing of best practices of all countries on adaptation in the formulation and implementation of adaptation measures,” he said.
The Government of Nigeria regards the challenge of climate change as inimical to its national sustainable development that must be squarely addressed. Thus, various national efforts have been put in place at all levels of governance to promote climate resilient environmental sustainability in the context of national development. However, Nigeria is yet to have a focused approach to developing and implementing a national climate change programme. Rather, the country has been benefiting from a number of mainly donor-supported climate change programmes and initiatives, particularly in the area of adaptation, in the last 10 years.
Prof. Emmanuel Olukayode Oladipo
Most of these initiatives focus more on adaptation and the process of responding to climate change through programmes and initiatives that are largely donor driven. In general, the national capacity to implement a structured approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation remains weak and uncoordinated. This has made it difficult to assess the impact of the implementation of these programmes and initiatives.
In the area of climate mainstreaming for sustainable development, although the country has a National Climate Change Policy and Response Strategy that was approved by the Federal Executive Council in September 2012, there is yet to be a good implementation strategy and political commitment towards realizing the goals and objectives of the policy/strategy remains rather lukewarm.
The National Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action for Climate Change in Nigeria (NASPA-CCN) that has been adjudged as one of the best national documents for adaptation best practices remains nothing but a document with the Department of Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environment. Government also approved a National Agricultural Resilience Framework in 2014 with the overall goal of improving resilience and adaptation to climate variability and change in the agricultural sector, including planning and implementation, systems for resource mobilisation, and effective project monitoring and evaluation.
The major challenge remains that there are yet to be clear and well-formulated implementation frameworks and mechanisms for these policies/action plans/frameworks. Moreover, a critical evaluation of other climate change-related policy documents indicate that issues of climate change are not properly addressed by most of them. There are no sectoral plans with climate change bias. The National Planning Commission is just in the process of designing and implementing a training programme for planners at the Federal and State levels on mainstreaming climate change for sustainable development in Nigeria.
The national institutional landscape for climate change governance in the country appears fragile and unprepared to deal with the increased risks posed by unavoidable climate change impacts. The Department of Climate Change (DCC), which was established in December 2011 in the Federal Ministry of Environment, drives the national response to climate change at the national and international levels. The DCC is the country’s Designated National Authority (DNA) for the Clean Development Mechanism, and works with a number of Ministries through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change. Its capacity, however, remains limited, as demonstrated by its inability to submit the Second National Communication till January 2014, eleven years after submitting the first one in 2003.
In 2010, the National Assembly passed a bill to create a national Climate Change Commission, which, once established, will likely facilitate coordination and support for the multi-level and cross-sectoral climate change responses response, but the President is yet to assent to the bill. Unfortunately, there is still no timeframe as to the time that the President will assent to the CCC Bill for the Commission to take off. Such a Commission would have provided a good platform for proper climate change mainstreaming into the country’s development process, but its absence is another indication of the very limited effort being made to make climate change a priority development challenge in Nigeria. In general, the climate change governance in Nigeria needs to be further strengthened to ensure an effective mainstreaming of the climate change challenge into the national development process and action. Without good political will, appropriate legislation and strong institution, Nigeria will remain unprepared to deal with increased climate change risk as witness during the 2012 floods.
The multi-stakeholder understanding and approach that is necessary to successfully guide the process of identifying and implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation responses is largely absent. While there are many interested climate change actors (government, non-governmental and external actors, including private sector operators, research community, civil society, media and donors, among others) there is very limited interactions among them.
In general, Nigeria’s current approach to addressing the challenge of climate change in its development process has been hitherto very ad hoc. The country is yet to have national climate change programme that will address various aspects of climate change. While a number of initiatives are operating on different scales, and particularly in the area of adaptation, their implementations do not portend a good approach to a coordinated response that will have significant impact on the country. The national effort to mainstream climate change remains at best very minimal and that the country still needs to do a lot to make climate change a well integrated national issue. A good entry point for appropriate climate change mainstreaming should have been to take the implementaion plan for the National Climate Change Policy and develop a programme that will synergizes the series of proposed initiatives and activities into a comprehensive and holistic climate change programme for Nigeria, including mobilizing for a substantive financing.
Explicit financing for climate change issues and concerns from national resources remains very limited, with a general disposition towards excessive donor dependency. The result is a series of ad hoc interventions and initiatives here and there that are difficult to measure their impact on national response to climate change.
Nigeria is yet to fully undertake detailed assessment of cost estimates for national adaptation actions and mitigation programmes. However, available information from various sources in the country indicates that it will be very costly for Nigeria to adapt well to anticipatory climate changes. The incremental cost in the agriculture and water resources is estimated at US$3.06 billion per year by 2020 and about US$5.50 billion in 2050. For the water sector alone, more than US$1 billion was estimated to be a minimum requirement to enable the country adapt properly in terms of adapting to small dams alone so as to ensure the sustainable development of the country’s water resources under a changing climate. The health sector will require about US$3.06 billion in 2020. This is expected to increase to US$5.50 billion by the year 2050. Because of the poor transport conditions, the incremental cost for its adaptation will be high. The transport sector will require about US$5.33 billion and US$9.69 billion per year by 2020 and 2050 respectively.
A recent African Development Bank report estimates that the African continent needs between USD20-30billion per year over the next ten years to address climate change and between USD9-12billion annually to put Africa on the path to low-carbon growth (AfDB, 2012). In the past, however, Africa has received the lowest amounts for climate change action compared to other regions. Between 2009 and 2010, out of the approved USD2.9 billion for the continent, only USD435million was actually delivered. For Nigeria, the World Bank Economics of Adaptation estimates that total adaptation costs maybe up to USD1.2 billion per annum over a period of 2010-2015 (World Bank 2010), a third of this amount relates to the adaptation of infrastructure. It is worthy to note that properties worth more than N2.6 trillion (about US$16.6 billion) were damaged or lost to the floods that affected most parts of Nigeria in 2012. With a high probability of short recurrence intervals of such extreme weather events, Nigeria will need a lot of resources to overcome the challenge of climate change.
All in all, the above analysis indicates that effective mitigation and adaptation measures for climate change risk management and control in Nigeria requires that an appropriate and inclusive financial architecture is in place. This calls for an improved national budgetary commitment to climate change and an enhanced national capacity to enable Nigeria tap into a number of climate change funds that are available at the global level, including (i) Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF); (ii) Strategic Priority on Adaptation (SPA) under the GEF Trust Fund; and (iii) Adaptation Fund. In addition, there are Climate Investment Funds (CIF), including the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) managed by the World Bank.
There is also the new Green Climate Fund sited in Songdo Incheon City, South Korea and managed by a Board. Access to most of these funds is constrained by the complexity of project design and implementation, and the need to comply with overwhelming administrative and financial management requirements. Because of weak national technical capacity, Nigeria has not been able to benefit significantly from these financial mechanisms.
Overall, climate change needs to be brought into the mainstream of national development policies, plans, strategies and programmes in Nigeria to make the country’s development more resilient to its impacts. Many climate change actors, including civil society organizations, academia, private sector operators, media and development partners need to be brought on board in a coordinated manner to enable the country harness the opportunities provided in effective mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change for climate resilient sustainable national development.
(People who are interested in additional technical details can read: (a) FMEnv (Federal Ministry of Environment), 2010: National Environmental, Economic and Development Study (NEEDS) for Climate Change in Nigeria. National Report Submitted to the UNFCCC.; (b) Oladipo, E. O. 2013a: Assessment of the Adaptation of the Agricultural Sector to Climate Change and Variability in Nigeria. Technical Report Submitted to CILLS; and (c) Oladipo, E. O. 2013b: An Inventory of Projects and Programmes in the Field of Climate Change, Stakeholders Involved and Level of Climate Change Mainstreaming in National Strategies and Policies in Nigeria. Technical Report Submitted to CILLS).
By Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo (Climate Change Specialist and Adjunct Professor, Department of Geography, University of Lagos, Nigeria. Email: olukayode_oladipo@yahoo.co.uk)
At least 28 children under the age of five have been killed by drinking stream water contaminated with lead in Nigeria’s Niger State, Health Minister Fidelis Nwankwo has said. Officials have however blamed the contamination on illegal mining.
Villagers “were mining for gold, and (the water was made toxic) by its impurities,” said Mohammed Usman, a government health official in Niger State on Friday.
Nwankwo said on Thursday that 28 out of 65 children who became ill from the contamination had died, according to reports up to May 12 from villages in the Rafi Local Government Area (LGA) that borders Kaduna State. Many cows, goats and chickens and other livestock were killed too.
“The villagers initially ascribed the infections to witchcraft, but it must have being going for years,” Usman said, adding reports suggested the deaths were in April.
“The affected children were found to have high serum lead levels …17 to 22 times higher than the acceptable limits as established by the World Health Organisation (WHO),” said Nwankwo, the Minister of State for Health.
Large scale lead poisoning from illegal mining has been reported before in Nigeria, notably in Zamfara State in 2010 when at least 163 people died out of 355 who became sick from the toxins.
On the 13th October 2014, the Federal University of Technology in Minna, Niger State graduated its first set of students under the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) Management programme. The institution operates the Master of Technology in Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (CC&ALU) course.
One of the graduating students, Miss Sophie Agnes Kima (left), receiving an award from the Registrar of the university, Mrs Victoria Kolo
Director of the FUT Minna Masters Programme on CC&ALU at the WASCAL centre, Dr Appollonia Okhimamhe, said that this makes the Ivory Tower, led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof Musbau Akanji, to be the first host university to graduate WASCAL students on schedule – within a period of 24 months.
The students are: Ochuware Akpeokhai, Andrew Adenle (both Nigeria), Enoch Bessah, Emmanuel Nyadzi (both Ghana), Ebrimma Sonko (The Gambi), Sophie Kima (Burkina Faso), Pelagie Dah-Gbate (Benin), Bello Garba (Niger), Karamoko Sango (Mali) and Akamah Abel (Togo).
She added that the graduation ceremony also featured the commissioning of the WASCAL CC&ALU building, located in the Gidan Kwano Campus of the university, where Prof Akanji and his team of Principal Officers received guests such as the Minister of Environment (represented by Dr Samuel Adejuwon, Director of Climate Change Department in the Ministry), German Ambassador to Nigeria (represented by Mr Dirk Schulz); Chairman of WASCAL Board (Prof Haidara), WASCAL Board member representing Nigeria and Second Vice Chairman (Prof Adeniyi Osuntogun), as well as Executive Director and his team (Dr Sedogo, Ouattara and Mr Ofori).
Okhimamhe, an Associate Professor of Geography (Remote and Sensing Applications), listed other guest at the event to include: Vice Chancellor of FUTA represented by Prof Bayo Omotosho (who heads the WASCAL Centre at the Federal University of Technology, Akure); representatives of our two German Partner Universities (Dr Michael Thiel and Mrs Mini Boutros, who is also the GRP/MRP Coordinator of WASCAL); members of WASCAL CC&ALU International Regional Advisory Board comprising Prof Bayo Omotosho, Dr Eric Forkuo (representing KNUST), Dr Georges Abbey (representing University of Lome), Mrs Christine K (from HBF representing the Civil Society) and Dr Adejuwon (representing Focal Ministry); members of FUT Minna Advisory Board led by the Dean of Postgraduate School, Prof (Mrs) Stella Zubairu; as well as staff and students of WASCAL.
“The graduating students also showcased their research in a poster exhibition that was declared open after the WASCAL CC&ALU building was commissioned,” disclosed Okhimamhe, even as she poured encomiums on the German Ministry of Education and Research “for approving approximately 1.05 million Euros as students scholarship, tuition fees, research grant, honorarium to participating faculty, as well as for the construction of CC&ALU building, provision of equipment, books, furniture, 12-seater executive bus, among others.”
Her words: “We also thank the Federal Ministry of Environment for the recognition granted to the university by selecting us to represent Nigeria; and for signing the Cooperation Agreement that made FUT Minna a legitimate member of WASCAL Network of Universities.”
She recalled that, for over two years (from January 2010 to February 2012), FUT Minna participated in the preparatory activities of WASCAL, an initiative on climate change capacity building, which is a collaboration involving 11 countries – Germany (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) and 10 West African countries namely: Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Cote d’ Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo, The Gambia and Senegal.
The programme covers three major activities: Graduate Research Programme, Competence Centre and Research Component, and Nigeria is involved fully in the Graduate Research Programme being the only country with both a Doctoral and Master degree programmes.
WASCAL is overseen by a Council of Ministers chaired by Ghana with the involvement of ECOWAS as observer, a Governing Board and an Executive Director, whose office is based in the headquarters in Accra, Ghana. The implementation of the programme is guided by a Cooperation Agreement and Constitution signed by the 10 ministers of the focal ministries in charge of either Environment (as the case may be in Nigeria and Ghana) or Higher Education and Research (in most of the Francophone countries) in a ceremony organised in February 2012 in Lome, Togo.
“It is a novel approach to capacity building in Africa and the host universities,” stressed Okhimamhe.
On Monday, March 23, 2015 the Federal University of Akure in Ondo State passed out its first set of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) students under the programme.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has welcomed the release ofCanada’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), committing the North American nation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Ottawa, Canada. Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org
A key element in meeting this target will be new rules to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by addressing leaking and flaring, which contributes significantly to the industry’s emissions. There will also be new rules for natural gas electricity sector emissions, and new standards to limit emissions from chemical and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing.
These measures will be supplemented by previously announced federal regulations to reduce emissions from light and heavy-duty vehicles, ban certain high-emitting HFCs and introduce new emission standards for coal-fired power plants. Canada’s INDC also highlights the potential to use international mechanisms to offset domestic emissions, which is an important shift from previous positions.
The announcement by Ottawa follows thecommitment made by Ontarioon May 14, 2015 to reduce its emissions by 37 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030. In the lead-up to negotiating a new international agreement in Paris later this year, the role of provinces and territories, as well as cities and companies, is more important than ever in moving to cleaner, low-carbon energy solutions.
Canada’s new 2030 target amounts to 14.5 percent below 1990 levels. The federal Emissions Inventory, released last month, confirmed that Canada will not meet its current 2020 emission reduction target. IISD’s Senior Energy Researcher, Philip Gass, said: “We are looking forward to details on the new rules and policies, and clarity on the timeline for implementation, both of which will be critical to meeting this new target.”
State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ethiopia, Ato Sileshi Getahum, has urged Malawian delegates and those from other African countries to come up with good recommendations to enrich the continent’s position on climate change ahead of the next Conference of the Parties (COP) in the next few months.
Paris, France will host the 2015 Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC. Photo credit: afs.org
Getahum made this submission recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during a three-day meeting aimed at launching the first-ever climate smart agriculture (CSA) alliance forum organised by the NEPAD Agency and the African Union Commission.
The forum is part of an integral part of Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in relation to attaining the productivity, food security, prosperity and resilience goals as said in the 2015-25 Results Framework endorsed at the Malabo African Union (AU) Summit held in June last year in Equatorial Guinea.
Getahun also urged Africa to continue to pressurise industrialised countries to step up their efforts and save humanity from imminent catastrophe that climate change and variability are leading to.
“As we learnt from the recently published IPCC reports, no matter how well some of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol performed, to this day, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have not stopped rising. Parties therefore must make substantial progress this time in COP21,” she said.
Getahun said this, therefore, needs a bold 2015 agreement which should include necessary means of implementation, capacity strengthening, appropriate technology transfer and the finance required to manage ecosystems to ensure food and nutrition security, sustainable development and poverty alleviation.
“With agriculture the mainstay of Africa’s economy, it is important that we invest in and practice climate smart agriculture. We need to show the rest of the world our adaptive capacity and remain positive that more development partners will come on board to help Africa upscale all the various CSA investments on the continent,” she explained.
But, in her remarks, Minister Councilor Ms Tove Stub of the Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa backed the launch of the CSA Alliance Forum, saying it shows that African countries are committed to championing positive agricultural production in view of climate change effects, a point NEPAD Director of Programmes and Coordination Estherine Fotabong alluded to.
Stub stated that Africa through NEPAD is the first continent to develop such an agenda which is also aimed at sharing knowledge, new farming technologies and developing policies to promote CSA.
“The launch of the CSA Alliance Forum is a crucial step to the African agenda of promoting CSA considering that agriculture remains central to development on the continent. In fact NEPAD is to chair a global alliance and this experience from this first-ever alliance on CSA will assist globally,” she said.
Speakers from Malawi indicated that Lilongwe has developed policies that are meant to move in tandem with initiatives of NEPAD and African Union on how to mitigate effects of climate change thereby boosting agriculture production.
With Malawi’s economy described as agro-based, experts and farmers are likely to use the session as a tool to boosting agricultural production considering that the model is in line with sustainable land and water management (SLWM) also championed by NEPAD.
Lagos-based estate valuer and legal practitioner, Solomon Olusola Fatoki, in this presentation a couple of weeks ago at a meeting of Archivers’ Table of Ikeja Club, examines the role of housing in national development, calling for a stable and enduring policy to address inherent challenges
A housing estate. Photo credit: lagos.all.biz
Next to food, clothing and security, housing is the next basic need to human beings all over the world. Man wants to have a roof over his head to protect him from rain, heat, wind and other elements of nature.
Housing provides shelter. Whereas shelter is a necessity of life, every government strives to provide housing for her citizens.
But, upon closer examination, it shows that the meaning of “Housing” transcends shelter. Housing has been used as a medium to reflect the owner’s social class.
There are various designs of housing especially in a complex and capitalistic country like Nigeria. What obtains in the South is different from the North as a result of social, cultural, geographical and religious inclination.
The Northerners have tall and flat roofed buildings with no or small openings to reduce the prevailing heat. The Southerners have compact buildings roofed with well-defined run-offs in readiness for the rain. All these imply that housing accommodate more than people.
Apart from the above attributes of housing, it is also a durable investment and an hedge over inflation. It is a valuable asset which projects the image of its owner. Furthermore, housing is a valuable consumer good, thus it provides supplementary income for the investors.
A large housing stock is important in a nation’s economy. A well housed working populace will put in its best and increase productivity which in turn increases the Gross National Product level. With satisfactory housing both in urban and rural areas and with job opportunities, mobility of labour will be greatly enhanced.
The Challenges
It is however saddening to note that despite the attributes of housing, its place is lamentable in Nigeria. Past efforts by governments at various levels to ensure adequate housing have met with huge failure rather than successes, gulping billions of naira in the process. Our government must have the political will to solve the problem of housing than the lip service being paid to it.
The country’s housing shortage is put at about 18 million by various government officials and experts. I wonder how we can achieve Housing-For-All in 2020 with this figure which keep rising.
Most of the laudable proposals for housing in our previous National Development plans and various policies have not achieve any meaningful goal till date.
Presently, our National Housing Policy lays emphasis on urban sector to the detriment of rural sectors. This should be corrected in future housing policy as larger percentage of our population still depends on agriculture for their livelihood and live in small rural communities.
A lot of Nigerians still live in houses with the worst housing conditions. Go to some parts of our major cities of Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and the satellite towns in Abuja, among others. A lot of people live in slum areas.
Aside the period of Alhaji Lateef Jakande in Lagos and few other efforts nothing significant has been done to reduce the housing needs of majority of the Nigerian masses. Houses being built by governments and her various agencies like the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), among others are beyond the reach of average Nigerians.
The reasons for this range from bad planning, lack of effective housing finance and problems of land provision to lack of adequate infrastructural services, poor designs and construction, and lack of development of our local building materials, among others.
Possible Way Forward
There is need for a stable and enduring housing policy in Nigeria. This will go a long way in discouraging drift of people from rural areas into urban areas.
Problem of housing in both urban and rural areas in Nigeria is assuming alarming rate day by day. Whereas in urban areas, the problem is mainly quantitative, while in rural areas the problem is qualitative.
In order to have improved and increased housing stock, our governments should urgently address the following:
Need for adequate policy development and Initiation: There is need for people-oriented housing policy by the government. Such policy must encourage a balanced mixture of public and private efforts in housing provision.
Housing Finance: Another important factor that is essential to housing delivery is funding. There is need for adequate financial policies geared towards housing delivery. These could be through: (a) Well-funded Mortgage – The Federal Mortgage Bank which was largely responsible for housing loan provision has not performed to the expectation of the Nigerian citizens. So also are the Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs). (b) Involvement of commercial banks – Our commercial banks should have loanable funds for housing at lower interest rates. (c) Encouragement of mutual savings – This is an open-end investment system where the funds of the shareholders are invested for housing purposes only. Savings / Loan Associations, Co-operative / Thrift Societies should also invest in housing. Insurance companies are also encouraged to increase investment in housing. The various state agencies responsible for housing should be revived and revitalised.
Land Provision: There must an equitable land reform in the country. Such reform would make land acquisition by ordinary citizen easy and more secured than what we have now. The Land Use Act must be reviewed as already canvassed by the various stakeholders in the building industry. Cost of land acquisition and registration must be affordable. The menace of “Omo-onile” must be curtailed if we must have improved housing delivery.
Infrastructural Services: Housing requires infrastructural services such as road, water supply, electricity, communication facilities and waste disposals, among others. Government through her various agencies should provide these services. It will go a long way in opening up the neglected areas. Private individuals and investors could also assist in the provision of these infrastructures.
Design, Construction and Building Materials: Adoption of simple design and construction as well as local building materials by governments, private investors and individuals, will also make housing readily available to the masses of this country. Simple designs and constructions will also reduce wastages being witnessed by most of us.
One effective way to achieve the goal of affordable housing-for-all is to drastically reduce our dependence on foreign building materials by concentrating on the intensive development and promotion of local materials. These include burnt clay bricks, lime in place of cement, timber and fibre roofing sheet, which have been tested by various Research Institutes like the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) but not fully utilised till date.
Nigeria has about 24 brick plants which have almost closed down for lack of patronage. Government should reactivate them and also lead in using these materials. Bricks have been successfully utilised in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Kenya. They have succeeded in bringing down cost of building and the reduction in the use of cement. We could also have mud houses with good foundation and columns for adequate strength, among other designs already developed by our research institutes, but not used.
Conclusion
The issue of housing-for-all requires dynamic and people-oriented government with a human face. The government must be prepared to ensure adequate policy, land provision, easy funding, infrastructural services and encourage use of simple design, construction and utilisation of local materials.
Finally, the Bible says in Psalm 127 that “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watch-man waketh but in vain” – King James Version.
We shall not build ours in vain and God shall be the foundation of our building. Therefore, a pragmatic approach by us all is needed to solve our housing problem.
A panel of 35 experts convened by the Abidjan Convention Secretariat in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, gathered recently to examine how port and maritime activities affect biodiversity and ecosystems in the Convention region.
Participants at the meeting
The three-day workshop on the strategic assessment of environmental issues, policies and ports’ programmes in West, Central and Southern Africa was organised by the Abidjan Convention Secretariat with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; and in partnership with the Abidjan Port, the African Network of Ports for the Environment, and the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa.
The meeting was the first of its kind by the Abidjan Convention Secretariat and marks an important step in resolving environmental problems caused by shipping in the Convention area.
Regional Coordinator, Abidjan Convention, Abou Bamba, told the participants that while the “exponential traffic” through the ports was a marked sign of progress to be celebrated, “we must not forget the associated environmental risks that this brings.”
He said visible threats to the environment near ports included ship waste, oil spills, empting of ballast water, air and soil pollution, destruction of habitat and marine ecosystems. Therefore, it was incumbent on countries with ports on the Atlantic Ocean to revolve these pollution problems.
“There is a strong correlation between the ports’ environmental performance and its financial achievements,” he added.
Participants at the meeting came from state institutions, the private sector, research and civil society organisations from Africa, Europe and America. At the close of the forum, they validated a regional Action Plan and formalised a group of experts’ body to deal with the matter. Participants also devised measures to ensure increased efficiency of ports and maritime transport in the region.
The workshop was aimed at supporting the management and environmental performance of ports through education, awareness and research, and to share information on the environmental impact and maritime activities.
According to Bamba, the event was informed by decision (CP 11/1, 2.f) of the Eleventh Conference of Parties (COP 11) to the Abidjan Convention that encourages “the partnership between the Secretariat of the Convention and the regional ports institutions and organisations which aims to evaluate the environmental performances of ports and identify the challenges to be addressed in the Convention”; and also by the vast uptake of shipping activity along Africa’s Eastern and South-Eastern Atlantic area that has increased the likelihood for increased environmental degradation of the marine and coastal environment.
The number of ships calling at West, Central and Southern African ports have jumped from 15,000 annually in the 1990s to more than 20,000 at the beginning of 2,000. The surge in shipments poses an increased risk from ship waste, oil spills, untreated ballast wastewater discharge, dredging and disposal of dredged material, air pollution, traffic congestion, noise, hazardous waste discharge, and the resultant erosion of water quality and loss of marine and coastal habitat.
“These would translate into serious implications for the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystems in the region and erode its economic gains that have resulted from surging international trade through shipping,” he stated.
One of the most dominant themes in Nigeria’s socio-political debate has been the issue of rising corruption amidst a proliferation of anti-corruption programmes. Since its independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has grappled with the challenge of taming corruption. Many regimes have been toppled from power after being accused of tolerating corruption, or even engaging in it. Yet the scale and complexity of corruption appear to grow with each succeeding regime.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, President of Nigeria
From a handful of incidents in the early post-independence period (1960-1966), to widespread in the 70s and 80s, the vice gradually became systemic and institutionalised during the 90s, when successive authoritarian and unaccountable military regimes tolerated or even adopted it as a policy of statecraft. Since returning to a democracy the phenomenon appears to have become even more widespread.
Some of the most common forms of corruption experienced in Nigeria today include acceptance of gratification and other forms of inducements, influence peddling; embezzlement of public funds and conflict of interests, for example, in the award of contracts by pubic office holders to cronies, family members and personally held companies. Corruption has also found expression in recruitment, appointment and promotion of public officers, misappropriation and conversion of public property, procurement scam, leaking of tender information, diversion and misappropriation of funds through manipulation or falsification of financial records, payment for favourable judicial decisions, electoral and examination malpractices among others. In recent times, no institution or sector of the country has been spared of corruption including religious bodies, educational institutions, judiciary, military, and the private sector.
Evidence of corrupt practices is not difficult to find in Nigeria. Many corrupt practices have been extensively reported in the local media. Others can be found in reports of a multitude of official inquiries established by governments at all levels. Many academic studies have also been carried out on the subject. In the last 10-15 years, Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies have also investigated and prosecuted several corruption cases shedding further light on the nature and levels of corruption in contemporary Nigeria. Thus, it will seem that Nigerians have good cause to worry about the level of corruption and its effect on their society. Indeed, corruption is not only seen as endemic in Nigeria but is also widely considered in development circles as the most obstructive force hindering the country’s development.
The centrality of corruption to Nigeria’s socio-political discourse has fostered two positive realities. On the one hand, it has spurned hundreds of scholarly research and studies. The findings illuminate different aspects of the phenomenon including its nature, causes, consequences and possible remedies. On the other hand, the discourse has also encouraged successive Nigerian governments to conceive and implement several policies and programmes aimed at addressing the problem of corruption in Nigerian public life. Some of these interventions include the enactment of numerous anti-corruption legislation, establishment of several anti-corruption agencies; and the signing of relevant international treaties and protocols.
Despite these commendable efforts, there remains a growing concern that Nigeria is not making much progress in its efforts to significantly reduce corruption. One of the major reasons for this is perhaps the poor integration of available research products into the design, implementation and review of anti-corruption intervention by both government and other stakeholders. Indeed, while an increasing number of scholars have studied the phenomenon and published extensively on the same, there is little evidence that products of anti-corruption research come to the attention of policymakers and ultimately influence policymaking in Nigeria. This has in turn contributed to the failures of successive anti-corruption projects in Nigeria.
In order to close this observed ‘research-policy gap’ and further facilitate the ongoing campaign for a corruption-free Nigeria, the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), the research and training arm of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the United Nations Office for Drug and Crime (UNODC) are jointly organising an international conference on the theme, Anti-Corruption Research and Policymaking in Nigeria: 40 Years After the Theory of Two Publics.
The period indicated in the theme is symbolically marked against one of the well-known theories of corruption developed from the Nigerian experience. The theory developed by Professor Peter Ekeh is published in the 1975 edition of the Journal of Comparative Studies in Society and History as “Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement”.
The conference, scheduled to hold October 26 t0 27, 2015 in Abuja, aims to bring together researchers and policymakers concerned with corruption and anti-corruption programmes in Nigeria to brainstorm on the opportunities and strategies for the interface between research and practice. Leading experts in the field from within and outside Nigeria will be invited to deliver papers and take part in the discussions.
In terms of objectives, the conference is designed to assure a broad multidisciplinary coverage of anti-corruption research and challenges involved in enhancing the integration of available knowledge or research based evidence into policymaking. In more specific terms, the conference will help to:
review the production, dissemination and use of research in anti-corruption policymaking in Nigeria;
highlight policy implications of research relevant to the causes, nature, consequences and remedies of corruption as it relates to Nigeria;
share experiences and good practices on strategies for improving the infusion of research products into anti-corruption policymaking;
identify challenges to the interface between research and anti-corruption policymaking in Nigeria; and,
enhance networking among anti-corruption scholars and practitioners working on corruption within the Nigerian context.
Conference sub-themes include:
Review of Nigerian anti-corruption legislation, policies and programs in light of theories of corruption;
Measuring the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria: contested narratives; building blocks for further research; evidence driven policy making etc;
Corruption prevention and enforcement strategies of major anti-corruption agencies and institutions;
Anti-corruption policies and programmes of private sector organisations, CSOs and development/international agencies;
Influence of research in the development of national anti-corruption policies and legislation;
Leveraging anti-corruption research for civil society advocacy and programmes;
Impact of corruption research on the policies and programmes of international development agencies;
Review of the mandates, activities and output of the Departments of Research, Planning and Statistics of anti-corruption institutions; and
Comparative analysis on anti-corruption research and policy making experiences.
Conference organisers are seeking papers related to any of the sub-themes listed above from interested academics, staff of civil society organisations, development agencies, and operatives of anti-corruption agencies.
