Mr William Pooley, 29, the first Briton to contract the Ebola disease in Sierra Leone has started receiving treatment in London.
Pooley, a volunteer nurse was flown in a military aircraft on Sunday to the Hampstead Royal Free Hospital, where he is being treated in a specialist isolation unit for highly infectious diseases.
The Europe Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Pooley had worked as a volunteer providing palliative care at The Shepherd’s Hospice in Sierra Leone from March to July.
He then requested to be relocated to the Kenema Government Hospital to serve on the Ebola treatment ward, following reports that patients were being abandoned when health workers died from the virus.
Pooley has been described as a hero for his selfless service.
NAN quotes a BBC report on Mr Gabriel Madiye, the Executive Director of The Shepherd’s Hospice, as saying, “Pooley had been aware of the risks, but was determined to work there.
“We consider him a hero, somebody who is sacrificing to provide care in very difficult circumstances – when our own health workers are running away’’. Madiye said.
Meanwhile, Prof. Jonathan Ball, a virologist at Nottingham University, said there would be immediate testing to ensure all Pooley’s organs were functioning.
“He really is in the best place and will have the best possible care’’, Ball said.
The World Health has put the death figure from the Ebola outbreak to over 1500 mostly from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea (NAN)
The Enugu State House of Assembly has removed the state’s Deputy Governor, Sunday Onyebuchi, from office.
The Assembly voted Tuesday morning to sack Mr. Onyebuchi from office.
Details of the impeachment session is still sketchy but the deputy governor’s removal is believed to have been masterminded by Governor Sullivan Chime.
The Assembly accused Mr. Onyebuchi of operating a commercial poultry at his official residence and of disobeying Governor Chime, charges that, under the law, do no qualify as impeachment offences.
The impeached deputy governor had told the impeachment panel set up by the state’s chief judge that Mr. Chime also operated piggery farms at the Government House.
Giving evidence before the panel last Wednesday, Mr. Onyebuchi said the governor’s poultry was hurriedly evacuated shortly after the panel commenced sitting.
Mr. Onyebuchi revealed that the state government had budgeted for the maintenance of the poultry since 2011.
The embattled deputy governor, who tendered the state’s budget between 2011 and 2014, said funds had always been provided for the poultry he operated.
He insisted that he did not commit any offence that could warrant his impeachment and that the poultry farms he and the governor were operating were there before they assumed office in 2007.
The vision to establish a state-owned investment company in Ogun State originated under the military administration of Brigadier Oladipo Diya as state governor between (1984 and 1985). The late Chief Olawale Otesile, the then Permanent Secretary in the Civil Service, was seconded to the Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC), at inception to midwife its take-off. Chief Otesile and his team of vibrant Ogun State indigenes first wore the mantle of OPIC leadership on September 1, 1984. Otesile’s team then commenced OPIC operation with very strong volition to succeed with the mandate to fully explore the potentials and opportunities that abound in border areas of Ogun State in particular and, by extension, other parts of Nigeria.
Equipped with Edict 10 of 1985 under the then military administration of Ogun State, the shrewd OPIC pioneers rose to the challenge of their callings, setting the pace of the growth of the newly-born OPIC, right from its cradle to mighty estates in Agbara, Isheri, Ikeja in Lagos, Abeokuta hill top while breaking new grounds in Makun New City by Sagamu Interchange on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The self-sustaining government-owned statutory corporation has not only stood firm on the ladder of revenue generation, and reaching the peak of the rungs at 30, OPIC is beaming smile of great promises to all and sundry. Its core objectives and responsibilities are centred on establishing residential and industrial estates that offer affordable accommodation.
The infrastructure provided over the years in OPIC estates and commercial buildings spread all over now serve as economic poles of attraction for Ogun State investors. Notable of these estates and commercial buildings are OPIC estates in Agbara (off the Lagos-Badagry Expressway), Isheri (off the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway), Abeokuta (along the Abeokuta-Sokoto Expressway, and commercial plazas in Abeokuta headquarters, Isheri and Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way, Ikeja.
In furtherance pursuit of the goal to reposition OPIC, Governor Ibikunle Amosun appointed Babajide Odusolu as his Special Adviser on Properties and Investments with Management responsibility for OPIC as its substantive Managing Director/Chief Executive.
At the inception of this present administration, OPIC had a review of operations that culminated in a focused re-orientation and overhaul of the Corporation’s operating strategy and institution of new business direction.
To ensure enhanced performance, OPIC’s operation were merged with those of Gateway City Development Company Limited (GCDCL) in 2013. Through this merger, OPIC regained operational control over 22 hectares of land located at Isheri now christened Isheri Commercial City and 750 hectares located at the Sagamu Interchange, now known as New Makun City.
Odusolu embarked on series of developmental projects aimed at making life more meaningful for residents and industrialists in OPIC estates. These include housing units to help reduce massive housing deficit in the country. In the last three years, OPIC has witnessed institutional re-orientation and empowerment, urban recreation and infrastructure and new business initiatives.
As part of the institutional re-orientation and empowerment, ushered in by the present administration since May 2011, a panel of enquiry was set up to investigate OPIC’s operation in addition to comprehensive audit of OPIC activities. The audit exercise has been a periodic one and OPIC procedures in due process has always been found a ‘crystal white operation’. The GCDCL/OPIC merger occurred in this process and has been of no regret.
This institutional re-orientation and empowerment policy has further encouraged OPIC to invest more on staff training and re-training, office renovation and re-designing, resolution of various security challenges and lapses across OPIC estates, particularly Agbara; crackdown on land encroachers, land grabbers’ arrest and prosecution; sensitisation and regeneration of cordial relationship amongst OPIC residents, industrialists and the host communities. The enumeration of remaining illegal structures for amnesty in OPIC estates Agbara/Igbesa is also a notable re-orientation.
The partnership with Ministry of Housing/ROTH Inc. for development of a 650-hectare industrial park in Agbara, effective March 2012, is a confirmation of harmonious work relations that exists amongst government agencies in Ogun State. This synergy is gratifying in the review of project designs and creation of development guidelines; demolition of illegal structures within OPIC estates, Agbara/Igbesa after issuance of notices; completion of 18 bungalows at OPIC estate, Agbara/Igbesa between October 2013 and January 2014.
In addition, ongoing projects from January 2014 to date include the almost completed 5kms residential and 5kms industrial grade roads that commenced in January 2014 and 30 units of two- bedroom terrace bungalows in OPIC estate, Agbara/Igbesa that commenced in April 2014.
Other parts of the states are not left out in this infrastructural rebirth: the OPIC Orange Valley Estate, Presidential Boulevard, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta that commenced simultaneously with Agbara road construction project in January 2014 is already beckoning to prospective residents to tap the serene and scenic green living of OPIC estates. The estate’s first phase displays 58 semi-detached duplexes, 28 luxurious flats and recreational facilities.
The New Makun City, located at Sagamu Interchange along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, is show-casing Ogun State’s business-friendly potentials to the whole world.
It is a thing of joy that the strong volition sown 30 years ago by the pioneers of OPIC has grown to deliver a giant Ogun State Property and Investments Corporation ( OPIC ) with great achievements and projections that swing with the housing revolution policy of the present administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun.
By Adebisi Adeyemi-Adesina (journalist and public relations consultant)
The fourth in the series sheds light on the IPCC findings that, in the light of the fact that climate change has the tendency to amplify existing stress on agricultural systems particularly in semi-arid environments, adaptation will bring immediate benefits and reduce the impacts of the phenomenon.
Rajendra Pachauri, head of IPCC
In a world that is 4°C warmer, the current cropping areas of crops such as maize, millet and sorghum across Africa could become unviable.The adaptation challenges of a world that is 4°C warmer are not limited to agriculture, but extend to other critical sectors such as livestock, fisheries, tourism, health, water and energy.
Health is an area of particular risk in Africa’s changing climate. Already, people over much of the continent have insufficient access to safe water, good sanitation and adequate healthcare. The IPCC finds that because of this, climate change will exacerbate vulnerability to vector and water-borne diseases.For example, more floods in areas with poor sanitation and inadequate waste management will spread disease. Warmer nights and days will allow disease-carrying insects to spread to new latitudes.
The considerable threats could undermine the progress that African countries have made in tackling disease, malnutrition and early deaths in past decades, together with gains in improving agricultural productivity. Adaptation can reduce these risks and bring immediate benefits.
It is important to recognise that, even if global society ceased to emit greenhouse gases today, further warming is inevitable in the next few decades. Adaptation is the only effective option to manage the inevitable impacts of climate change that mitigation cannot reduce. The IPCC describes adaptation as “the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects”.Through adaptation, societies and communities can seek to moderate the harm of current and future climate risks or to take advantage of new opportunities.
Adaptation brings benefits both today and in the future. For example, Africa has much to gain from adaptation actions like disaster risk reduction and social protection that reduce the impacts of warming that are already being felt, and from building resilience around critical sectors such as water, energy and agriculture. The IPCC emphasises that integrating adaptation into planning and decision-making can create many synergies with development.
Effective adaptation strategies can, and should, strengthen livelihoods, enhance wellbeing and human security, and reduce poverty today. ‘No regrets’ or ‘low regrets’ measures such as increasing access to information and resources, improving health services, diversifying cropping systems, strengthening access to land, credit and other resources for poor and marginalised groups and making water and land management and governance more effective are good for development, irrespective of changes in climate.
Even with significant resource and institutional investment on adaptation, for the most vulnerable there may be residual risks to food security, access to water, health and human security. In the long term, there may be limits to adaptation and the only way to reduce these risks is through global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has produced what appears to be the most comprehensive assessment of climate change ever. The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), is the work of 830 expert authors from 85 countries and its first three volumes already stretch to 5,000+ pages. The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) have created a guide to the assessment for decision-makers in Africa tagged “What’s in it for Africa”, which is intended to encourage understanding and discussion of the report worldwide.
Decentralised and renewable technologies such as improved cookstoves can markedly alleviate the workload and enhance the personal security of women and girls
According to the document, the IPCC recognises that Africa has low levels of emissions and that over time these emissions will increase moderately and to meet pressing development needs. In expanding economically and meeting their development needs, African countries have abundant opportunities to adopt clean, efficient low-carbon technologies and practices. They can side step the inefficient, fossil fuel-dependent infrastructure that more developed countries are ‘locked into’.
The report identifies many low-carbon opportunities and co-benefits; the measures to avoid greenhouse gas emissions provide generous gains in economic productivity, human development and quality of life.
Improvements in the performance and cost of renewable energy technologies are significant for Africa, given the huge renewable energy resource endowment across the region and the need to scale up energy services to meet demand. Encouraged by developments, many countries across Africa are investing heavily in new energy infrastructure as well as putting in place regulatory and policy measures to persuade the private sector to invest in energy.
In addition, decentralised, renewable energy technologies, such as improved cookstoves, can markedly alleviate the workload and enhance the personal security of women and girls. The cookstoves, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lessen the need for women and girls to walk long distances to collect firewood, and vastly reduce illness and death from indoor air pollution.
According to What’s in it for Africa, much of the urban space in Africa is yet to be developed, so urban adaptation provides opportunities for incremental and transformational adjustments towards resilient and sustainable systems. Reducing energy and water consumption through greening cities and recycling water, and developing resilient infrastructure systems can reduce the vulnerability of urban settlements in many parts of Africa.
At present, six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa. Projections indicate that the region’s urban population will double to 760 million by 2030. Many city planners advocate for more compact city structures that would accommodate Africa’s growing urban population while curbing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the need for transport. However, compact urban development may conflict with adaptation strategies, such as providing urban green spaces to counter urban heat island effects and moderate storm water run-off by increasing water filtration into the soil.
The cities and towns of Africa are very vulnerable to climatic changes and climate variability. Rapid urbanisation calls for significant investment to create jobs, and provide infrastructure and services but basic infrastructure services lag behind urban growth. What’s in it for Africa emphasises the major opportunity faced by Africa through the development of low-carbon mass transit systems which can boost economic productivity by reducing traffic congestion and can improve air quality, thus benefiting public health.
Energy use in the transport sector is growing rapidly in Africa. Social expectations will need to change quickly if the region is to follow a low- carbon pathway. Rising incomes as a result of development have, in the past, increased the consumption of energy in the transport sector and allowed more people to own cars. Rising energy consumption in the transport sector and car ownership lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and high levels of air pollution.
According to What’s in it for Africaand the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, part of Africa’s vulnerability lies in the fact that recent development gains have been in climate-sensitive sectors. Economically, many Africans depend for food, fibre and income on primary sectors such as agriculture and fisheries, sectors which are affected by rising temperatures, rising sea levels and erratic rainfall. Reduced crop productivity is associated with heat and drought stress and will have strong adverse effects on regional, national and household livelihood and food security. Solutions put forward by the report include technological adaptation responses, enhancing smallholder access to credit and other critical production resources, diversifying livelihoods, strengthening institutions at local, national and regional levels to support agriculture, gender-orientated policy and agronomic adaptation responses.
Stakeholders in the nation’s environment and development sector, who rose from a short session on Tuesday, 19 August 2014 in Abuja, have called on the authorities to make climate change an integral part of Nigeria’s Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Laurentia Mallam, Minister of Environment
At a parallel session on “Addressing the challenges of climate change and sustainable development” during the recently-held Presidential Summit on Millennium Development Goals and Post-2015 Development Agenda, participants suggested that the post-2015 targets should be climate-smart – targets that build resilience and adaptation, promote low-carbon development pathways, and deliver irreversible development progress.
While cautioning against confusion and inconsistency with the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) process, the participants declared in a communique released at the close of the event that climate change targets in the post-2015 agenda need to be consistent with, and at least as ambitious as, the objectives agreed under the UNFCCC.
The session was organised by the Climate Change Department of the Federal Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the Millennium Development Goals Office.
In the process of mainstreaming climate change mitigation and adaptation into development plans, the forum underlined the need for collective action to avoid dangerous climate change in accordance with the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities.
Participants called for concerted effort in the implementation of the National Framework for the Application of Climate Services, even as they urged the authorities to ensure that the process captures key areas of intervention critical to delivering concurrently on development and climate objectives including the highly-climate relevant areas of water, forests, disaster, energy, governance, and food and agriculture.
“There must be means of implementation that foster policy coherence, encourage synergies and win-win solutions and engage multiple stakeholders in a global partnership for sustainable development. Greater coherence in the objectives of financing for development and climate change finance will also be required, along with more joined-up approaches across governments,” submitted the gathering, calling for the pursuit of green growth, emergence of climate change action plan, as well as the incorporation of climate change in the educational curriculum.
Environment Minister, Laurentia Mallam, while opening the session, observed that about 60 per cent of the issues composed in the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda are related to climate change.
Her words: “This implies that climate change will determine whether the levels of development progress that have already been achieved can be sustained, as well as whether post-2015 development goals can be achieved. Put simply, development objectives will not be achieved unless the post-2015 framework is climate and future-fit.
“Similarly, the achievement of global climate change objectives – including keeping the average global temperature rise below 2oC – will depend on development decisions taken across sectors and in all countries. Although there’s already an international process in place to address climate change – under the UNFCCC – which needs to reach an agreement in 2015, the new climate deal will only take effect in 2020, by which time significant action will already have to have been taken to stay within 2o. Hence, we don’t have a fighting chance of achieving climate goals without development goals that start guiding countries down a climate-smart track.”
According to her, it is the realisation of the implication of climate change on attaining the Post-2015 Development goals that informed the Office of Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to request the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME) to organise the parallel session.
Rabi Jimeta, Permanent Secretary in the FME
Permanent Secretary in the FME, Rabi Jimeta, while warning that the reality of climate change has been proved beyond reasonable doubt by numerous evidences and global warming signals, stated that changes as a result of the phenomenon have significant ecological, social, economic and political impacts on the human race, including effects on food production, water availability, intensification of wildfires, changes in epidemic vectors of diseases and human security in general.
“There has been a paradigm shift from scientific realm to a developmental realm. This necessitates engagement of relevant stakeholders to integrate climate change issue into their development agenda both at the federal and state levels,” she stressed.
Both Mallam and Jimeta were represented by Dr Samuel Adejuwon, who heads the Climate Change Department in the ministry.
Dr. Samuel Adejuwon, Director, Climate Change Department in the FME
In the main presentation, environment and climate change specialist, Prof Emmanuel Ladipo, described Green Growth as growth in GDP that maintains or restores environmental quality and ecological integrity, and for meeting the needs of all people with the lowest possible environmental impact.
Prof. Oladipo
Ladipo urged the authorities to improve environmental sustainability, enhance environmental performance, promote environmental protection as an opportunity for sustainable growth, and integrate disaster risk management and preparedness in socio-economic development policies and planning.
In his remarks, Prof Chinedum Nwajiuba of the Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST) in Ibadan and Imo State University in Owerri wants the authorities to take the idea of no further business-as-usual in the management of the environment much more seriously, and not as mere words.
Prof. Nwajiuba
“Let us do some practical personal things to help the Nigeria environment. Government, civil society organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders should address the nation’s alarming population growth. It is not good for the environment, and not in tandem with sustainable development,” the declared.
He added: “We should appreciate the urgency of plan for a future without fossil fuel (oil) in a changing climate and degraded environment. We need to climate-proof development. Just as we request by law an Environmental Impact Assessment prior to development of certain category of projects, we should create a law that compels a climate clearance or climate-proofing for urban, human settlements, housing, telecommunications, and other projects.”
Nigeria’s foremost independent scientific body, the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS), while pledging its support to government in bringing the Ebola virus scourge to an end, believes that it will take the collective effort of all to achieve such. Head of the organisation, Prof Oyewale Tomori, enjoins the public not to panic but rather cooperate with health officials
Prof. Tomori
The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is yet to be curtailed in the West African sub-region. It threatens normal life and the economy of countries affected, West Africa, Africa, and the world. Nigeria became part of a trio of countries affected when, on the 20th of July, an infected Liberian flew into the country and, on arrival, had to be admitted to a private hospital for treatment. Nigeria has, since then, been battling to curb the spread of this dreaded disease in the most populous country in Africa.
The Academy, in a bid to urge adequate preparation for such a time as this, had held two workshops on Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR). The first, on the 3rd and 4th of August 2010, was for West African participants urging cooperation in West Africa in the surveillance of and response to the spread of diseases in the sub-region. The second workshop was on the 9th of October 2012 for Commissioners of Health, Directors of Public Health, and State Epidemiologists from across Nigeria to discuss how to strengthen IDSR in our country.
The Academy commends the effort so far of all that have been working to protect the country from an uncontrolled spread of the disease. In particular, we salute the effort and courage of the management and staff of First Consultants Hospital whose work in diagnosing and reporting the index case has probably saved the country a bigger calamity. The response of the government, state and federal, has been encouraging as well as the support of international development agencies, and local professional associations and institutions.
The Nigerian Academy of Science hereby notes that much more needs to be done. As the foremost independent scientific body in the country, the Academy wishes to state that:
The public need not panic but should rather fully cooperate with the appointed health authorities. The EVD is a deadly disease but patients stand a good chance of survival if taken in early for supportive management. The Nigerian record of the number of patients already discharged from the Ebola Treatment Centre strongly supports this. It is pertinent to point out that these persons were discharged having been certified virus-free, hence the need for all to welcome them warmly and discourage stigmatisation
Controlling Ebola will take the collective effort of all. Government alone cannot do this but will need the cooperation of all different segments of the society
Ebola control involves critical management of the information in the public domain. The press must be actively engaged as critical stakeholders to ensure accurate and appropriate information dissemination. The media houses must also seek ways to partner with government. This is apart from any IEC materials that should be strategically disseminated
This is the time for the government and all critical stakeholders to work together. We appeal to the Nigerian Medical Association to consider suspending her strike while the government should do all possible to engage such stakeholders as they are important partners in this fight
This outbreak of EVD has shown the importance of science and technology as the pillars of any sustainable economic development. Priority must be given to science and technology, and especially to funding research and ensuring a conducive environment for scientists in this Nigeria
In conclusion, the Nigerian Academy of Science pledges its support for the government effort in bringing this outbreak to an end and remains optimistic that Nigeria is capable of controlling this outbreak if the available human and material resources are maximally deployed.
As the sixth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) approaches, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has alerted African governments on the need to be wary of tobacco industry exaggeration of farmers’ gains.
The undue attention of the tobacco transnational on so-called prosperous farmers is a ploy to weaken the resolve of delegates attending the COP to push through sustainable alternatives to tobacco farming at the talks, alleges the Lagos-based organisation.
ERA/FoEN insists the call had become urgent in view of the increase in tempo of visibility events organised by cigarette makers and leaf buyers through the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) and its allies in different countries in the last two months which, it said, not only disparage the treaty talks but also serve as platforms for making bogus claims on tobacco farming.
Visibility events have been ongoing in several African countries including Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, claims the civil society body.
According to the organisation, the British America Tobacco (BAT) in Nigeria portrays local tobacco farmers as prosperous, but paints a gloomy picture for farmers as endangered species when legislations that will domesticate the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) finally become law.
“Farmers who spoke with ERA/FoEN during a recent industry monitoring visit in South West Nigeria said that media reports portraying them as successful were exaggerated as most of them spend virtually every day tending tobacco leaves and would require soft loans from government,” states the ERA/FoEN Director, Corporate Accountability, Akinbode Oluwafemi.
He adds: “It is extremely vexing to know that ITGA is one of the vehicles that transnationals like BAT consistently use to tie down tobacco farmers who want to transit. The renewed vigour with which the industry is poking legislations that will guarantee healthy environments is not one that should be treated with levity. African governments must act immediately and concertedly.
“Like in Malawi, and countries in East Africa, farmers in Nigeria are now victims of an industry that portrays them as prosperous while in actual fact they are pawns in the web of an industry that deliberately keeps prices of leaves so low that they (the farmers) make almost nothing from tobacco growing.”
Nigeria spokesperson of the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT), Philip Jakpor, submits: ‘No one is left in doubt that ITGA presents the face of farmers to the public while in actual fact it is a pawn that was created to do the bidding of the industry only.”
Jakpor notes that ample examples reinforce the position of ERA, NATT and other civil society groups on ITGA’s objectives, including a recent meeting of the group in Harare on July 1, 2014, where its president Francois Van Der Merwe advocated the organisation be given a slot at the COP6.
Similarly, a group of tobacco farmers on the platform of the Uganda Tobacco Growers Association (UTGA) recently wrote to the Ugandan parliament demanding the removal of clauses that prohibit partnerships and endorsements including voluntary contributions, and incentives or privileges that promote tobacco businesses in the Ugandan Anti-Tobacco Bill 2014 – all of which are prescribed by the FCTC, of which Uganda is a member.
Jakpor adds: “African governments must now encourage farmers that are locked down to transit to proven alternatives that are sustainable and environment-friendly. In addition, governments should explore ways to ensure that farmers and farm workers receive fair leaf prices. Collusion over prices among tobacco companies must be stopped.
“Guidelines of Article 5.3 of the FCTC de-normalise treating tobacco companies (and their front groups) as stakeholders in public health policy. It is for this reason that African governments must rise up to the occasion by deploying resources to make it easy for tobacco farmers to transit and embrace alternatives that are safe and sustainable.”
The recently released Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has expressly maintained that human influence is extremely likely the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century, and that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal while the reality of the observation is 95% certainty. This is against the previous AR4 that was adjudged very likely with 90% certainty in 2007. The new revelations, as contained in the first segment of the report, Physical Science and released on the 27th September 2013 in Sweden, Stockholm, show that there is evidence of marked increase in the impacts of climate change on both planet Earth and humanity. With this latest assessment of the global climate change situation, it may therefore, not be incorrect to state that the impact of climate change increases on geometric rate while the global effort to stem the tide is on arithmetic progression. This harsh reality is hard to take. The good news is that we still have a chance to avoid the worse consequences of a warming planet – but it’s going to take an epic effort and actions, probably at supersonic progression.
According to Qin Dahe, Co-Chair of first segment, “Our assessment of the science finds that the atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, the global mean sea level has risen and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased”. This however translates into increased temperature and heat waves, sea level rise, ocean warming, decreasing glaciers and ice sheets, which further corroborate what the World Bank in its June 2013 Report (Turn Down The Heat: Why a 4oC Warmer World Must Be Avoided) stated in clear terms that “high temperature extreme appear likely to affect yields of rice, wheat, maize and other crops, adversely affecting food security”, stressing that “promoting economic growth and eradication of poverty and inequality will thus, be an increasingly challenging task”. This means that the effort to achieve the MDGs and the Post-2015 development agenda or the future Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may become more challenging to achieve.
The reality of the latest postulations of the World’s apex body for climate science may however be a great food for thought to the world, especially the developing countries, whose capacity to adapt to the impacts and mitigate the effects of climate change is either weak or non-existent, and yet will be worst hit by the ill-consequences. Alas, its second segment findings and observations, which focused on the Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, and released on 31st March 2014 in Yokohama, Japan, seem more worrisome and devastating going by the realism that the rate of occurrence of climate change impacts has so much dwarfed the hitherto global actions against it. It cataloged both the impacts that are already being observed and the future projections in simplified regional breakdown covering: Africa, Asia, Australia & New Zealand, Europe, North America, Small Islands, and South America.
The global Scientists further admitted that “Observed impacts of climate change are widespread and consequential. Recent changes in climate have caused impacts on natural and human systems on all continents and across the oceans”, while on projection, it states that “Climate change will increase the frequency and severity of many types of extreme weather: In many areas, more frequent intense rainfall events will increase the frequency of flooding. Globally, more people will be exposed to floods and economic losses due to flooding. It’s also likely that presently dry areas will become more severely drought-stricken”. Two of these scenarios are expressly evident in severe proportions in Nigeria, where the Northern part is impacted with drought and desertification (at the rate 600m/year) occasioned by intense temperature and lack of rainfall, while floods and erosion enveloped the Southern part, occasioned by sea level rise and frequent rainfall pattern.
Meanwhile, there is the third aspect of the latest report that focuses on Mitigation of Climate Change and released on the 13th April 2014 in Berlin, Germany, which however provides various low-carbon pathways and green growth actions to be carried out for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the three segments of the report will be synthesized into one by 31st October in Copenhagen, Denmark to give concise, action-packed analysis to all categories of Stakeholders, particularly the policy-makers, law-makers and decision-makers.
In all the three segments of the complete report, one isolating fact is the exigency of climate actions, which has characterized the clarion call for rapid response and firm commitment. It has become imperative for nations big and small, rich and poor, developed and developing to redouble their efforts on geometric progression to combat climate change. There is the dire need for governments, corporate bodies and the civil society Stakeholders to step up actions, separately or/and collectively. The developed countries should scale up their existing support and create new and additional ones, especially in the area of finance, capacity building and technology transfer to the developing countries while also living up to expectation in their commitment regarding binding emissions reduction targets. The developing countries should give priority to climate change mitigation and adaptation and incorporate them into their national development agenda.
Corporate bodies should ensure that their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) package is prioritised for climate action. Businesses all over the world should be regulated or their operations reviewed to statutorily require due climate-friendly actions. Contracts approval should entail commitment to climate action as one of its criteria. Renewable/bioenergy investments should be given incentives. There are also non-food crops such as Jathropha plant that can be cultivated to produce biodiesel at commercial scale if governments provide the necessary agricultural incentives. Donor agencies have a very important role to play in giving funding priority to climate action, while the international civil society organizations should consider promoting national climate actions as one of their focal points, especially in the developing countries. Consequently, the national civil society organisations should ensure that their Strategic Action Plans do give priority to promoting local actions in the area of policy/legislative advocacy, awareness creation and capacity building.
In Nigeria, the Presidential Commitment on Agriculture should encourage the cultivation of non-food energy crops in a commercial scale. The Federal, State and Local Governments should endeavour to respond to climate change impacts through implementation of climate-resilient projects and may however classify or label their completed and ongoing projects as climate change mitigation or adaptation so as to further increase climate change awareness and the exigency of responsive actions to combat it. In his book, “Understanding Climate Change”, Surveyor Efik used Lagos and the South-South States of Nigeria as well as Amuwo Odofin LGA in Lagos State as case study and classified all their projects including that of President Goodluck Jonathan into climate change mitigation and adaptation. In due course, the 36 states and the FCT Abuja will be covered.
While Nigeria is preparing ahead of 2015 elections, the Nigerian civil society under the auspices of the Climate Change Network Nigeria hereby urge all incumbent and prospective politicians, the technocrats, policy/decision makers to incorporate climate change adaptation and mitigation actions into their political manifestoes and national development agenda. We urge President Jonathan, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), all the political parties and all the electorates/citizens of Nigeria to consider climate-friendly commitment as one of the criteria for selecting, adopting or voting candidates into elective offices. The state governors should embellish their states with green growth developments while the Local Government Chairmen should turn their constituencies into green cities. The private sector, including the banks should not relent in their effort to promote climate-friendly investments and sustainable green businesses. The traditional rulers, communities/indigenous peoples, academia, media, faith-based organisations, NGOs, youths, women, children, students and all other civil society bodies and individual citizens should, on their own or collectively, endeavour to take climate actions such as tree planting, replacement of incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lights, waste management, forest conservation and unblocking of gutters/erosion routes.
CCN-Nigeria also uses this medium to commend Mr. President and the Federal Executive Council for giving consideration to the National Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action for Climate Change in Nigeria (NASPA-CCN), which has greatly promoted sectoral response to adaptation. As agriculture is the centrepiece of President Jonathan’s transformation agenda, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture duly emerged the first to produce its sector-based adaptation response and plan of action, under the leadership of Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina as the minster. This has indeed increased the visibility of his government’s commitment, not only to combating climate change but also in responding to the global call for climate actions, which will top the agenda in the forthcoming Ban Ki-moon’s UN Climate Summit 2014 next month.
By Surveyor Efik (National Coordinator, Climate Change Network Nigeria, and Visiting Scholar on Climate Change Governance, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)
