Going by global climate history and the forecast by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), it is almost certain that the rains are set to resume full turtle for the months of July, August and September. The advent of the raining season every year is always greeted with great enthusiasm, particularly by farmers. This usually marks the prelude to the farming season and prospects of bumper harvest of agricultural produce around the country.
Knee-deep flood at Agege, Lagos
However, the hope of bumper harvests by farmers is sometimes dashed by flood which over the years has hampered the efforts of government and farmers to improve on agricultural production, thereby, resulting in serious economic hardship in the country. The unabated rainfall, construction works, dumping of refuse on natural water ways, blockage of canals, leakage from dams, lakes, overflow of rivers and streams have all been identified as catalysts to flood and flooding.
In 2012, Nigeria experienced the worst menace of flood in recent years due to excessive rainfall aggravated by the release of water from a Cameroonian dam by the authorities of that country which flowed into Rivers Benue and Niger, causing uncontrollable flooding. The flood destroyed many homes, farmlands, and threatened the supply of agricultural products in the country.
The terrible and pathetic conditions inflicted on the people especially from the frontline states of Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Anambra, Rivers and Bayelsa among others remain indelible in the minds of Nigerians.
The washing away of homes, farmlands and the resultant loss of hundreds of lives remain a serious concern to government. Now that the raining season is getting to a climax, the question on the lips of many are whether the country will yet again be confronted with a repeat of the 2012 experience, and what the Federal Government has done or is doing to avoid a repeat experience of the 2012 flood.
On its part, the Government of President Goodluck Jonathan has equipped NIMET and put it in a position to ensure accurate weather forecast in order to alert the public on imminent dangers of flooding.
Besides, the Federal Government released the whooping sum of N17 billion to states affected by the flood and other relevant stakeholders to help mitigate the devastating consequences that characterised the 2012 experience.
Also, the construction of the Kashimbilla/gamovo multipurpose, Ose Dam and Hydropower project in Taraba State to accommodate the excessive flow of water from Cameroon whenever it occurs are among measures government has put in place to avert a reoccurrence of the 2012 flooding.
The dam will not only curtail flood but will also generate electricity, enhance irrigation, create employment and boast agricultural production as well as contribute its quota to self-sufficiency in food production in Nigeria.
Similarly, the Federal Ministry of Environment under the leadership of Mrs. Laurentia Laraba Mallam has installed 307 web-based flood warning systems nationwide. It has also installed community-based flood early warning systems in Ondo, Niger, Cross River, Imo, Anambra, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Nasarawa, Rivers, Kwara, Akwa-Ibom, Abia and Enugu states. The ministry has also acquired and installed four stand-alone automated functional flood early warning facilities along rivers Alamutu, Eruwa and Owena river Basins.
Mallam, is intensifying the campaign for a CLEAN NIGERIA in all the 36 states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory. On the 12th July 2014, the minister was in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, to lead the National Sanitation campaign, alongside the Governor of that state, Captain Idris Wada.
Massive environmental campaign messages are expected to hit the airwaves including Radio Nigeria in the coming days and months in order to galvanise all efforts aimed at averting possible flooding in 2014 and ensuring a clean and healthy environment for sustainable development.
The targeted 10.8 kilometers road re-construction that commenced barely six months ago and is nearing completion at the Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC) Estate in Agbara, has grown to 50 kilometers, ostensibly to cater for future needs being ushered in by the state’s infrastructural rebirth.
OPIC Managing Director, Babajide Odusolu, who made the disclosure, pointed out that this was informed by the rate of turnover of the road rehabilitation that is in its initial phase 1, adding that the expansion is meant to cater for more companies being attracted to OPIC Estate as a result of development.
Essentially, OPIC is executing the road re-construction project in phases along with the construction of housing units and creation of new gated residential zones in the estate.
Odusolu said the roads being rebuilt and those to be built afresh would last for 30 between 40 years because of sound, ethical, professional and quality materials committed to the projects.
He projected that while on the average a well-constructed road could last for 25 years, OPIC Estate roads would last longer due to a soil test that revealed the type of materials and expertise to be utilised, and the commitment to match the Ogun standard.
The road maintenance, according to him, has been adequately taken care of by the OPIC Maintenance Department in form of equipment and expertise. He however revealed that some of the equipment and machinery currently in use belong to the Corporation. This, he added, is aimed at supporting the contractors to fast track the project completion.
Part of the support services, he said, is expressed in the OPIC maintenance culture that is driving the provision of a trailer park for trailers that would not be allowed to constitute a nuisance to other road users, neighbours and the host community.
He, however, assured that the trailer park in the nearest future would be upgraded to a world class standard with all necessary infrastructure that would further the economic position of the state and make the business environment friendly.
Meanwhile the Joint Monitoring Committee of private/public partnership of OPIC and industrialists is working to ensure that the professional road contractors deliver at the stipulated time.
Prince Lekan Fadina, Executive Director at Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management and Environment (CISME), is an international negotiator on climate change and sustainable development. He has been representing Nigeria in international forums for over two decades. While in Abuja for a duty tour of the FCT branch of his organisation, he spared some time off his busy schedule to chat with Greg Odogwu of EnviroNews Nigeria on issues concerning the recent report from United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where it was emphatically affirmed that the world has only 15 years to reverse global warming or face cataclysmic consequences. Excerpts:
Fadina
Sir, what drives you?
My drive is sustainable development. I want to see the current environment preserved with fewer risks for the future generation.
Should the world and, indeed Nigeria, be worried about the IPCC report?
I think the most important thing for us is to look at the objective of the report. If someone gives you a report and that report is creating waves globally, we should ask, those people making those waves are they the right people? And I believe that, when you have over 1,300 experts (scientists and people from different professions) come up with a report in 2004 where they said the most critical challenge that we have in the 21st century is climate change and that it is a catastrophe that if we are not careful we will see to the end of the world. So, definitely there are basic issues in my view that have come out of this.
What are the issues in the report?
Some of the things that they have identified is that climate change for instance has become a challenge, not only unto the scientists but generally to all of us. I think the most important thing that IPCC report has done is to provide government around the world with a strident wake-up call. More or less, what they are saying now is that there is need to mainstream these scientific guidelines into national development.
Apart from their coming up with this report, there was also a group put together to review their report and this report has been considered by over 173 countries. Basically, there are some issues we need to look at. For example, in September, 2013 the group argued that mitigation against climate change needs to be sped up because the global temperature was flat. And arising out of that, they are also telling us in this particular report that if we don’t control the greenhouse, then there could be a collapse of the global system. Their argument is based on some critical issues and one of them is that climate change is having impact on every ecosystem, and we have seen it in Nigeria.
Unlike their report in 2007 that talked about climate change as being the greatest threat to mankind, they have come up with something else that talk about the climate itself, and the effect of that climate. They have stated that the world needs to go towards what is called a low carbon economy. Part of the report clearly stated that we should use less of coal and fossil fuel, which means as a nation it will affect us and we have to start creating an alternative to oil. It would affect the economy of developing countries especially countries that don’t even have what it takes to adjust to the emergencies. The number of people living in cities that are prone to flooding from the sea will be affected. And you know for instance that most of our cities like Lagos, Calabar and Port Harcourt are near the seas which means we need to do something fast.
They also mentioned that there would be a fundamental challenge to marine organisms and ecosystem; this will also be a challenge to us as it will affect our maritime system. They also talked about air pollution which is a very serious thing, they say this can cause health problems and we need also to address it. I recall about seven months ago the World Health Organisation came up with a report that linked about seven million deaths to air pollution worldwide; so there is a need for us to look into this kind of thing too. They also talked about warmer areas that in this warmer areas disease can come up such as malaria will spread, heat related deaths will arise and so on. There are quite a lot of things that will influence mortality, public health and institutions. They also emphasise the issue of poverty and the economic shortages that will arise, this will cause conflict. We have seen it in the case of the Fulani herdsmen in Benue, and some other states of Nigeria.
What are the economic implications?
The report says that GDP will be affected by climate impact because it doesn’t account for catastrophic losses which may be most important. Example, loss and damage have entered the dictionary of global negotiation. Loss and damage are substantially important to insurance industries. It also stressed the vulnerability of the poor to climate change, poverty and good living. Again, I believe it is something we need to look at holistically in economic planning.
The IPCC report, I must also mention, not only talks about the problem itself, but it also emphasise that we need to look at the totality of development. As climate change is no longer an issue of its own. It talks about the issue of social equity that we must now start to address the issues of environment, economic and social impact – economic and social impact in anything that we do. And it has introduced into the climate debate what is called the concept of social equity.
What can our government do about this situation?
There is an urgent need for us to come up with a group that can seriously look at this report: what can we do, how can we do it and how do we move forward? This is very important for us, especially now that we are aware that the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, is convening a conference in September this year in which Heads of States have to go. It is my own personal view that Nigeria should take a leadership role for Africa.
We also need to move beyond talking, we need to create a high level advocacy. So, in my view, we must seriously address those basic issues which we have raised. For me, this is not an issue you say its Federal Character issue; this touches at the heart of human existence. We must create awareness; people must know what steps we are taking. Individually, we also need to be disciplined. The report has also mentioned that apart from scientific causes arising from climate change, there are human factors. When God gave us the Earth, He said “manage my resources well”. That is a spiritual injunction on our part. Are we managing the resources well? It is not government alone; I don’t believe government alone can do it because nobody has the monopoly of knowledge. So there must be concerted efforts from all of us to make contributions. The most important thing is result. Our objective is to have a peaceful and healthy environment, and how we get it depends on us.
Do you think we are ready to adapt as a people or do we need external help?
We on our part must be able to identify our challenges; we must be able to say this is the way we want to go. Recently, the African Adaptation Report came up with some basic challenges that we face, and the question is, have we addressed those ones? We must first of all put our house in order otherwise whatever anybody is telling us may not meet our needs and aspirations. And in the process of doing this, we must put in place what I call a Capacity Building Mechanism that can tell people how we meet these challenges.
How should Nigeria prepare for the global conference on climate change, COP 20?
Possibly the easiest way I can put it is that we need to have a roadmap of what we need to do with timeliness; with who to do them, and the funding and collaborations from all of us. It is not a problem of rivalry; we have to find a solution because, at the end of the day, the fundamental issue that we must address is the welfare of the people.
When one thinks of endangered species, the usual large animals spring to mind. Elephants, tigers, rhinos. And quite rightly they are the ones who get the lion’s share of the attention at the meeting of the standing committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) held in Geneva last week.
But trees are endangered too and that is the main reason Greenpeace took part as an observer. Afroromosia is one such endangered species. A beautiful tree found across west and central Africa it is a much prized tropical hardwood that can be found on many high-end furniture and fittings across the globe.
But such high demand comes at a price. As I sat listening to the debates in Geneva my mind was drawn to a time when I saw piles and piles of Afrormosia logs – many of them illegally felled – littered around a port in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is home to the vast majority of remaining Afrormosia stocks, but if such illegal logging activity continues at the pace it is now, then the tree will soon be over-exploited.
However the first “surprise moment” of the meeting was seeing an industry lobby from the DRC sitting in the country’s delegation to the meeting. The Congolese Government’s contribution to the meeting was concerned primarily with the great difficulties loggers face in getting their timber out of the country and on to the international market.
This seemed to be implicitly sending a message to CITES to back up and leave the industry alone. But this should not happen hopefully if the body is serious about continuing its review of problem countries like the DRC and Laos for failures in implementation.
Data recently published by the think tank Chatham House revealed that 10 large logging companies are responsible for around 90% of all licensed harvesting of timber in the DRC and that two thirds of the resultant logs are from just four species: Sapele (Enthandophragma cylindricum), Wengé (Millettia laurentii), Iroko (Milicia excelsa) and Afrormosia (Pericopsis elata).
This suggests that the Congolese economic model is over-reliant on a just a handful of species from industrial logging concessions, a trend that usually leads to over harvesting. In Equateur and Oriental provinces, the situation is dire, with companies’ entire business models focused on trade in Afrormosia.
The second “surprise moment” of the week, was again sadly not that much of a surprise. A clear lack of enforcement from CITES against countries who fail to comply with their regulations is not uncommon. The organization is backed by a lot of sound science, but unfortunately is a global group that is highly politicized. This means hard language against on non-compliance is rare as it would impinge on the sovereignty of states.
The frustrating part of all of this is that while everyone knows enforcement of CITES regulations in the DRC is nothing short of a mess, it is very hard to do something because on paper all looks fine.
Nevertheless in Geneva concerned parties spoke up and encouraged the Congolese authorities to provide real evidence of trade quotas before the end of November this year and promised to debate if this trade was in fact detrimental to the survival of the species at next year’s plants committee meeting. It is an increasing occurrence that parties to CITES are not satisfied by paper promises alone.
What we feel should happen to really protect the Aformosia species is that the DRC immediately suspends all cutting of the tree and cancels all current authorizations to do so. Some companies who have been issued so-called CITES permits have informed the group’s Secretariat that these permits were “unaccounted for”. Legal action should be taken to ensure such fraud is stopped.
As far as CITES is concerned, there should be a country wide review or separate reviews for plants and animals and suspend all trade in CITES-listed species from DRC until compliance is guaranteed.
The same rigour should then be applied to any evidence the DRC provides regarding harvest and export rates. Check the paperwork, go out in to the forest and to the ports and see what is happening there, open up containers. That’s the only way to control the massive illegal trade in Afrormosia and other species from the DRC.
By Danielle Van Oijen (Forests Campaigner at Greenpeace Netherlands)
Environmental Journalism Scientists are increasingly confident that we are already seeing the impact of climate change. That means journalists have a real opportunity to tell local, personal stories about climate change that are both scientifically accurate and relevant to people’s daily lives. – Dr. Heather Goldstone, Boston, USA.
It is increasingly becoming common to see journalists who ordinarily would never delve into environmental reporting – because it is neither their university degree nor primary assignment – suddenly take interest in environmental reporting and drag themselves through the jargon-filled maze to become specialised environmental reporters. Zeynab Wandati of NTV, Kenya and Kofi Adu Domfeh of Luv FM, Ghana are just two of such reporters. They aver that they were never assigned to the beat but, as Kofi put it, “somehow I developed an interest in the area, and before I realised it I was overwhelmed and became so passionate that it is now like a romance.”
Wandati
If Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist who founded the analytical school of psychology, were alive today, he would simply describe this emerging phenomenon as the workings of the Collective Unconscious. The collective unconscious, which is proposed to be part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, is used to describe how the structure of the psyche autonomously organises experience. Distinct from the personal unconscious – a personal reservoir of experience unique to each individual – the collective unconscious collects and organises those personal experiences in a similar way with each member of a particular species. So, as Jung would explain, journalists are unconsciously reacting to the urgent needs of Earth in distress.
Domfeh
It is obvious that African journalists who are responding to this call are actually reacting to the manifest reality that developing countries will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change even as they strive to overcome poverty and advance economic growth. According to the United Nations Development Program, 2007 report, “Climate change is estimated to cause over 145 million deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa, as manifested by extreme famine, flooding, drought, erosion, biodiversity loss and conflicts arising from competition for scarce resources in the next 25 years.”
Ironically, across the continent, strategies, policies and action plans needed to defeat the challenges posed by climate change continue to face unnecessary setbacks at country, regional and global levels. And this is partly due to limited understanding of the issues at hand, poor designs of potential solutions, uncoordinated and systemic failures in implementations of plans by poorly equipped institutions charged to address climate change issues.
But at the core of the problems is the fact that compared to other societal issues such as politics, the subject has not received the necessary attention from the mainstream media, whose duty it is to simplify, demystify and communicate this seemingly arcane field to the masses, while ensuring the issues are accorded front burner attention. Therefore, every journalist has a moral and professional obligation to report issues that pertain to climate change. This does not necessarily entail the media man becoming an environmental journalist.
In fact, climate change is so important that there are strong opinions in some quarters that it should be divorced from the environment, and given its own pedestal with intersectoral and crosscutting status. David Roberts of Grist, recently argued that classifying climate change in the environmental reporting genre does not fit.
He wrote, “Climate change is about rapidly accelerating changes in the substrate of modern civilization, the weather patterns and sea levels that have held relatively steady throughout all advanced human development. By its nature, it affects everything that rests on that substrate: agriculture, land use, transportation, energy, politics, behavior … everything. Climate change is not “a story,” but a background condition for all future stories. The idea that it should or could be adequately covered by a subset of “environmental journalists” was always an insane fiction. It is especially insane given the declining numbers who identify themselves as such.
“We need to disentangle the fate of environmental journalism from media coverage of climate change. The two need not be connected. The pressing, nay existential imperative to divert from the status quo and radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions is necessarily enmeshed in all major human decisions. And so journalists who cover those decisions, whatever their “beat,” need to understand how climate change, as a background condition, informs or shapes the decisions. In journalism, as in other fields, climate needs to be freed from the “environmental” straightjacket.”
Nevertheless, for the African, it would serve empirical purposes to classify climate change with environment, because considering how both are currently intermingled with developmental issues in the continent; the journalist has a lot of consequential story to tell. Someone has to tell the public that most of the conflicts flaring up in Western, Eastern and Central Africa, are environment and climate change related. Someone has to educate the woman in the village what COP 20 means and how her future depends on the decisions that come out from that complicated confab. Someone has to tell the farmers how important the Met Office is to their planting seasons these days. Someone has to sex up the environmental stories in such a way to attract the attention of the editor-in-chief so as to make it a front page story.
But most importantly, the journalists writing on these all-important concerns need to have their capacity raised; trained and networked well enough to understand what the issues are, and how to effectively bridge the yawning communication gap in this emerging global concern.
Zeynab and Kofi mentioned in the opening paragraph are finalists in the second edition of the African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting Awards which was announced during the World Environment Day on 5th June, 2014, in Nairobi. The ACCER awards is organised by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, a continental coalition of civil society organisations on a mission to develop and promote pro-poor development and equity based positions relevant for Africa in the international climate change dialogue and related processes; in conjunction with partners like the United Nations Environmental Programme, Oxfam, etc.
According to PACJA’s Secretary General, Mithika Mwenda, “The award is our strategy to promote innovative ways to position climate change and other environmental issues at the centre-stage of socio-economic and political debates; and there is need to incentivise and interest African journalists and media houses to be champions of climate change. The ACCER Awards seeks to encourage constructive environmental focus in the African media, both at policy and policy implementation level and at the level of public awareness and participation in environmental protection and preservation”.
This year, PACJA took a further strategic step by starting The ACCER Awards Finalists Academy. TAAFA seeks to upgrade the understanding of the average journalist to the climate change discourse in a participatory and innovative ambience; tackling the numerous challenges encountered in covering climate change issues, and setting out structured frameworks for mainstreaming African media participation in global engagements.
In Nigeria, media organisations like the Nigerian Network of Climate Communicators (NNCC) that is led by Michael Simire, Network of Environmental Journalists in Nigeria (NEJIN), Nigeria Association of Science Journalists (NASJ) lead the way in this regard. Nonetheless, there is need for environment-related Ministries, Departments and Agencies to carry journalists along in their activities. For now this is the only way to increase their capacity, expose them to global trends, and incentivise them to not only maintain professional savvy, but to ‘keep at the beat’ in the midst of other alluring sectors like politics. On the part of the journalist, there is need to continue updating knowledge via personal research and also actively seek to simplify the climate change message for the public, and for the editor whose task it is to decide the fate of the story.
On January 2014, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan inaugurated operation “Light-Up Rural Nigeria” with a pledge to ensure constant power supply to Nigerians in rural areas, but investigations reveal that the project, which has a target of 111 villages by 2015, is yet to complete its pilot in just three villages of Abuja, six months after.
Solar platforms at Waru
The project is aimed at using renewable energy to get electricity across to rural communities in all the 36 states of the federation, especially communities that are not connected to the national grid.
Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, was reported to have said at the inauguration, “The first stage, which is the pilot stage, intends to utilise 100 per cent solar energy to power hundreds of communities. The second stage will incorporate wind energy as an integrated solution, as soon as our researches on the meteorological and technical specifications vis-a-vis demographics are completed. The final stage will include biomass as energy source.”
This pilot project, fully funded by the Federal Ministry of Power, is executed by an indigenous firm, Lordezetech Engineering, in conjunction with two foreign companies, Schneider and Philips.
Ifeanyi Ezeh, lead consultant to the Presidential Energy Reform Agenda on Power and Operation Light Up Rural Nigeria of the Federal Ministry of Power, had earlier said that the project was going fast and smooth with all the inhabitants of the pilot villages enjoying 24 hour lighting.
According to him, “The Ministry of Power has gone far. Not just that we have gone far, but we are happy with the outcome. Based on the fact that within the three villages that have been commissioned, I can assure you that none of these villages have ever for once witnessed a blink or fluctuation in their power supply (from solar).”
The three villages chosen for the pilot are Durumi Community in Bwari Area Council; and Waru and Shape communities both in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
Shape is to get 200 kilowatts of solar power, Waru 150kilowatts, while Durumi gets 150 kilowatts too.
But on-sight investigations reveal that the project might not be able to meet its objectives as the government has not successfully completed the pilot stage.
The Waru community, one of the beneficiaries, is yet to enjoy the solar power like Shape and Durumi, as the engineers carrying out the project have not completed their work.
It was also discovered that Waru is currently being connected to the national grid of PHCN even as the solar project is ongoing, thereby defeating the government’s aim of powering off-grid rural communities.
At the inauguration of the project, President Jonathan had said, “We are starting the year by giving light to our people especially in the rural communities. ‘Operation Light Up Rural Nigeria’ has been initiated under the second phase of our power sector reform programme planned for the post privatisation period.”
The President had mandated that, before the end of the year, at least 111 villages nationwide would be lighted up, comprising three rural communities in every senatorial district in Nigeria.
But it seems Waru Community which is just a few miles away from the other beneficiary community, Shape, is a blot in President Jonathan’s vision and optimism; and an epitome of failed projects in Nigeria.
Victoria, a petty trader in Waru, said in a sinking tone, “It has been a long time now since we saw the workmen coming here to mount the electricity poles for the solar project, but since then we have not seen any light. What we are hearing is that NEPA (i.e. PHCN) will give us light soon, because the village has bought a transformer.”
Another Waru resident named Osita said that, initially when the solar project started at the beginning of the year, there used to be lighting for the village from the streetlights mounted on the solar power poles of the solar workers, but the light had ceased for the past three months.
“That is why we have lost hope in the solar lights. There is no solar anywhere, we have been using generators; although we heard that it is working in other communities like Durumi. In fact, their pipes (the metal platforms constructed for the solar panels) are now used by women as clothe dryers!” he added.
When our correspondent visited the chief of Waru, Ibrahim A. Sarki, he disclosed that the village has obtained transformers through self-help efforts, which they hoped to be connected to the PHCN power lines soon.
In the major road that ran through Waru, the PHCN power lines could be seen standing parallel to the newly mounted solar power lines.
An Abuja-based solar technology expert who did not want his name mentioned on print was of the opinion that the situation has rubbished “the so-called Light Up Rural Nigeria” because, according to him, Waru community is not rural community by any standard.
“Waru is just a town in Abuja and it is not a rural community. Can you see the number of exotic cars entering the village daily? Those are the residents. They are not villagers. Neither is the community off-grid. You can see NEPA (PHCN) poles running through the streets,” the technician said.
“If the government is sincere and efficient, there are many off-grid communities that need these lights. They are in Gwagwalada, in Kuje, in Kwali. They are in many places in the FCT; not to mention in Nigeria. It is not enough to look for convenient communities very close to town, give them solar power, and go about saying you are lighting up the rural areas.”
On his part, the Waru Chief, Sarki, said that the village is happy with the government but from all indications the company handling the Light Up Rural Nigeria project in Waru were nonchalant in their attitude towards the ongoing solar electrification work in the village.
“For the past three months we have not seen any sign that the project is ongoing. But when they started, there was so much activities going on. In fact, right in front of my palace they mounted street lamps and everywhere is illuminated in the night.
“But today, it is very obvious that they have abandoned us. Look at the whole place, nothing significant is going on, although the Engineer told me the other day that they will soon conclude the work,” Sarki said.
Along the single water logged road in Waru, there were skeletons of solar panel platforms mounted ostensibly for the solar project, but now abandoned by the project executors.
There was one platform in front of the Chief’s palace, another nearby at a village centre, and another one, near the primary school by the local football field. However, the solar panel platform inside the Health Centre has been fully mounted with solar panels.
When our correspondent visited the completed solar panel platform, there were some workmen inside the Waru Health Centre who said they were still working on the project and that, soon, other skeletons would have solar panels and the project would be completed.
But Waru residents were not happy with the speed of construction which has been going on for over six months now. In fact, they said the “solar project’s failure” is why they are intensifying efforts to embrace PHCN power grid.
Yusuf Suleiman, an Abuja based solar technology expert, told EnviroNews Nigeria in a separate interview that the Federal Government is doing a great job in the Light Up Rural Nigeria project, but needed to put more experienced renewable energy specialists on its team in order to deploy more sustainable strategies.
He said the project must not be politicised, so that relevant communities, which are off-grid would be selected.
“There are many deep rural communities in the country, who need renewable energy for micro-enterprise and better livelihood. They are not near the cities, they are far-flung and variant. It needs expertise and selfless consideration to identify them, and effectively implement the project,” he said.
In the other two pilot villages of Shape and Durumi, it was all success stories.
The day our correspondent visited Shape, it was a rainy night and because there was neither moon nor stars in the gloomy sky, the entire surrounding en-route was pitch-dark.
The car veered off the tarred road by the left, about 7kilometres off the Apo Mechanic Village; and began a bumpy journey into a mud path to Shape village, as the road was barely lighted by the two circular white glows from the car head lamps.
The twists and turns through a mixture of stones and mud, and crisscrossing rain-formed springs across the un-tarred hilly route almost shoved the crew into a decision to make a u-turn rather than climb up towards the obscure community.
Just then, there appeared, as if from nowhere, what could only be described as a “city on a hill” right in the middle of the bushes on a high land drenched in the night rain; for all the brightness that oozed off the street lights which adorned the lucky FCT village.
The first building on the undulating settlement housed an all-purpose shop, owned by a lady who rented the building for her business. But the irony is that for a solar powered village, the shop had an ‘I pass my neighbour’ generator humming in the background.
The lady, Miss Nwanyibuife, told our correspondent that her generator was an exception, because the whole village was solar-powered. She showed that the external lights in the building were solar powered by single solar panels snugly clipped to the zinc roof and wired to a battery box mounted on the wall exterior.
“I was not in my shop the day the village was wired that is why I only have exterior solar lighting. In the house where I live down the road, I can use my household gadgets because sockets were mounted for me by the engineers just like they did for other villagers.
“I have already called the engineers to fix sockets for my shop, so very soon they will fix them for me. In this village, everybody is enjoying solar. We use our TV, our fans, and we charge our phones with it.”
The Chief of Shape, Yakubu Kuruzhi, who later welcomed EnviroNews Nigeria into his palace, echoed the words of Nwanyibuife.
“As you can see, we are all enjoying 24 hours power supply free from the Federal Government’s solar project. Although we cannot use heavy household equipment like refrigerators, fridges, electrical iron, cookers, etc.
“The President himself came here to this village to launch this project. We are benefitting from it today. In fact, two of the villagers have been engaged by the engineers to work with them.”
The village chief sat in his long couch in his palace which looked every inch a house in the city just because there was electricity lighting everywhere: there was music, there was fan, and there was television, in a village which ordinarily would not have experienced such because it was rural community and totally off-grid.
The village paths were criss-crossed by metallic poles meshed with electric wires for the solar lighting and on some poles were mounted energy efficient street lamps which are switched on every evening to illuminate the village till morning.
Right in the centre of the village square near the chief’s palace is a statue of President Jonathan erected beside the solar panels and power back up central station for the village.
The whole atmosphere is not only evocative of the aura of just another Abuja town simply because of its status as a freshly transformed solar village, but there still lingers that presidential air, because actually The Number One Citizen of Nigeria did actually visit Shape to inaugurate the solar project sometime earlier in the year.
With the whole residents in the beneficiary villages enjoying full power without paying for them, the issue of maintenance and sustainability of the project was a concern to our investigators.
Eze addressed it thus: “Actually maintenance is a major problem for the solar industry in Nigeria regarding deployment of solar technology. The fact is that many unprofessional technicians went into solar energy, just to come in and make money. But some of us are looking at sustainability.
“In my own system, we have what is called solar fault detecting gadget; which enables you to detect any fault in the solar equipment without even loosing the circuit. All you need to do is to plug it and through a digital collative display you see where the fault is. If it is from the system, if it is accumulation, LED, switches, etc. you will know.
“Regarding payment, currently I am working on a metering system, a digital system that will enable the individuals to pay as they consume. It will be ready in the nearest future. For now it is free. But the President has made it known that soon a policy will be ready with regard to the management of these systems so that people will be paying for the energy they consume.”
There are indications that Nigeria may host the next UN-REDD Policy Board meeting, which will be the 13th in the series. The development is however not yet confirmed as the 20-member UN-REDD Programme Policy Board that met during the week in Lima, Peru are also considering Tanzania to organise the gathering.
Participants at the UN-REDD Policy Board Meeting, Lima, Peru, 7-9 July, 2014
The 13th UN-REDD Policy Board meeting is scheduled to hold November 2014.
The UN-REDD Programme Policy Board is made up of representatives from partner countries, donors to the Multi-Partner Trust Fund, civil society, Indigenous Peoples and the three Participating UN Organisations (FAO, UNDP and UNEP). The Policy Board’s role is to approve financial allocations and give strategic direction to ensure the overall success of the Programme.
A forester, Salisu Dahiru, who is of the Forestry Department in the Federal Ministry of Environment, heads Nigeria’s UN-REDD Programme, which a couple of years ago accessed about $4 million from the parent body to execute the country’s REDD Readiness Programme.
Salisu Dahiru, Head of Nigeria’s UN-REDD Programme
Dahiru disclosed that, if Nigeria eventually gets the nod, the meeting would probably hold at the Obudu Cattle Ranch (or Obudu Mountain Resort) in Cross River State. With a semi-temperate climate, the Ranch has in recent times seen an influx of both local and international tourists because the development of tourists facilities there by the host government has turned it into one of the most popular tourist centres in the country.
At the Lima meeting that held 7-9 July 2014, the UN-REDD Programme approved $35,481,763 in REDD+ readiness funds. The policy board also approved decisions that support the design of a 2016-2020 Programme strategy that will align with evolving partner country needs. The meeting was attended by more than 100 participants representing 25 countries, indigenous peoples and civil society organisations, and donor countries – and was marked by a collaborative, forward-looking atmosphere.
The approved REDD+ readiness funds included the allocation of funds for the National Programmes of Argentina, Cote d’Ivoire and Mongolia – respectively $3,842,370, $3,210,000 and $3,996,450. Participants highlighted the unique REDD+ learning opportunities of each National Programme. Argentina’s programme will address the large numbers of private landowners in the agriculture sector and soy production as one of the main drivers of deforestation. Cote d’Ivoire’s innovation programme will take into account the competition for forest lands with the cocoa, timber and rubber industries. Mongolia represents the first boreal forest National Programme to be funded by the UN-REDD Programme.
Policy board members also approved $24.4 million for the Programme’s “Support to National REDD+ Action: Global Programme Framework 2011-2015” (SNA) modality of support to partner countries for 2015. This includes direct support to countries in the form of “targeted support” and “backstopping”, which are designed to support and strengthen countries’ efforts to design REDD+ strategies, develop technical capacities and exchange knowledge.
In addition, members approved a roadmap to develop the 2016-2020 UN-REDD Programme strategy by May 2015, which includes a strong participatory process. Participants, including donors, cited the value of the UN-REDD Programme in building the foundation of REDD+ readiness and the importance of continuing the Programme through 2020 with a strategy that is designed to meet the evolving needs of partner countries as they progress towards the results-based phase of REDD+.
Other highlights of the meeting included:
Uganda’s overview of its REDD+ efforts contributing to its goal to achieve 24% forest cover (from a current 15%) through reforestation, conservation and sustainable agroforestry.
Ecuador’s presentation of a new ministerial level decree on free, prior and informed consent, and the lessons learned from the process.
A progress update on the REDD+ Academy, with the first regional sessions announced to take place in Indonesia, Nigeria and Argentina.
Demonstration of a new tool for tracking progress of National Programmes – the REDD+ Radar – that can be used by country partners, donors and others.
The Policy Board meeting was preceded by an Information Sharing Day on 7 July that was attended by H.E. Pak Heru Prasetyo, Head of the Indonesia National REDD+ Agency, and H. E. Manuel Pulgar-Vidal Peru Environment Minister, who both highlighted the importance of REDD+ to climate change mitigation and the importance of the support delivered through the UN-REDD Programme to advance national REDD+ efforts. The ministers also emphasized the role of forests at the upcoming climate summit and UNFCCC COP20 in Lima.
During the Information Sharing Day, countries shared experiences and progress on key areas of work. Panama shared its new land-use mapping technology and a documentary on developing its national forest inventory. Zambia, Sri Lanka and Peru shared experiences and perspectives on their National Strategies. An update was also shared on preparations for the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit to take place in September 2014
Mile-12 market is known as the food headquarters in Lagos; where food is cheap, plenty, yet at best quality. Trailer loads of food, from various regions of the country, course their way into the market’s narrow entrance, thus constantly creating the traffic gridlock the axis is known for. After navigating through the mire and wastes from fruits and vegetable which have now formed a new layer of the market’s floor, we met Tambari Tarai, a middle aged tomato farmer.
Mallam Tarai, who brings his tomatoes in a trailer load from Zaria to Lagos, says that tomatoes are very expensive at this time of the year. Asking him the reason for this, he says the rainfall this year has been erratic.
Mallam Tambari Tarai
“Since this year, the rain falling, falling, falling,” he says in colloquial English.
“When rain fall like this, it spoils tomatoes and, because of that, a lot of tomatoes are wasted. Tomatoes does not like too much water.”
According to him, the farmers are not expecting rain so soon, and so have not prepared for the downpour.
Agricultural experts have observed that in as much as tomatoes need a lot of water to grow, too much of it has negative effects on the product.
This, according to them, results in huge postharvest losses, so the few quantity that can be transported is highly priced.
He transports his tomatoes in lorry loads through a day’s journey to Lagos. Explaining his routine, he says a trailer with 10 tyres carries 350 baskets of tomatoes, while that with 12 tyres carries 370 baskets of tomatoes.
“I pay N250,000 to carry 350 baskets, and sometimes N270,000-N300,000 (around USD 1500-1600) to carry 370 baskets,” he says in his Hausa-accentuated English.
Mallam Tarai is not the only one in this situation. Abubarkar, a 29-year-old tomatoe seller, shares his experience. “I bring my tomato from Katsina. This year too much rain. that is why tomato is costly,” he laments.
On arrival at Mile 12, the price of a basket of tomatoes goes for between N8,000 and N13,000, depending on the quality and freshness of the tomatoes. Baskets with lots of rotten or overly soft tomatoes deteriorate faster and so cost less. The price reflects on all markets in Lagos as retailers come from Oshodi, Agegfe, Ikorodu, Mile 2, Ajegunle and other markets to buy from Mile 12.
Defying predictions?
In March 2014, the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET) released the yearly Seasonal Rainfall Pattern (SRP), which usually informs on the supposedly onset and end of rainfall, amount of rainfall and the latitude and longitude of rainfall in the six geopolitical regions of the country.
Tarai’s farm is in Zaria, Kaduna, North West Nigeria. Going by NIMET predictions, rain is to start around February 20 in the southernmost part of the country to around June 21 in the northernmost parts.
Maps showing the onset of rain in 2014
The prediction, which indicates that rain is to start in Zaria on the 17th of May, is a departure from Mallam Tarai’s experience. Mr. G.M. Eya, NIMET’s contact person for Katsina, confirms that rain started in January in the state. Speaking exclusively with him, he says though climate change contributes to the reason for the deviation, but there are certain unusual rainfall that happens occasionally. He was quick to bare his mind that such rain is not voluminous enough to destroy tomatoes since most of the farmers in this region use irrigation farming.
It should also be noted that NIMET’s forecast is based on the strong tele-connection between El Nino/Southern Oscillations (ENSO), Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies and rain-bearing weather systems over Nigeria. Although the Agency has got some predictions right in the past, what is being experienced in the actual farming is a departure from this prediction.
Climate scientists all over the world have identified that one of the sectors of human existence that will be affected by changing weather patterns is agriculture and, consequently, food security. Experts have also linked food insecurity to health problems such as malnutrition and mortalities.
Impact on food prices
Tomatoes, which is often debated whether it is fruit or vegetable, is a delicacy that enriches the food appearances, tastes and also contain nourishing micronutrients such as potassium and vitamins. The micronutrients of public health importance include: Vitamin A, Iron, Folic Acid Iodine, and Zinc, which are contained in most of these foods.
A basket of tomatoes at Mile 12 market in Lagos sells for $80
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals most of which are not made in the body, or only in insufficient amounts, which are required in small quantities to ensure normal metabolism, growth and physical well‐being. Tomatoes are medically proven to reduce cancers especially prostate cancer. Its rich lycopene content makes it for good anti-ageing. They also contain phytochemicals which have antioxidants characteristics. Antioxidants neutralise free radicals which damage body cells. For instance, pepper are the richest source of vitamins A and C, contain lycopene known to reduce cancer, beta carotene which helps protect against certain cancers, vitamin B6 which is good for improving brain function.
Alhaja Yinusa, who sells baskets of pepper and tomatoes around the market, says once tomato price goes up, it affects the prices of other food such as red pepper, green pepper an onions. At most markets, during this report, tomato is almost unaffordable. A very meagre pieces of pale and sickly looking tomatoes are sold for N50 as against red, juicy balls of eight or 10. Lots of women during this period use alternatives such as tomatoes pastes and powdered tomatoes to give the tomato feel. But how much can the nutritional value be preserved, unlike fresh tomatoes? This has also affected the price and quantity of food at eateries and food hangouts. The high prices also affects prices of food per plate at restaurants, eateries and other hangouts.
Impact on health
Nigeria is one of the 36 countries in the world that account for 90 per cent of the world burden of malnutrition. Demographers deduce in the 2013 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), that wasting, stunting and underweight in children are at the highest in the North East (Taraba, Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa, Gombe, Yobe) and North Western (Kaduna, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina) parts of the country. While it is the least in South East, South South and South West.
Dr. Chris. Isokpunwu, Head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health, says this indices is directly linked to poverty. He demonstrated that the regions where there is high poverty head count, there is also a high level of stunting. It can be observed that regions where most of these foods are brought in from such as Kaduna, Jos, Katsina, have their own people suffering the most from malnutrition.
According to a recent World Bank Report, though oil rich, Nigeria is listed as one of the world’s five poorest countries; implying that availability of money determines healthy nutrition such as a balanced diet and thus good health.
According to him, malnutrition and nutrition related diseases continue to be problems of public health importance in Nigeria as it slows economic growth and perpetuates poverty through direct losses in productivity from poor physical status; indirect losses from poor cognitive function and deficits in schooling; and losses owing to increased health care costs.
Furthermore, the prevalence of the iron deficiency anaemia is 48 per cent among pregnant women, 34 per cent among under five children, and 24 per cent among mothers. Iron deficiency is known to contribute to low birth weight in children, thus increasing new-born and child mortality.
Iodine deficiency causes Iodine deficiency Disorders (IDD), 13 per cent among under-five children, 10.5 per cent pregnant women, 13 per cent among nursing mothers.”
Any interventions?
Although the country recorded some progress when, in 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) rated Nigeria as one of the countries to have reduced the number of hungry people by half thus meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1, nevertheless, the report on State of the Food Insecurity in the World 2012 states that there are 852 million hungry people, majority of who live in developing country especially Africa.
NIMET’s Mr Eya says farmers are sensitised each year on what to expect so as to prevent losses in crop yield. “We give the information to the farmers through government agencies like the Agriculture Ministry. I remember I spoke at Radio Katsina and other media organisations, just to sensitise our farmers.”
Mallam Tarai, who is semi-literate, says he knows nothing about the NIMET prediction, thus he is perplexed at the change in rainfall pattern.
Resolution of two critical issues that have caused a deep divide at the National Conference formed a part of the plenary session of the Conference on Wednesday, a day partially devoted to debate on the modalities for the implementation of the Conference report.
One of the issues which were handled by a special committee comprising leaders of geo-political zones and other selected delegates was the Land Use Act and the contentious argument as to whether or not it should be removed from the constitution. The other critical issue which had split the Conference into two regional blocs was the Derivation Principle. It bordered on whether the existing 13% allowed by the Constitution should be retained, reduced or increased.
On the Land Use Act, the argument for its retention in the 1999 Constitution was based on the belief that allowing the Act to go would give chance for oligarchs to take over lands which the Land Use Act has democratised with the government as the intervening body.
Supporters of this school of thought also said that since land is not a renewable commodity, it must not be left at the mercy of land speculators; and that removing it from the constitution would be discriminatory and unjust to the poor. It was their position that removing the Act from the constitution would create dichotomy; describing the suggestion as a grand design for the rich to buy land at cheap prices, a situation they said would lead to crisis that cannot be managed.
On the other side, the argument was that the Land Use Act should remain a law but must be removed from the constitution to make it easy for amendment. They argued that, at present, amending the Act through the constitution has become too cumbersome and that, in other countries, land tenure is universal while governments nearest to the communities serve land tenure better. They complained that governments have taken peoples land and have refused to pay compensation; and that since the promulgation of the Act, access to land has remained a major problem, thus hindering economic development.
It was also stated that the power of compulsory acquisition vested on state governors has been, in most cases, used arbitrarily without the payment of adequate compensation to land owners. The committee noted that both sides of the argument were convincing; unfortunately none of them agreed with the other and no side agreed to back down.
Thus, in its decision which was accepted by the Conference, it was stated that the Act would be retained in the constitution while certain amendments would be carried out in certain sections of the Act. For instance, one of such amendment would enable land owners to determine the price and value of their land. It allows government to negotiate with land owners and not compensate them.
It was also resolved that the customary right of occupancy in Section 21 of the Act be amended to read “Customary Right of Occupancy should have the same status as statutory Right of Occupancy, and should also be extended to urban land”. It was also agreed that Section 7 of the Act which deals with the restriction on rights of persons under the age of 21 to be granted statutory right of occupancy should be amended to read “restriction of persons under the age of 18”. This, it was argued, is because the Child Rights Act stipulates that a person attains adulthood at the age of 18. With the decision on the issue of the Land Use Act, the report of the Committee on Land Tenure Matters and National Boundary was formally adopted, as amended.
