The member representing Ikwuano Umuahia federal constituency, Honourable Sam Onuigbo says Nigeria will attain Net Zero on or before the year 2060.
Expert simply describes net zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. We reach net zero when the amount we add is no more than the amount taken away.
Honourable Onuigbo stated this while delivering a paper recently on Net Zero Laws, Nationally Determined Contributions, NDCs and Green Recovery : Who’s Getting it Right. The Nigerian Perspective at the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh.
The federal law maker told the forum that Nigeria because of its large population was an investment heaven for investors and used the telecommunication as example of organisations that utilized the opportunity when they were encouraged in the year 2000. He disclosed that Nigerians who are coming from Saha zone in the north are finding it as difficult area to inhabit because of draught desertification combined to render those places difficult for people to farm.
Onuigbo also mentioned security implication because of what comes from oil, therefore, he assured that Nigeria is ready to show transit to Net Zero, but the country is doing it in a conscious way.
According to him, January 2001, it was discovered that Nigeria gas reserve was about two hundred and sixty five three trillion cubits fit and if added to oil, Nigeria has under grounding her transit to Net Zero. He revealed that the gathering that Nigeria “have to bear in mind that gas will serve as a fuel bridge for Nigeria to transit”.
He added that he was able to sponsor a bill on Climate Change which is awaiting Presidential assent.
According to Hon Onuigbo, it was going to be 45%, but between then and now, Nigeria have increased to 47% and the country also talked about gender male streaming to factor everything and make sure our NDCE is significantly enhanced, when President Muhammadu Buhari spoke early this week at the UN during Cop26, he talked about how far Nigeria have gone and he was able to make the landmark pronunciation about Nigeria attaining NetZero by the year 2060.
On the Questions: “what have we (Nigeria) been able to do, to help the country move or proceed to NetZero, What have we captured. What other laws are helping us to be able to put all this things together”
Onuigbo said for instance, the supreme court of Nigeria in 2019 passed a landmark verdict that on the issue of pollution, you don’t need to have local standing before you go to court, which now emboldens environmentalist to be able to challenge a company or an individual that is not acting properly. He said in addition, in clause 34 of the bill (Climate Change) which has been passed, we also stated that anybody that engaged in any practice that negatively affected the result of the nation to attain NetZero or any climate activity, such a person is guilty of an offense, so this are some of the steps we have taken, coming from the legal aspects to demonstrate that we are committed to this. But, then as we are talking about been committed to that, it reminds one about the efforts, the developed countries are making to support the developing nations to actually move to NetZero and the promises made.
How much of that has been realized. Are we driven to attain NetZero and at the same time for the people of developing word or are we truly determined to arrest a situation.
The law maker stated that the world knows if Nigeria continue the way we are going, pretending we are not hearing the sound of the train coming through the rail or not hearing the horn that climate change has come and has become serious, then we tend to be deceiving ourselves. It is important that everyone realizes that.
He maintained that today Nigeria are talking about NetZero, the country are talking about laws, we are talking about who is getting it right, like she (the moderator) said, no one has gotten it right completely, but there is need for us to work as a team because climate change, pollution, they are botherless.
If anybody told people from the western part of Europe that flash flood was going to kill people in developed countries like Germany, Belgium and even in China it would have sounded like Greek. We use to say climate change are issuing warning shots, but this no more warning shots, it is leaving with us, that’s why trying to attain net zero is important. But we want to see genuine efforts, because with genuine efforts and what we learnt from COVID 19 (wherever it starts from , it will definitely get to the other side).
In conclusion, Honourable Sam Onuigbo said for us (Nigeria) and what we have been able to do on the NDC and how we have raised the NDC and how we have been able to factor in our law, that if you do anything that is not positive in terms of tackling the issue of climate change, you are guilty of an offense and also given the fact that the Supreme court of Federal Republic of Nigeria has passed a verdict that anyone can stand up and take a suit on a company or an individual that is not acting in a proper form.
The federal law maker said he believes that this coup offers us a tremendous opportunity of coming together and not pretending to wait till tomorrow.
His words “we have to work as a team and attain NetZero, Having said that , let me conclude by saying , whatever effort we are going to make, we have to carry people along and this is very important. If we are transiting and you don’t have the rest of the world coming with you, we all have to hit NetZero as soon as possible.
However, Onuigbo made it clear that it is important that whatever we (world) are doing to attain NetZero, must be fair, it must be Just and inclusive in such a way that it captures the variable communities and societies amongst us and above all whatever we are going to do must have a human face, it must not be draconian in form.
