FG working on creation of climate change council, says minister

Mohammed Abdullahi, minister of environment, says the federal government is on course to set up the climate change council.

Abdullahi said this on Monday in a post on his Twitter handle.

Lift Humanity Foundation (LHF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), had tweeted about its intended campaign titled ‘Know Your Nigeria Climate Change Act Campaign’.

The campaign, aimed at promoting awareness on the climate change act, is supported by other civil society organisations (CSOs), including Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), Ecocycle and Global Initiative for Food and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP).

Speaking on the development, Abdullahi said “nothing has changed” as the federal government is working on the administrative and legal requirements to set up the council.

“Nothing has changed. The #climateChangeAct is on course for implementation. @NigeriaGov is working from the background and addressing administrative & legal prerequisites for the take off the Council. Be rest assured that [Nigeria] is on course in that direction,” he tweeted.

In November 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the climate change bill into law and this set the stage for a climate change council to be established.

TheCable had earlier reported how six months after the president’s assent, the council is yet to be set up — this is despite some of the provisions of the act having a 12-month timeline.

CSOs have also started asking questions about what could be causing the delay, given that the next climate change conference is in a few months.

Meanwhile, in an interview with TheCable, Michael Terungwa, executive director of GIFSEP, said Nigeria needs to show seriousness by implementing the act, so as to attract climate financing.

“If something says 12 months, we must not wait for the 12th month to begin implementation. At least start something let us see that something is going on,” he said.

On his part, Yahaya Dangana, a legal practitioner, suggested that the federal government should be taken to court and be forced to implement the act to which it assented.