INTRODUCTION
Continuing from where we left off last week today we shall engage in an in depth analysis of the meaning of climate change, looking at it from all ramifications and angles. Read on.
WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE? (Continues)
Some of the solution proffered were the need to mainstream climate change into national, regional and state development plans, adapt policies needed to be an integral part of government initiatives, given the cross-cutting nature of the impact of climate change, as well as provide an important intersection between development and climate change adaptation and remediation in that they both aim to reduce the root causes of vulnerability. Others include raising awareness on issues of climate change which is presently at low especially amongst vulnerable groups
like women, children, even at the grassroots, especially rural dwellers, as well as revive the tree planting program by raising awareness for individuals to plant trees.
As part of the efforts to mainstream the climate change, the Federal government has proactively taken steps in addressing environmental problems. These include effective management of waste, flood and coastal erosion. It has also built up our advocacy programs through workshops, seminars, public lectures, media campaign, climate change and waste water summits, tree planting land reclamation, landscaping and beautification, campaign against desertification through the desert warriors, and control of land, water, noise and air pollution.
Allied to this, the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative is a planned project to plant a wall of trees across Africa
at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert as a means to prevent desertification. It is to be implemented in Nigeria in eleven
frontline States of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno. It will cover 43
LGAs in the frontline states to be covered to rehabilitate 225,000Ha of lands. It involves establishment of green wall or shelterbelt
from Kebbi State to Borno State, a distance of 1,500 km and 15 km wide, Community Sensitization & Mobilization, Promotion of
alternative sources of energy, promotion of alternative means of livelihoods, Promotion of dry land agricultural technology and
promoting alternative water source for human, plant and animal use through solar powered boreholes, with over 300 functional
boreholes in operation as at early September 2016.
Apart from the suggestions encapsulated herein, and steps taken by government so far, there is also the need to adopt appropriate
technologies to mitigate the scourge at all levels, while there should be strengthening of the weak human capacity and infrastructure for mainstreaming climate change. In national development.
Similarly, as part of the science of climate change the curriculum planners should ensure that they put in place core knowledge of,
and information about, climate change as part’ of compulsory education for students at all levels. Students should learn about the potential impacts of unmanaged climate change, as well as options for adaptation and mitigation, in order to enable a complete and robust understanding
Additionally, University lecturers should be financially motivated to carry out research in various fields of knowledge related to
climate change, so that innovative research can contribute to practical solutions.
Furthermore, policy makers, school administrators, teachers, parents, and students should embark on raising awareness of
climate change in Nigeria. Also, appropriate technologies for adaptation and mitigation should be deployed at all levels, while there should be strengthening of the weak human capacity and infrastructure for mainstreaming climate change in national development.
Furthermore, it is presently being argued that there is paucity of data for mainstreaming of climate change in development issues, and there is an urgent need to reverse this trend by generating abundant data and statistics that will enhance the application of
key performance indicators for the purpose of effective monitoring and evaluation.
One is very positive and hopeful that with adherence to the solutions proffered, they will go a long way in taming climate change disasters thereby enabling both government and the people to concentrate on programs, policies, projects and activities that will eventually enhance the determination of the then President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration to move the nation forward thereby achieving the desired change.
Moreover, in the southern Nigeria, climate change is also reflected in the massive flood experienced in 2012, houses, farms, farm products, properties and even human beings were swept away. Also the statistics released by the southwest zonal office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) about 2 years ago show that no fewer than 5000 persons were affected and 60 houses destroyed in a windstorm which occurred in four states in the South -West region.
Negligence and failure to tackle the issue of climate change by successive government administrations in Nigeria, which has been stated to contribute to the rise of insurgency across the country. It is necessary for active preventive measures to be taken and adapted to prevent catastrophic results as regards climate change. Around few decades ago, the Lake covered an area of over 40,000 square kilometers, whereas it now encompasses a mere 1,300 square kilometers. While the negative trend continues unabated and as land is laid to waste by the rising temperature leading to the rapid southward expansion of the Sahara Desert. Farmlands and surrounding villages became barren and were swallowed up by advancing desertification, which led to massive migration of people in search of more fertile terrain from the north east towards the greener plateau and middle belt regions. Rising-temperature-and-people-migrating, growing desertification forced thousands of Fulani herdsmen to move to the south and middle belt leading to clashes with crop farmers culminating in death of hundreds according to the reports of residents and activists (source: https://fmic.gov.ng/climate-change-nigeria-brief-review-causes-efforts-solution).
Over a billion people in the world defecate in the open. Open defecation is the human practice of emptying of bowels in the open environment, rather than into a toilet, or structures designed for its purpose. In 2018, the National Outcome Routine Mapping, NORM, reported that an estimated number of 47 million Nigerians defecate in the open environment; this common act has earned Nigeria a ranking in Africa and in the World. (Source: https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/nigeria/64776/eu-and-unicef-call-clean-water-and-toilets-all-nigerian-schools en). In Africa, Nigeria is described as the country with the largest number of persons practicing open defecation, and the second-largest country with this practice in the world, after India. This act is widely practiced by children, adults and even the aged. There is also a close index in the number of males and females engaging in open defecation. This seems to suggest that open defecation is a general problem in Nigeria. (To be continued).
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us”. (Bill Nye).
LAST LINE
God bless my numerous global readers for always keeping faith with the Sunday Sermon on the Mount of the Nigerian Project, by humble me, Prof Mike Ozekhome, SAN, CON, OFR, FCIArb., LL.M, Ph.D, LL.D, D.Litt, D.Sc. kindly, come with me to next week’s exciting dissertation.
