Niger-Delta: FG Unveils
Niger-Delta: FG Unveils Action plan to tackle Climate
Change
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr.Usani Uguru Usani has
disclosed that the preparation of the Document: “Niger Delta Region
Climate Change Programme and Action Plan” was necessitated by the
need to address the social and economic development of the Niger
Delta region of Nigeria.
The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in
the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Alhaji Aminu Aliyu Bisalla
made the remark at the side event of Cop 24 at the Climate Change
Conference, Katowice, Poland 2018.
Dr.Usani said that the pace and effects of climate change in the
Niger Delta are increasing and unless the trend is reversed, human
as well as physical ecologies are bound to be seriously impacted as
it is being presently observed in many of the communities in the
Niger Delta region.
The Minister disclosed that the document which was launched in
Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, last month investigates and
reports on the effects of Climate Change in the Niger Delta region,
national and available state policies for addressing Climate Change
and their relationship with the Niger Delta.
According to the Honourable Minister, the essence of the
document was to guide the Niger Delta region and other stakeholders
on the implementation of collective measures to address climate
change impacts and causes through adaptation, mitigation and other
measures.
Dr.Usani disclosed that some of the climate change programmes
and projects in the document for poverty alleviation and
sustainable livelihood include: restoration of depleted habitats
and sustainable management of biological resources in the Niger,
climate change resilience and vulnerability mapping, flood control
and management and early warning systems, erosion control projects,
shore protection ,land reclamation, ecosystem reclamation among
others.
He said that the set of programmes and action plan provide an
integrated, harmonised, and multi-sectoral framework for responding
and combating climate change in the Niger Delta through
comprehensive adaptation, mitigation and other measures.
The Minister’s representatives thereafter presented the document
“Niger Delta Region Climate Change Programme and Action Plan “to
the international community.
Stakeholders, development partners, donor agencies and other
interested organisations in the Niger Delta region development are
invited to key into the climate change action plan. In his remarks
at the event, Senator Foster Ogola, the Vice Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Environment commended the Ministry of Niger Delta
Affairs for the document and called for international intervention
in the development of the Niger Delta region region in view of its
contribution to Nigeria’s economy.
Senator Ogola also disclosed that the 8th National Assembly
would pass the Gas Flairing Bill before the expiration of its
tenure to address the issue of gas flairing in the Niger Delta
region. Mr.Al-Hamndou Dorsouma, the Division Manager Climate
Change, African Development Bank also applauded the ministry for
the document, adding that it was a step further in addressing the
effects of climate in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
He advised that the document be reviewed after the 2018
Conference on Climate Change. Mr.Dorsouma also assured that the
African Development Bank would assist Nigeria in its climate change
programme.