Climate change: Stakeholders develop strategy to sensitise Nigerians on net-zero target

The International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI), a civil society organisation (CSO), has organised a workshop to sensitise stakeholders on Nigeria’s net zero target.

The workshop, themed ‘How to Build a Campaign Strategy on Net Zero in Nigeria’, was held on July 21 in Abuja.

At the 26th session of the conference of parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in November 2021 in Glasgow, President Muhammadu Buhari had said Nigeria will achieve its net-zero target by 2060.

As part of efforts to achieve the target, the president had signed the climate change bill into law in November 2021.

However, despite the assent to the bill, there have been concerns over delayed efforts by the federal government on implementing provisions of the law — including the set-up of a climate change council.

Speaking on the development, Olumide Idowu, executive director, ICCDI, said the delayed efforts points to lack of commitment toward the net-zero promise.

“Most grassroots campaigners believe that net-zero is not the most pressing issue for local communities. Instead, they feel that the focus should be channeled towards helping them adapt to the reality of the existing impact of climate change,” Idowu said.

“The government needs to show the right political will by involving the state and local authorities in the implementation of the net-zero programme.

“Stakeholders must wake up to their responsibilities and demonstrate capacity through their initiatives. COP27 is coming and we need to act so we, as a country, are not seen as lax.”

On his part, Johnny Atterton, director of Attainable, a climate change advocacy group, said climate advocacy messages must be relatable to the experiences of everyday people to make it more interesting.

“Our net-zero goal must be relatable to everyday life. Mobilising people on climate change can be tough. It’s a huge issue, driven by many complicated things. It’s natural as a campaigner to try and get people to engage in the whole issue, all the time,” he said.

“When we campaign on climate change, we can be drawn into endless technical conversations full of acronyms and technical jargon. Quite quickly, it’s easy to forget the human impact of climate change. But that can’t work, people work best with people.”

Part of the communication strategy developed at the workshop involved working with government bodies, stakeholders, climate activists and other concerned bodies on the urgency of developing and implementing policies for climate sustainable development in Nigeria.

Also present at the event were stakeholders drawn from energy, waste management, agriculture, media, as well as climate finance sectors.