FG’s delay in establishing climate change council worrisome, says rep

Samuel Onuigbo, a member of the house of representatives, says the federal government has not handled the implementation of the Climate Change Act as expected. 

President Muhammadu Buhari signed the climate change bill into law last November.

The law provides for the establishment climate change council to implement the framework for mainstreaming climate change actions — climate change fund, carbon budget, climate change action plan, climate change education and engagement and climate solutions — in the country.

Speaking during an online town hall meeting, Onuigbo — who sponsored the bill — expressed concern over the non-establishment of the climate change council.

The lawmaker representing Ikwuano/Umuahia north/south federal constituency of Abia said countries are making efforts to check climate change and Nigeria should not lag behind.

“In the first place, it is just for people to know that the effects of climate change are real. Years back, whenever we are discussing, we will say: ‘climate change is firing warning shots’,” he said.

“There is nothing like warning shots again we are seeing them passed with our own eyes and with our bodies, and with the security implications, the problems are more time faceted.

“So, there is a need for us to create that needed awareness. But let me tell you quickly, currently, there is some level of awareness going on. There is what we call Students Members of Parliament Climate Surgery, it is intended to create awareness in schools. It’s just to catch them young for people to know what we are suffering as a result of climate change.

“We have been doing so much to create that awareness and we have been doing much to even explain the Climate Change Act which I sponsored which the government has not actually handled in an expected manner to be able to put it into effect.

“The National Council of Climate Change which is the engine house of that Act has not been inaugurated and it is a source of concern to those of us who took the time and worked on the bill.

“So we are creating awareness little by little because if you see what is going on from the northern part of the country and the impact that we are getting from the Sahel region, all the whole place has turned into dust.”