The Environmental Management Association of Nigeria, (EMAN) has cautioned the Federal Government against the establishment of a Climate Change Commission, noting that such move was a potential platform for embezzlement and corruption.

The association’s National President, Dr. Emmanuel Ating who addressed reporters in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, contended the establishment of such commission amounts to weakening of existing environmental institutions and duplication of functions.

“We wish to state that it is wrong for anybody in Nigeria to contemplate or propose the establishment of a Climate Change Commission. The entire content of the Paris Agreement clearly presents climate change as an environmental problem, hence the emphasis on environmental justice and transparency.

“The establishment of a Climate Change Commission will weaken the operations of environmental institutions such as the Federal Ministry of Environment, Department of Petroleum Resources, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency.

“The capacity of environmental management institutions should be strengthened through regular training and provision of best available equipment. A Climate Change Commission will only act as a conduit pipe to siphon government funds into private pockets and also promote corruption,” he stressed.

Ating regretted that the Federal Government was yet to convene a stakeholders’ forum to set goals and determine milestones in the implementation process of the Paris Agreement nationally.

While commending President Muhammadu Buhari for efforts so far made to clean up Ogoniland, he, however, advised that the exercise should not be politicised, urging transparency in all stages of the clean up.