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‘Nigeria has no reason to attend climate change conference’

By John Akubo (Lokoja) and Charles Coffie Gyamfi (Abeokuta)
03 December 2018   |   4:07 am
Presidential candidate of Abundant Nigerian Renewal Party (ANRP), Tope Kolade Fasua, says Nigeria has no reason to attend climate change conference.

•Probe of ex-governors a distraction, say Ogun guber candidates
Presidential candidate of Abundant Nigerian Renewal Party (ANRP), Tope Kolade Fasua, says Nigeria has no reason to attend climate change conference.

Fasua, who spoke in Lokoja yesterday, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s trip to Poland is a misplaced priority, because Nigeria does not have serious climate change issues.

The candidate, who was on a campaign train in the area said the developed nations have the obligation to stem the tide in their activities that lead to the Ozone layer depletion, which is the major cause of climate change.

He said: “We cannot be always attending all these meetings where these other people are where they are talking of carbon footprints, carbon emission, even as they are producing because they have industries and are selling to us in Africa.”

Fasua explained that what the country needed to do is to find out how to assist the over 70 per cent of our citizens who live in houses made with nylon bags and sacks.

According to him, millions of such Nigerians live in slums basically on their own refuse in this country, in Abuja and other parts.

“Those are the people we should assist first before running to climate change conference.

“We are the second largest country in terms of open defecation, apart from the problem we have with poverty itself. We are not talking about that environment issues at all, yet it is key,” he said.

On education, he said the major set back is the non-availability of teachers, especially at the basic education level.

In a similar development, two gubernatorial candidates in Ogun State have cautioned that governors’ probe of their successors is a waste of time, and a distraction of governance.

They are the candidates of Yes Electorates Solidarity Party, Sina Kawonise, and that of Alliance for Democracy, Seyi Olufade Olowookere.

They both spoke as guests of “Gubernatorial Discuss,” organised by Metropolitan Broadcasting Services and Penpushing Media at the weekend in Abeokuta.

They suggested that rather than engaging in an unending probe of such former governors, they should be left for prosperity to judge.

Kawonise promised that, if elected, he would improve the lives of the residents, and put people as the cornerstone of governance and leadership.

On his part, Olowookere said: “Every citizen has a right to live in dignity, to aspire to and attain a good life. It is government’s responsibility to orchestrate the enabling environment that ensures good education, health, security, food security and social economic development.”

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