Nigeria appoints consultants on roads

AS part of efforts by Nigeria to maximize her benefits from the United Nations Convention on climate Change, the country, through the Federal Ministry of Environment has engaged the services of international consultants to help in developing her Intended National Determined Contributions (INDCs).

Speaking at a Consultant/Stakeholders engagement meeting in Abuja last week, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Fatima Mede said that the engagement of the consultants was done in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was geared towards the preparation of the INDCs.

According to her, INDC is a requirement to be submitted by all Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as a major component of climate change treaty to be adopted in Paris later in 2015.

“Parties are also required to submit INDCs well in advance of the Conference of Parties (COP) 21 to be held in December (2015 in Paris, France). To drive the process, National Technical Committee was constituted to prepare a work plan to actualise preparation of Nigeria’s INDCs for its submission before COP 21.

“I want to use the opportunity to thank UNDP for securing some funding for the project, the ministry and in collaboration with UNDP, is moving forward by engaging national and international consultants to undertake the execution of the project. Time is of essence, and we must have a robust presentation, we must have a robust document that will enable Nigeria take its pride of place when the meeting comes up later this year in Paris”, she said, adding that what is expected is to contribute meaningfully and have a robust discussion that will kick start the whole process because if the output is weak, obviously, the output will be weak.

The permanent secretary said that the inadequacy of the climate change convention and the Kyoto Protocol to mitigate climate change led the government of the World to give a thought to another protocol.

Mede said that the world leaders gave a thought to having another legally binding climate change treaty to address the challenges of climate change that would come into force by 2020.

According to her, the parties adopted a decision to prepare and submit INDCs during COP 19 in Warsaw.
In his remarks, Dr. Pa-Lamin Beyai, UNDP’s Country Director for Nigeria, urged the country to come up with robust INDCs that would help to address climate change in the country.

Represented by Mr Muyiwa Odele, Team Leader, UNDP Environment Unit, Beyai stressed the need for Nigeria to meet up with its climate change commitments.

He said: “This process is extremely important for Nigeria, because of the leadership role that Nigeria plays in the area of climate change negotiations in Africa.

“If Nigeria is serious about taking forward the climate change agenda, it is important that the INDCs be developed in a very robust manner. This is one of the reasons why UNDP supported preliminary discussions on the INDCs”,he said, giving his assurances that the UNDP will continue to support the INDCs to move forward.

Earlier, the Director, Climate Change Department in the ministry, Dr. Samuel Adejuwon, , explained the efforts Nigeria had taken to develop the INDCs, saying the interactive session in part of on-going process towards the preparation of our INDCs. “You would recalled that we have held consultation meeting just to get ourselves prepared for the process, but now that the consultants are around and they about to start work.

“The essence of the meeting is for the key stakeholders to interact with the consultants on the way forward in preparation towards Paris 2015”, urging the stakeholders to listen to the consultants and learn how to proceed in their work.
He also advised them not to hesitate to seek any clarification from them should the need arise.

Mr. Han Verolme, a renowned climate change expert is expected to work with Nigeria’s leading Climate Scientist, Prof. Olukayode Oladipo and three other experts on mitigation, INDCs and climate change for three months.