image credit: wikipaedia

 

The Senate Wednesday, Oct 13, 2021 passed the Climate Change Bill even as it urges speedy assent from President Muhammadu Buhari in order to signify Nigeria's readiness to implement the various agreements and communiques it has signed in the battle against  Climate Change especially as the World convenes at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, billed for Glasgow, Scotland on Sunday, Oct - Friday, Nov 12, 2021  

Earlier, proposing the argument for the expeditious passage of the Bill by the Senate, Leader of the Senate, Senator Yahaya Abubakar Abdullahi, argued  on the floor of the Senate that Mr. President needs to assent to the Bill as quickly as possible, in view of COP26 which the President will be a part of.  

According to him, Nigeria participating in COP26 with a Climate Change Act will be the country’s loudest statement of ambition. "It is my hope that assent will follow as soon as possible", he noted

In a statement applauding the Senate for passage of the bill, Rep Sam Onuigbo again reiterated the journey and significance of the bill, maintaining that as legislators, their  duty is to complement the efforts of the executive through oversight, or by making laws that will help realize the goals and visions of Government. "This was what gave birth to the Climate Change Bill which I sponsored. The Bill seeks to provide legal backing to Nigeria’s efforts to mainstream Climate Change actions into the country’s sustainable development plans".

He traced the foundation of the bill to 2015, "In 2015, world leaders, civil society organizations, businesses, experts, etc., gathered in Paris and adopted the flagship global accord on Climate Change— the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Our President, His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari was in attendance 

That action is now informally referred to as the “Promise of Paris”. Promise, because what was done was for countries and organizations to commit to ambitious targets that will help keep global temperature to 1.5 degrees post-industrial era.

 "In 2021, a little over five years after the Promise of Paris, Climate Change conversations have shifted to clear-cut verifiable and ambitious actions to tackle Climate Change. 

The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari  has since his Inaugural Address on May 29,2015, shown commitment to tackle Climate Change. 

"This, Mr. President has shown in his many assertions at Climate Change conferences and other international meetings. Mr. President has also gone further to show action by approving the revised National Climate Change Policy of Nigeria, this year". 

The Bill also passed by the previous session was not assented to by Buhari. However, it was reviewed and on July 8,2021, was passed by the House of Representatives. Immediately afterwards, it went through First Reading at the Senate on July 14, 2021.