Download Climate change, a festering monster that needs to be curbed

Climate change, a festering monster that needs to be curbed
When there is flooding, hurricane, earthquake or any natural disaster, the
screaming headlines on the pages of newspapers or the breaking news on
television are: ‘This is the heaviest rainfall in decades’, ‘today is the hottest
day in history’ and this is the most severe earthquake ever experienced in…
The impact of climate change or global warming is felt daily.
Mother Nature has “slated a number of places to significantly shrink or
disappear from the earth entirely by 2100 due to climate change, changing
soil and sea levels, natural disasters and economic problems.” Some of these
cities are Timbuktu-Mali, Banjul-The Gambia, Venice-Italy, and San
Francisco-USA.
While industrialized nations are aggregating efforts to cut carbon emissions
and check climate change, Africa which is most vulnerable is grappling and
struggling to recognise the consequences of this phenomenon. Is Africa
really to blame? Of course not. This is because Africa produce the least
emissions in the world but will bear the catastrophic and devastating brunt
of climate change.
In an article written by Dr Lars Thunell and published in the Guardian, the
former World Bank head of Finance Corporation succinctly states “Across
the continent (Africa), the agricultural sector still employs 65% of the labour
force and most of the rural poor. The majority are dependent on rain-fed
agriculture and rangeland, which are subject to the vagaries of the weather,
so an increase in the frequency or severity of extreme weather events driven
by climate change will result in increased of hunger in malnutrition in
Africa’s most vulnerable populations.”
In Nigeria, climate change does not feature prominently in the agenda of the
current government. The focus is on corruption, security and
unemployment.
In fact, successive Nigerian government devoted a large chunk of their
budget to defence, education and health while peanut is budgeted for
environmental preservation and protection.
This simply reveals that the government is yet to fathom the need to counter
the effects of climate change that is exacerbating natural disasters. The
northern region of Nigeria is gradually being eaten by the Sahara desert,
erosion is destroying Anambra, South East and increased flooding in Lagos
have caused people to flee to highlands.
Lagos is worse affected as the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria. The
amount of carbon monoxide released into the air is worrisome, thus,
affecting the air we breathe in and the health of the average Lagosian.
Again, the government have failed to acknowledge this. This is one major
challenge in the fight against climate change.
In the Niger Delta, the level of environmental degradation is deeply felt in
the region-the water is polluted, farmlands are not arable and they cannot
fish in their waters. The Niger Delta Human Development Report by the
United Nations Development Programme ably described the dire social
deprivation the region is experiencing due to the large deposits of crude oil
on their land.
Fortunately, President Muhammad Buhari who came to power in a popular
vote in March 2015 have kick-started the clean-up process of a very much
neglected part of the Niger Delta-Ogoni land by naming members of the
governing council, Board of Trustees and Project Management team of the
Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP). This is in line with the
recommendation of the UNDP report.
Gas flaring-another negative campaign promoting climate change is
happening with impunity in the region. The government at several times
have set a deadline to end gas flaring but up till this moment the menace
continues.
This is an opportunity for government and stakeholders to
combat climate change and tackle this perceived lackadaisical attitude of
government towards this unavoidable disaster. This does not mean that
efforts are not been made but more have to be done.
In Lagos state, the 7th edition of the Lagos state climate change summit was
held on April 21 to 24 2015. The three-day roundtable discussed the
activities of the government in tackling climate change to include the Eko
Atlantic Project, Shoreline protection of the Bar beach, the rehabilitation of
drainage infrastructure, annual tree planting campaign, car horn-free
campaign, greening programme and the passage of laws to protect the
environment. The Lagos state government seems to be the only government
to accept the gigantic impact of climate change.
Aside from the government, Olusanya Olukoya, a graduate of Mechanical
Engineering from the University built the first an electric car which is ecofriendly. He and his team in a mechanical adventure that took a daring and
painstaking one year were able to exhibit their work at the Julius Berger Hall
of the University. The features of the car include a high voltage battery, 16inch diameter tires, and tabular frame chassis with a speed limit of 15
kilometres.
Climate change is a herculean challenge to Nigeria and Africa and these is a
rare opportunity to tackle it in order to avert monumental disaster. If Nigeria
and Africa is serious about reversing the turbulent impact
of climate change then efforts must be geared towards clean energy-Solar,
Wind, reforestation and the emerging electric cars. This is the future and the
future starts now!
Adeniyi Ogunfowoke,
Ikeja
@sleeksavvy