The President of Nigeria , President Muhammadu Buhari, today delivered the Nigeria’s National Statement at the World Leaders Summit of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, in Glasgow in Scotland.
The statement reads;
Today I delivered Nigeria’s National Statement at the World Leaders Summit of the United Nations Climate Change Conference #COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
I said: “I do not think anyone in Nigeria needs persuading of the need for urgent action on the environment. Desertification in the North, floods in the centre, pollution and erosion on the coast are enough evidence. For Nigeria, climate change is not about the perils of tomorrow but what is happening today. Nigeria is committed to net zero by 2060.”
Very importantly I also made the case for a gas-based energy transition in Nigeria, considering that Nigeria is actually more of a gas-producing country than an oil producing one.
Against this backdrop, I, therefore, requested international partners to finance projects that will use transition fuels such as gas, in Nigeria.
Nigeria has energy challenges for which, we believe, gas can be used to balance a renewable energy-based system, be it wind or sun.
We have developed a detailed energy transition plan and roadmap, which highlights the key role that gas will play in transitioning our economy across sectors. The data and evidence in that plan and roadmap show that Nigeria can continue to use gas until 2040 without detracting from the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Gas will be key for addressing the clean cooking challenge, which is also a challenge of deforestation, and for giving our electric grid the stability and flexibility to integrate renewables at scale.
Our plan also includes a flagship project to electrify 5 million households and 25 million people using decentralized solar energy solutions.
I also noted, in my Statement, that the 2022 Federal budget, which I recently submitted to the National Assembly, is the first cross-sectoral, gender and climate-responsive budget ever prepared in our history.
In addition, the National Assembly has also passed the Climate Change Bill, which provides a framework for achieving low greenhouse gas emissions, inclusive green growth and sustainable economic development.
