The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume has warned Nigerians against the dangers of climate change, saying the country is running out of time to combat its impact.
The SGF, who called on stakeholders to collaborate to mitigate the impact of climate change, also emphasised the need for sustainable land use practices to reduce the effects of climate change.
He disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday at a high-level stakeholder and policy engagement on climate change, sustainable land use and agriculture organised by the African Centre for Climate Actions and Rural Development (ACCARD) Initiative.
Akume said climate change threatens human existence, peace, security, and national development.
He, however, reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to supporting climate change, safe, healthy food initiatives aimed at resilient living, sustainability, and prosperity for all Nigerian citizens.
The SGF, who was represented by his Special Adviser Technical, Prof. Babatunde Benard, said: “We are running out of time. The global impact of climate change has taken a fatal dimension.
“Climate change has adverse effects now more than ever before. It is threatening human existence. It threatens peace, security, and national development. These effects are increasingly manifesting as floods, desertification, erosion, and conditions making predictions a challenging task.
“In Nigeria, the adverse effects of climate change are seen to have caused and aggravated the competition for natural resources, biodiversity and livelihood losses, as well as greater conflicts. The ever-growing human population and worsening climate change impacts are driving food conflicts, low productivity, food shortage, and hunger in demand”.
On the impact of climate change on land use, Akume said: “Climate change has been exacerbated by the unsustainable land use application of agrochemicals. We no longer weed the farms. Now we must spray, even if it is just one square meter, we use chemicals to spray the weed there. This leads to loss of fertile lands and, of course, natural capital resources
“The potential negative impact on the human environment can only be averted if the land is used sustainably. Land must be used sustainably to obtain the maximum benefits. This entails careful use of application of fertiliser, herbicides, and pesticides to land during agricultural cultivation, use of land for roads, rails, buildings, and civil infrastructure.
Akume called on Nigerians to join hands with the present administration to build a nation that will inspire pride amongst generations to come.
He also commended the Founder of the ACCARD Initiative, Amb. Freeman Oluowo for his determination towards winning the war against climate change for economic and sustainable development of Nigeria and Africa.
Amb. Oluowo said the meeting was called to tackle the multiple and worsening challenges associated with climate change.
He said that with the establishment and implementation of the right policies, climate change-related issues would be addressed.
Oluowo said, “Looking at the food system, people are eating unhealthy food and there is a need to ensure that food in the market is safe for consumption. So, this meeting was called to find solution to climate change and sustainable land use.
“In Nigeria, we have been talking about the farmers-herders crisis that it’s political, but we fail to understand that climate change drives a lot of change.
We are working with the Nigerian government to help put the right policy structure in place. We are also engaging with the World Bank and other development financiers to enable the government to access more intervention funds for sustainable development goals.”